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 puma and vicuña in Argentinian grasslands, lions in Tanzanian savanna, to insects and their spider predators in aboveground and belowground food webs in Connecticut grasslands.

Lab News

• Check out Os’ recent essay in the PLoS Biology series “Why Research Matters” 
  
• Feeling down about the environment? Find hope in Os Schmitz’s book written to communicate to a broader public  how ecological scientific knowhow can be put to good use.

Contact Us

Schmitz Lab
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
370 Prospect Street
Greeley Laboratory, Room 119
New Haven, CT 06511 USA
Phone: (203) 436-5276
oswald.schmitz [at] yale.edu

Recent Publications

Buchkowski, R.W., O.J. Schmitz and M.A. Bradford. 2018. Nitrogen recycling in coupled green and brown food webs: weak effects of herbivory and detritivory when nitrogen passes through soil. Journal of Ecology (online early) 
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Kofler, N., J.P. Collins, J. Kuzma, E. Marris, K. Esvelt,.M.P. Nelson, A. Newhouse, L.J. Rothschild, V.S. Vigliotti,.M. Semenov, R. Jacobsen, J. E. Dahlman, S. Prince, A. Caccone, T. Brown and O.J. Schmitz. 2018. Editing nature: local roots of global governance. Science 362: 527-529.
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​Schmitz, O.J., C.C. Wilmers, S.J. Leroux, C.E. Doughty, T.B. Atwood, M. Galetti, A.B. Davies, S. J. Goetz. 2018.  Animals and the zoogeochemistry of the carbon cycle. Science 362: eaar3213.

van Eeden, L.M., et al. 2018. Carnivore conservation needs evidence-based livestock protection. PLoS Biology 16(9): e2005577.
See all publications.

2016-2017 Schmitz Lab Members (from left to right): Os, Julia M, Rob B, Mary B, Alex M, Adam E, Sam M, and Kat W.