Research Goal
My research program focuses on improving mechanistic understanding of how the interplay between abiotic environmental variation and biotic interactions influence population and community dynamics. I am interested in explaining how population and community dynamics are structured by dispersal, species interactions (e.g., resource competition), and habitat heterogeneity (e.g., spatiotemporal distributions of resources).
1. ROLE OF MOVEMENT IN FRAGMENTATION
BACKGROUND: Habitat loss and fragmentation, when taken together, can negatively impact biodiversity. However, clarification is required to determine the relative importance of the latter, due to the challenges of conducting field studies that distinguish the relative independent impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation. Moreover, species with different locomotion rates respond differently to fragmentation, complicating any direct comparison across differing taxa and landscape patterns. To overcome these challenges, we combine mechanistic mathematical modeling and laboratory experiments to disentangle the impacts of habitat fragmentation and locomotion.
LABORATORY SYSTEM: With great help and encouragement of Dr. Kevin Collins, I set up a laboratory system with nematode C. elegans.
My past study used C. elegans strains with different locomotion speeds (fast VS. slow) to identify a better movement strategy in heterogeneous environments (Zhang et al. 2022 Ecology Letters).
Here at OSU, we continue using these strains with different locomotion patterns, and we developed a technology of printing different sizes of 3D printed blocks to create different arrangements of E. coli (food resource for the nematodes) to change habitat arrangements to mimic fragmentation and habitat loss. See lab pictures below.
My past study used C. elegans strains with different locomotion speeds (fast VS. slow) to identify a better movement strategy in heterogeneous environments (Zhang et al. 2022 Ecology Letters).
Here at OSU, we continue using these strains with different locomotion patterns, and we developed a technology of printing different sizes of 3D printed blocks to create different arrangements of E. coli (food resource for the nematodes) to change habitat arrangements to mimic fragmentation and habitat loss. See lab pictures below.
2. Range Expansion of the Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)
BACKGROUND: Species range shifts due to climate alterations have been increasingly well-documented over the last century. The ability of species to persist and/or shift their range in the face of climate change is largely determined by intraspecific variation, which has not been rigorously incorporated into standard species distribution models when projecting habitat suitability under climate change. Furthermore, amphibians are one of the most sensitive groups of animals to environmental perturbations due to climate change, however, almost no studies have offered evidence of poleward distribution shifts in this taxon in response to climate warming.
METHODS: We studied the role of intraspecific variation in the ongoing range shift of green treefrogs (Hyla cinerea) in response to climate change. We explored factors that are often associated with range shifts (thermal tolerance and dispersal morphology) to test the hypothesis that there would be differences in these traits between recently range-expanded and nearby historical H. cinerea populations. We then tested whether intraspecific variation quantified at a larger scale would affect the accuracy of SDMs for H. cinerea by splitting their range into smaller populations clustered by ecoregion and compared model accuracy with a traditional species-level SDM.
METHODS: We studied the role of intraspecific variation in the ongoing range shift of green treefrogs (Hyla cinerea) in response to climate change. We explored factors that are often associated with range shifts (thermal tolerance and dispersal morphology) to test the hypothesis that there would be differences in these traits between recently range-expanded and nearby historical H. cinerea populations. We then tested whether intraspecific variation quantified at a larger scale would affect the accuracy of SDMs for H. cinerea by splitting their range into smaller populations clustered by ecoregion and compared model accuracy with a traditional species-level SDM.
Owen gave a fantastic presentation to a broad audiences about "What Makes a Frog Rare?", check his video here.