Dr. Larsen is a research group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Jena, Germany. He applies various biomolecular techniques to characterize trophic interactions and understand past lifeways. He pioneered a method called stable isotope fingerprinting of amino acids to identify the biosynthetic origins of proteinogenic amino acids in animal tissues.

Dr. Larsen’s research focuses broadly on how nutritional relationships between consumers and resources affect ecosystem functioning and how anthropogenic activities affect food webs. He is the co-lead investigator of the LOMVIA project that studies competitive interactions among North Atlantic seabirds in a warming climate. He obtained his MSc in zoology from Aarhus University and Ph.D. in isotope ecology from the University of Copenhagen.