S. A. Blowes

Geometric and demographic effects explain contrasting fragmentation-biodiversity relationships across scales

This study uses a metacommunity model to show how geometric and demographic fragmentation effects influence biodiversity across scales, reconciling conflicting previous results.

A meta-analysis examining how fish biodiversity varies with marine protected area size and age

This paper conducts a meta-analysis showing protected areas increase fish species richness by 18% but not Shannon entropy, with no effect of protection degree or duration, and larger areas may reduce richness ratios.

Disentangling non-random structure from random placement when estimating β-diversity through space or time

This paper introduces a framework to quantify non-random contributions to beta-diversity using rarefaction curves and a coverage-standardized metric, applied to avian species composition in engineered and natural riparian areas.

Widespread reductions in body size are paired with stable assemblage biomass.

The paper assesses body size changes across six taxon groups and finds that decreases in body size are paired with stable assemblage biomass due to compensatory abundance increases.

Using coverage-based rarefaction to infer non-random species distributions

The paper introduces a new metric, βC, to assess non-random species distribution by accounting for sample completeness, showing no latitude-related spatial structure changes in two case studies.

A geometric basis for surface habitat complexity and biodiversity

The paper develops a geometric theory to explain biodiversity in surface habitats, showing it explains 98% of variation in coral reefs.

Temperature-related biodiversity change across temperate marine and terrestrial systems

This study examines temperature-related biodiversity changes in temperate marine and terrestrial systems, finding stronger marine biodiversity responses to warming than terrestrial systems.

A multiscale framework for disentangling the roles of evenness, density and aggregation on diversity gradients

The paper extends the MoB framework to analyze diversity gradients by quantifying the roles of evenness, density, and aggregation along environmental gradients using ant data from the Great Smoky Mountains.

Landscape-scale forest loss as a catalyst of population and biodiversity change

The paper quantifies how 150 years of forest cover change impacted population abundance, species richness, and temporal species turnover globally, finding forest loss intensified these changes by up to 48%.

Embracing scale-dependence to achieve a deeper understanding of biodiversity and its change across communities

This paper investigates how biodiversity changes across spatial scales and introduces methods to better quantify these changes using rarefaction curves and case studies.