We study the dynamics of food webs and ecosystems.
Through analysis of interactions among predators, herbivores, plants and decomposers, we resolve the functional role of species within aboveground and belowground food webs and how those roles determine attendant ecosystem functioning. We combine empirical research with mathematical modeling and deal with a variety of ecosystems and study species, ranging from lions in Kenyan savannas, caribou in Newfoundland boreal forests, to insects and their spider predators in New England grasslands.
Lab News
- We have new lab members! Matteo Rizzuto returns to the lab as a postdoctoral associate, and we welcome incoming MESc students Mizzy Almaazmi, Amanda Wik, and Gino Rivera Bulnes
- Postdoc Matteo Rizzuto won the Hanski Prize for his doctoral research on ecological stoichiometry and landscape ecology, published in Oecologia.
- PhD candidate Kristy Ferraro and lab-affiliate Diego Ellis Soto won the Sidnie Manton Award for their paper published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
- Os was co-awarded an NSF DEB grant on "Adaptation and resiliency of food web structure and functioning to environmental change".
Recent Publications
Zamuda, K. M., Duguid M.C., and O.J. Schmitz. 2022. Human land‐use effects on mammalian mesopredator occupancy of a northeastern Connecticut landscape. Ecology and Evolution.
Monk, J., J.A. Smith, E. Donadío, P.L. Perrig, R.D. Crego, M. Fileni, O. Bidder, S.A. Lambertucci, J.N. Pauli, O.J. Schmitz, and A.D. Middleton. 2022. Cascading effects of a disease outbreak in a remote protected area. Ecology Letters.
Buchkowski R.W. and O.J Schmitz. 2022. Weak interactions between strong interactors in an old-field ecosystem: Control of nitrogen cycling by coupled herbivores and detritivores. Functional Ecology.
Moore, A.C. and. O.J. Schmitz. 2022. Do predators have a role to play in wetland ecosystem functioning? An experimental study in New England salt marshes. Ecology and Evolution.
Sommer, N.R. and K.M. Ferraro. 2022. An ethical framework for behavioural training in wildlife management. Conservation Science and Practice.
Ferraro, K.M., O.J. Schmitz, and M.A. McCary. 2022. Effects of ungulate density and sociality on landscape heterogeneity: a mechanistic modeling approach. Ecography.
Monk, Julia D. and O.J. Schmitz. 2022. Landscapes shaped from the top down: predicting cascading predator effects on spatial biogeochemistry. Oikos.
See all publications.
Monk, J., J.A. Smith, E. Donadío, P.L. Perrig, R.D. Crego, M. Fileni, O. Bidder, S.A. Lambertucci, J.N. Pauli, O.J. Schmitz, and A.D. Middleton. 2022. Cascading effects of a disease outbreak in a remote protected area. Ecology Letters.
Buchkowski R.W. and O.J Schmitz. 2022. Weak interactions between strong interactors in an old-field ecosystem: Control of nitrogen cycling by coupled herbivores and detritivores. Functional Ecology.
Moore, A.C. and. O.J. Schmitz. 2022. Do predators have a role to play in wetland ecosystem functioning? An experimental study in New England salt marshes. Ecology and Evolution.
Sommer, N.R. and K.M. Ferraro. 2022. An ethical framework for behavioural training in wildlife management. Conservation Science and Practice.
Ferraro, K.M., O.J. Schmitz, and M.A. McCary. 2022. Effects of ungulate density and sociality on landscape heterogeneity: a mechanistic modeling approach. Ecography.
Monk, Julia D. and O.J. Schmitz. 2022. Landscapes shaped from the top down: predicting cascading predator effects on spatial biogeochemistry. Oikos.
See all publications.
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Contact Us
Schmitz Lab
Yale School of the Environment 370 Prospect Street Greeley Laboratory, Room 119 New Haven, CT 06511 USA Phone: (203) 436-5276 oswald.schmitz [at] yale.edu |
