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 pumas and vicuñas in Argentinian grasslands, lions in Kenyan savannas, to insects and their spider predators in aboveground and belowground food webs in Connecticut grasslands.
Lab News
- Check out Os' op-ed on lessons to be learned from COVID-19 about the links between human and nature, featured in Scientific American. This is based on Os' essay Sustaining Humans and Nature as One: Ecological Science and Environmental Stewardship in the recently published A Better Planet: Forty Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future.
- Check out the new paper co-authored by Doctoral student Nat Sommer and former Doctoral student Rob Buchkowski who mentored high school students Stefanie Guiliano and Cerina Karr to publish results of their field research as lead authors Peer J 8:e9184.
Recent Publications
Maher, S.M., E.P. Fenichel, O.J. Schmitz and W.L. Adamowicz. 2020. The economics of ‘conservation debt’: A natural capital approach to revealed valuation of ecological dynamics. Ecological Applications 30(6): e02132.
Schmitz, O.J. and S.J. Leroux. 2020. Food webs and ecosystems: Linking species interactions to the carbon cycle. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 51:271-295.
Sommer, N. and O.J. Schmitz. 2020. Differences in prey personality mediate trophic cascades. Ecology and Evolution 10:9538-9551.
See all publications.
Schmitz, O.J. and S.J. Leroux. 2020. Food webs and ecosystems: Linking species interactions to the carbon cycle. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 51:271-295.
Sommer, N. and O.J. Schmitz. 2020. Differences in prey personality mediate trophic cascades. Ecology and Evolution 10:9538-9551.
See all publications.
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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 |
