Thomas Davidson is interested in how global change has and will affect ecosystem structure and function and uses lake ecosystems to investigate these themes. Current project include: 1) using a mesocosm experiment to investigate the effects of temperature on greenhouse gas fluxes from shallow lakes. 2) Investigating patterns and drivers of diversity in aquatic plants in the New World using the BIEN database and 3) Investigating the role of species interactions on community assembly across a range of trophic levels in lakes. Furthermore, Thomas is a project partner of a NERC funded project (http://www.nerc-bess.net/index.php/grants) investigating the importance of dispersal in macrophyte community assembly (https://lakebess.wordpress.com/)
Bob is interested in understanding how abiotic factors mediate patterns of community diversity and species range dynamics. His current work focuses on the direct and indirect effects of regional climate on the distributions of tropical trees. Current projects include: (1) examining demographic drivers of diversity shifts during secondary succession of tropical forests, and (2) using functional traits to gain insight to the mechanisms underlying variation in vital rates across various abiotic gradients. He is also collaborating with researchers in the Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group at Wageningen University, The Netherlands (http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/Expertise-Services/Chair-groups/Environmental-Sciences/Forest-Ecology-and-Forest-Management-Group.htm).
Vincent is interested in the effects of the land use intensification on ecosystem structure and functioning. These effects are investigated using global maps of the human appropriation of net primary productivity. These maps provide information on both the land-use intensity and the energy remaining available for other organisms. Current projects include (1) Investigating large scale patterns of dietary niche of birds along a productivity gradient and the consequences of the appropriation by humans of a large portion of this productivity on these patterns. (2) Investigating the consequences of this appropriation in prey-predator assemblage and disentangling the effect of top-down and bottom-up processes linking productivity and diversity. (3) Investigating whether productivities anomalies in response to climate anomalies are mediated by plant functional shifts.
Helen Wheeler studies the effects of climate change on populations and communities, from arctic to temperate latitudes. Current projects include: climate-phenology interactions in arctic flowering plants, the role of vegetation structure on burrowing activity of arctic ground squirrels in Denali National Park, Alaska, interactions between vegetation stature and species distributions of ground dwelling sciurids, and the role of apex predators in direct and indirect interactions affecting herbivore community structure. Further details here: http://helencwheeler.weebly.com/
Jean-Yves barnagaud focuses on species coexistence patterns, at the interface of biogeography and community ecology. his guideline aims to elucidate the relative roles of biogeographic history, environmental filtering, biotic interactions and dispersal capacities in shaping the relationship between regional species pools and local communities. Active projects include (1) How evolutionary processes and current bioclimatic gradients shape worldwide species diversity patterns; (2) The effects of parasitism on the dynamics of passerine communities; (3) The continental and local drivers of large-scale diversity dynamics.
