Schunck, Florian

Florian Schunck is a researcher dedicated to understanding the ecological consequences of chemical stressors. During his doctoral work at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Florian investigated the impact of pesticides on Daphnia magna, spanning individual physiology to community-level responses. He developed strong expertise in Bayesian parameter inference, Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) modelling, and Python-based data analysis. Outside the lab, Florian enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee. Now, as a Postdoc at the University of Osnabrück, Florian applies his experimental background and toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TKTD) modelling skills to explore chemical impacts on pollinators within the PollinERA project. He is actively developing methods for incorporating omics data into mechanistic TKTD frameworks to enhance predictive power, and he is a passionate advocate of version control and automated testing in software development.

Research Interests

• Pesticide Impacts on Pollinators: Investigating the ecological consequences of chemical stressors, specifically pesticides, on pollinator populations.
• TKTD Modeling: Developing and applying mechanistic TKTD frameworks to understand the processes governing chemical exposure and biological response.
• Omics Data Integration: Actively developing methods to incorporate omics data (e.g., genomics, proteomics) into TKTD models to enhance predictive capabilities.
• Bayesian Parameter Inference: Combining ODE models with Bayesian parameter inference and hierarchical modelling schemes using modern probabilistic programming languages such as numpyro and pymc
• pymob: Developing the python modelling building framework (pymob) to handle complex multi-dimensional, multi-variate parameter estimation problems  

Peer reviewed publications

Bürger LU, Schunck F, Focks A. 2025. Combined Modeling of Multiple Exposure Routes for Terrestrial Arthropods Using the Toxicokinetic–Toxicodynamic BufferGUTS Model. Environ Sci Technol. acs.est.5c03925. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5c03925 

Schunck F et al. 2024. Integrating Time-Resolved nrf2 Gene-Expression Data into a Full GUTS Model as a Proxy for Toxicodynamic Damage in Zebrafish Embryo. Environ Sci Technol. acs.est.4c06267. Doi: 10.1021/acs.est.4c06267

Schunck F et al. 2024. A Dynamic Network Model of Societal Complexity and Resilience Inspired by Tainter’s Theory of Collapse. Entropy. 26(2). doi: 10.3390/e26020098.

Schunck F, Liess M. 2024. Ultra-low esfenvalerate exposure may disrupt interspecific competition. Sci. Total Enviro. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167455

Schunck F, Liess M. 2023. Ultra-low Esfenvalerate concentrations increase biomass and may reduce competitiveness of Daphnia magna populations. Sci Total Environ. 163916. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163916.

Schunck F, Liess M. 2022. Time between Sequential Exposures to Multiple Stress Turns Antagonism into Synergism. Environ. Sci. Technol. doi:10.1021/acs.est.2c04345.

Klotzbücher A, Schunck F, ..., Mikutta R. 2020. Goethite-Bound Phosphorus in an Acidic Subsoil Is Not Available to Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). Front. For. Glob. Change. 3(94). doi:10.3389/ffgc.2020.00094. 

Non peer-reviewed publications

Schunck F, Busch W, Focks A. 2025. Hierarchical Approaches for Integrating Sparse, Multivariate Toxicological Effect Data in Whole Organism Molecular Dynamics. Biorxiv. doi: 10.1101/2025.05.09.652942 

Schunck F. 2025. Pymob. https://github.com/flo-schu/pymob/

Schunck F. 2024. Facing reality: Survival modelling with missing and censored observations with numpyro. Research Blog: Samples from the imaginary world. Link.