How does geography determine ecology?
Ecology as a science searches for general rules that work everywhere, but the reality is that ecological processes often change with geographical context. Our lab uses spatially replicated experiments, comparative data syntheses, and the community equivalent of common garden experiments to determine which ecological processes are universal, and which aren’t. When we find geographic contingency, we find that understanding why ecological processes are contingent leads us to deeper understanding of mechanisms. Much of this comparative work is done in collaboration with other researchers in the Bromeliad Working Group, an international research network.
How does climate affect food webs?
Climate change not only directly affects species, but also the interactions between species (“rewiring” of food webs) and the overall structure of ecological networks (“reshaping” of food webs). We explore how climate, especially precipitation, affects food webs using the invertebrate networks in bromeliads as a model system. We combine manipulations of rainfall and water depth with surveys across climatic gradients to understand potential mechanisms. Our work shows that climate change will both rewire and reshape food webs, but that the effects will differ geographically.
How do human impacts on landscapes affect species and ecosystem functions?
Humans have profound impacts on landscapes. Our lab studies the ecological effects of tropical rainforest loss and fragmentation in Costa Rica. We have used artificial treeholes to study effects on insect colonization, camera traps to study effects on large ground animals and litter bags to study the effects on decomposition rates. Closer to home, we have studied the impacts of urbanization on aquatic insects in artificial treeholes and water-filled containers.
How do predators affect metacommunities?
Metacommunities are clusters of communities linked by dispersal. This includes systems that, when adults are terrestrial, disperse eggs between aquatic habitats so that larvae are part of aquatic communities. We have used population genomic methods coupled with simulation models to understand how predators and prey can coexist locally in such systems (a “trophic meta-community”). We have empirically tested these ideas by restricting dispersal using nets to different spatial arenas.
How does the elemental composition of species constrain their ecological role – or vice versa?
All living organisms are composed of chemical elements, but the ratio of these elements (“stoichiometry”) differs between species. Collaborative work with Angelica Gonzalez has shown that both trophic role and phylogeny determines the stoichiometry of species. We are now working on the link between the stoichiometry of interacting species and the flow of energy between them. This work has involved experimental manipulation of the stoichiometry of resources, in both the field and greenhouses.
How do ecological factors shape the amount of evolutionary history in present day communities?
Species are the result of evolutionary processes. Their phylogenetic history determines how they sense and interact with the world around them. Through the PhD work of Nadia Paez, we have developed phylogenies for the bromeliad invertebrates in several fieldsites. We have discovered that the phylogenetic diversity of invertebrates changes with environment (bromeliad size, altitude) and species interactions (predator presence). Through experiments, we have been able to partition some of these effects into colonization and extinction processes, providing the first steps to developing a theory of phylogenetic metacommunity ecology.
How can we rescue data before it goes extinct? What is the value of working groups?
As Director of the Canadian Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Diane started a national training program called the Living Data Project. This team of faculty and postdocs across Canada teaches graduate students best practices in data management and synthesis, and then provides internships to rescue high-value legacy data at risk of loss. We published our method for environmental data rescue and received an award from the Canadian Open Data Society for the program. Both the CIEE and LDP support working groups – that is, groups of researchers who meet for an intense week of work synthesizing their data and ideas. Our research shows that this method is highly effective, leading to high-impact science that boosts the careers of the researchers.