My research interests focus on how processes at different spatial scales produce and maintain patterns of species diversity in communities. I approach this within a metacommunity framework whereby local processes (e.g., competition and predation) and regional processes (e.g., dispersal) contribute to overall community dynamics, structure, and ecosystem functioning (Kneitel and Miller 2002, Kneitel and Miller 2003). Ultimately, I am interested in linking these to species traits (Kneitel and Chase 2004) as a mechanism for explaining observed patterns. Further, I use this metacommunity framework to address conservation issues, including species invasions (Kneitel and Perrault 2006) and habitat fragmentation (Ostman, Kneitel, and Chase 2006). This research has been conducted in a variety of systems, including phytotelmata (pitcher plants and treeholes), ponds, California vernal pools, sub-alpine meadows, and grasslands. Here is a sampling of the research currently being conducted in my lab
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Sub-alpine Meadows:
USDA Forest Service supported two Master's students in their research on
- Insect metacommunities (Chris Carr)
- Bird and Mammal habitat use in meadow microhabitats
(Zach Simmons)
Currently, I have funding to test the direct and indirect regulation of meadow plant species diversity by specialist herbivores and abiotic factors..
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Vernal Pools:
I have several projects examining the community ecology of this unique ecosystem, including:
- The role of environmental and spatial processes on diversity patterns in natural and restored vernal pools
- The effects of top-down and bottom-up forces in vernal pool food webs, the productivity-diversity relationship in mesocosm vernal pools
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Invasive Species:
- The effects of invasive New Zealand Mud Snail on riverine invertebrate communities (funded by East Bay Municipal Utility District
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- Community response to removal of invasive Perennial Pepperweed in a tidal marsh
- The role of history, disturbances, and space in species invasions
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