A5028567307- Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Climate change impacts on agriculture
- Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation
- Climate Change Policy and Economics
- Turtle Biology and Conservation
- Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Animal and Plant Science Education
- Forest Management and Policy
- Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Marine and fisheries research
- Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
- Marine animal studies overview
- Plant and animal studies
- Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
- Genetic diversity and population structure
- Environmental Conservation and Management
- Integrated Water Resources Management
- Human-Animal Interaction Studies
Conservation International
2020-2024
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
2023-2024
Smithsonian Institution
2020-2023
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
2020-2022
National Zoological Park
2022
Conservation Biology Institute
2022
University of California, Davis
2015-2020
Carleton University
2020
Florida International University
2009-2016
Aim Connectivity is a key determinant of the distribution and abundance organisms greatly influenced by anthropogenic landscape modification, yet we lack synthetic perspective on magnitude extent matrix effects connectivity. We synthesize results from published studies to understand importance fragmented animal populations. Location Global. Methods conduct meta-analysis 283 populations representing 184 terrestrial taxa determine strength composition occurrence animals in habitat. Results...
Abstract Human activities often replace native forests with warmer, modified habitats that represent novel thermal environments for biodiversity. Reducing biodiversity loss hinges upon identifying which species are most sensitive to the environmental conditions result from habitat modification. Drawing on case studies and a meta‐analysis, we examined whether observed modelled traits, including heat tolerances, variation in body temperatures, evaporative water loss, explained sensitivity of...
Significance Widespread conversion of natural habitats to human land use creates evolutionarily novel environments and causes declines native species. Stemming biodiversity loss requires an understanding why some species persist while others decline in these habitats. We analyzed survey data amphibian from around the globe determine whether closely related respond similarly habitat conversion. find that converted tend come same clades within tree life by favoring widely distributed clades,...
Abstract Land‐cover and climate change are both expected to alter species distributions contribute future biodiversity loss. However, the combined effects of land‐cover on assemblages, especially at landscape scale, remain understudied. Lowland tropical amphibians may be particularly susceptible changes in land cover warming because many have narrow thermal safety margins resulting from air body temperatures that close their critical maxima (CT max ). We examined how changing landscapes area...
Abstract Aim Habitat modification is causing widespread declines in biodiversity and the homogenization of biotas. Amphibians are especially threatened by habitat modification, yet we know little about why some species persist or thrive face this threat whereas others decline. Our aim was to identify intrinsic factors that explain variation among amphibians their sensitivity (SHM), could help target groups for conservation. Location Global. Time period 1986–2015 Major taxon studied...
Abstract The fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd ) has caused the greatest known wildlife pandemic, infecting over 500 amphibian species. It remains unclear why some host species decline from disease‐related mortality whereas others persist. We introduce a conceptual model that predicts infection risk in ectotherms will decrease as difference between and environmental tolerances (i.e. tolerance mismatch) increases. test this prediction using both local‐scale data Costa Rica...
Deforestation reshuffles communities across landscapes with myriad consequences for ecosystem function. Following deforestation, rapid exposure to novel microclimates can act as a strong environmental filter, favoring warm-adapted species and decoupling trophic interactions. Forest restoration may partly reverse this process through increased habitat structure, food resources, buffering of - each potentially modified by tree diversity. Despite growing evidence that diversity cool help...
Abstract Conversion of forests to agricultural land or pastures is occurring at a rapid rate in many tropical regions. Amphibians may be particularly susceptible changes landscape composition and connectivity because their physiological characteristics complex life cycles. We experimentally assessed resistance for the dart‐poison frog O ophaga pumilio associated with two prevalent land‐cover types, secondary pastures, northeastern lowlands C osta R ica. measured recapture rates individuals...
Agricultural expansion continues to drive forest loss in species‐rich tropical systems and often disrupts movement distributions of organisms. The ability species occupy move through altered habitats likely depends on the level contrast between natural surrounding land uses. Connectivity models, such as circuit theory are widely used conservation biology, their primary input consists resistance surfaces representing costs associated with landscape features. Cost values most frequently...
Natural climate solutions (NCS)-actions to conserve, restore, and modify natural modified ecosystems increase carbon storage or avoid greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-are increasingly regarded as important pathways for change mitigation, while contributing our global conservation efforts, overall planetary resilience, sustainable development goals. Recently, projections posit that terrestrial-based NCS can potentially capture the emission of at least 11 Gt (gigatons) dioxide equivalent a year,...
Conversion of forests to agriculture often fragments distributions forest species and can disrupt gene flow. We examined effects prevalent land uses on genetic connectivity two amphibian in northeastern Costa Rica. incorporated data from field surveys experiments develop resistance surfaces that represent local mechanisms hypothesized modify dispersal success amphibians, such as habitat-specific predation desiccation risk. Because time lags exist between conversion responses, we evaluated...
Abstract Aim A central question in ecology has been that of why animal home ranges scale more steeply with body size than do metabolic rates. Yet, the generality this notion scarcely tested non‐model species like ectotherms, which have lower requirements endotherms and may, therefore, different range area requirements. Our aim was to examine how scales snakes shed light on other factors may shape an understudied group ectotherms. Location Global. Time period 1984–2018. Major taxon studied...
Abstract: Conversion of natural habitats to anthropogenic land uses is a primary cause amphibian declines in species-rich tropical regions. However, agricultural lands are frequently used by subset forest-associated species, and the habitat value given use likely modified presence characteristics remnant trees. Here we mark–recapture methods examine abundances movement probability poison frog, Oophaga pumilio , at individual trees forest-fragment edges adjacent pastures north-eastern Costa...
Abstract Sexual size dimorphism (SSD) is a well‐documented phenomenon in both plants and animals; however, the ecological evolutionary mechanisms that drive maintain SSD patterns across geographic space at regional global scales are understudied, especially for reptiles. Our goal was to examine variation of turtle explore environmental correlates using phylogenetic comparative methods. We use published body data on 135 species from nine families how evolution influenced by habitat...
As climate change alters the global environment, it is critical to understand relationship between shifting suitability and species distributions. Key questions include whether observed changes in population abundance are aligned with velocity direction of shifts predicted by models if responses consistent among similar ecological traits. We examined abundance-based distribution centroids compared model-predicted bioclimatic 250 bird across United States from 1969 2011. hypothesized that...
Despite decades of research, there is still little known about the natural abundances and ecological importance stream salamander larvae in eastern North America. Widely used methods for sampling estimating population densities can be significantly biased, which may have implications monitoring efforts studies addressing effects salamanders on processes such as nutrient dynamics. We compared efficacy two capture, passive leaf litter trapping dip netting, performed mark–recapture (M-R)...