Faculty Support: Tracy Barbaro

Our research examines how animals interact with the environment and each other to affect ecosystem processes at landscape scales. We draw on the fields of community and ecosystem ecology, animal behavior, and remote sensing to explore multiple facets of animal-ecosystem interactions in a spatially explicit manner. A key component of our work investigates how anthropogenic pressures, including climate and land-use change, alter animal-driven processes and influence the direction of their effects. We integrate field measurements, GPS telemetry, and remote sensing products (including LiDAR, hyperspectral, and satellite data) to answer questions ranging from the role of animals in shaping vegetation and modifying nutrient cycles, to how land-use changes that alter habitat heterogeneity affect animal behavior and subsequent ecosystem impact.

Recent Publications

Brodrick, PG, Davies, AB & Asner, GP (2019) Uncovering ecological patterns with convolutional neural networks. Trends in Ecology and Evolution in press.

Davies, AB & Asner, GP (2019) Elephants limit aboveground carbon gains in African savannas. Global Change Biology 25, 1368-1382.

Davies, AB, Oram, F, Ancrenaz, M & Asner, GP (2019) Combining behavioural and LiDAR data to reveal relationships between canopy structure and orangutan nest site selection in disturbed forests. Biological Conservation 232, 97-107.

Schmitz, OJ, Wilmers, CC, Leroux, SJ, Doughty, CE, Atwood, TB, Galetti, M, Davies, AB, Goetz, SJ (2018) Animals and the zoogeochemistry of the carbon cycle. Science 362, eaar3213.

Leitner, M, Davies, AB, Parr, CL, Eggleton, P & Robertson, MP (2018) Woody encroachment slows decomposition and termite activity in an African savanna. Global Change Biology 24, 2597-2606.