Species richness varies by orders of magnitude across the globe and so does the richness of endangered species. We are interested in both the macroecological processes causing richness patterns, and the socioeconomic processes determining where biodiversity is threatened.
Controlled burning is one of the most effective tools for restoring grasslands and savannas across the Midwest. But there are many more lands needing burning than there are resources available.
Freshwater ecosystems are essential for humans and biodiversity, yet they threatened by human activities. Sebastian Martinuzzi’s study assessed the consequences of future land use change on freshwater ecosystems in the US.
Paul Schilke, MS candidate in the SILVIS Lab, is conducting research in northern Wisconsin to investigate how insects that live around lakes affect the birds that feed on those insects.
Forests of Mexico are under threat due to development, both for urban and agricultural purposes. However, it is not clear the spatial and temporal extent to which this is happening. SILVIS PhD candidate, Carlos Ramirez Reyes is exploring this using remote sensing data, and a novel method, spectral mixture analysis.
Extreme weather events are becoming both more frequent and intense. These events could be shifting bird numbers and their normal distributions in the United States. Ultimately, these weather events could lead to the extinction of highly-sensitive species.
Land use change and forest fragmentation are a worldwide problem. Isabel Rojas-Viada is employing a novel solution by focusing on riparian forest corridors in Chile.
Brooke Bateman examines if fine scale weather data provides more information for modeling bird distributions than long-term climate data.
What happens when it gets too dry? Brooke Bateman discovers how migratory birds like Dickcissels respond to extreme drought events in the Midwestern United States and looks at what that means for future management and conservation efforts.
Sebastian Martinuzzi investigates how future land use changes in the United States could impact the Nation’s areas of biodiversity significance, with help from economic-based scenarios
Novel ecosystems, ecosystems with strong human influence are an important new challenge for ecology. Will these ecosystems increase in number in the future? Where?
