M. A. Leibold

Sunfish as zooplankton control agents to improve yields of wastewater-cultivated algae

This study tests bluegill sunfish as biological control agents to reduce zooplankton in wastewater algal ponds, finding they significantly lower zooplankton and increase algal biomass.

Assembly processes inferred from eDNA surveys of a pond metacommunity are consistent with known species ecologies

The paper uses eDNA surveys to infer metacommunity assembly processes in ponds and finds environmental factors and species interactions shape community composition.

Integrating ecosystem and contaminant models to predict the effects of ecosystem fluxes on contaminant dynamics

This paper develops a modeling framework to predict how ecosystem fluxes affect contaminant dynamics across trophic levels, showing that nutrient input and loss rates influence pollutant concentrations differently.

Getting More by Asking for Less: Linking Species Interactions to Species Co-Distributions in Metacommunities

This paper shows that inferring precise species interactions from spatial distribution patterns is challenging, but estimating statistical moments of interaction distributions is more robust.

Beyond the fish-Daphnia paradigm: testing the potential for Neoplea striola (Hemiptera: Pleidae) to cause a trophic cascade in subtropical ponds

The paper tests if Neoplea striola can cause trophic cascades in subtropical fishless ponds, finding weak evidence of zooplankton reducing large phytoplankton.

Predator complementarity dampens variability of phytoplankton biomass in a diversity-stability trophic cascade

This study shows that predator diversity reduces variability in phytoplankton biomass through a trophic cascade, independent of average biomass changes.

Spatial community variability: Interactive effects of predators and isolation on stochastic community assembly

The paper examines how predator presence and dispersal limitation affect community assembly by altering stochastic and non-stochastic processes in freshwater insect communities.

Top predator introduction changes the effects of spatial isolation on freshwater community structure

This study shows that top predator introduction alters how spatial isolation affects freshwater macroinvertebrate communities by changing the interaction between isolation and trophic cascades.

Multilevel community assembly of the tadpole gut microbiome

This study examines how regional and local factors shape the gut microbiome of tadpoles, finding that pond origin has a greater influence than host species identity.

The Internal Structure of Metacommunities

The paper introduces a new framework to analyze the internal structure of metacommunities by examining how different species and sites contribute to metacommunity attributes, using synthetic data and Joint Species Distribution Models.

Modeling How Community Assembly Alters the Functioning of Ecosystems

The paper evaluates how community assembly affects ecosystem productivity using two approaches and applies them to experimental data, finding resource competition and facilitation by nitrogen fixing plants as likely explanations.

Towards an applied metaecology

This paper discusses how metaecology can improve environmental change management by considering spatial interdependencies and fluxes of organisms, energy, and matter across scales.

Regional neutrality evolves through local adaptive niche evolution

The paper shows that regional neutrality in ecological systems can arise from local adaptive evolution, leading to niche convergence despite strong local niche differentiation.