Impacts of global change on ecological communities, networks and ecosystem functioning

Humans are currently exerting an unprecedented influence on the natural world. The two most important ways in which humans are affecting natural systems is through conversion of natural habitats, and anthropogenic climate change. We are interested in quantifying these influences in terms of changes in the structure of communities and networks, and the consequences of this for ecosystem functioning.

Key publications

Tuma J., Fleiss S., Eggleton P., Frouz J., Klimes P., Lewis O., Yusah K.M. & Fayle T.M. (2019). Logging of rainforest and conversion to oil palm reduces bioturbator diversity but not levels of bioturbation. Applied Soil Ecology 144: 123–133

Nakamura A., Kitching R.L., Cao M., Creedy T.J., Fayle T.M., Freiberg M., Hewitt C.N., Itioka T., Koh L.P., Ma K., Mahli Y., Mitchell A., Novotny V., Ozanne C.M.P., Song L., Wang H., & Ashton L. (2017) Forests and their canopies: achievements and horizons in canopy science. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 32: 438–451

Fayle T.M., Turner E.C., Bassett Y., Ewers R.M., Reynolds G. & Novotny V. (2015) Whole-ecosystem experimental manipulations of tropical forests. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 30: 334–346

Ewers R.M., Boyle M.J.W., Gleave R., Plowman N.S., Benedick S., Bernard H., Bishop T.R., Bakhtiar E.Y., Chey V.K., Chung A.Y.C., Davies R.G., Edwards D.P., Eggleton P., Fayle T.M., Hardwick S.R., Homathevi H., Kitching R.L., Khoo M.S., Luke S.H., March J.J., Nilus R., Pfeifer M., Rao S.V., Sharp A.C. Snaddon J.L., Stork N.E., Struebig M.J., Wearn O.R., Yusah K.M., and Turner E.C. (2015) Logging cuts the functional contribution of invertebrates in tropical rainforest. Nature Communications 6: 6836

Gray C., Lewis O., Chung A.Y. & Fayle T.M. (2015) Riparian reserves within oil palm plantations conserve logged forest leaf litter ant communities and maintain associated scavenging rates. Journal of Applied Ecology 52: 31-40

Konopik O., Gray C., Grafe T.U., Steffan-Dewenter I. & Fayle T.M. (2014) From rain forest to oil palm plantations: shifts in predator population and prey communities, but resilient interactions. Global Ecology and Conservation 2: 385–394