Publications

Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) are a large carnivore species known to range across broad savanna regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Although hyenas have occasionally been observed in rainforest habitat, they have been considered largely transient through...

Metrics of structural vegetation complexity derived from airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) have been used extensively in studies on plant ecology, animal behavior and the distribution of biodiversity. However, the acquisition of remotely-sensed...

Grassy ecosystems cover >25% of the world’s land surface area. The abundance of herbaceous vegetation in these systems directly impacts a variety of ecological processes, including carbon sequestration, regulation of water and nutrient cycling, and...

1. Ecologists, foresters and conservation practitioners need ‘biodiversity scanners’ to effectively inventory biodiversity, audit conservation progress and track changes in ecosystem function. Quantifying biological diversity using remote sensing methods...

1. Fire-herbivory feedbacks strongly influence the formation of grazing lawns in savanna ecosystems. Preliminary findings suggest that small-scale (<25 ha) fires can engineer grazing lawns by concentrating herbivores on the post-burn green flush; however...

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, more potent than carbon dioxide, and emitted from a variety of natural sources including wetlands, permafrost, mammalian guts and termites. As increases in global temperatures continue to break records, quantifying...

Termite mounds are keystone structures in African savannas, affecting multiple ecosystem processes. Despite the large size of termite mounds having the potential to modify conditions around them, patterns of mound-induced ecosystem effects have been...

Abstract The flexibility of UAV-lidar remote sensing offers a myriad of new opportunities for savanna ecology, enabling researchers to measure vegetation structure at a variety of temporal and spatial scales. However, this flexibility also increases the...

Abstract Woody thickening or ?bush encroachment? is a growing concern in savannas worldwide, and can reportedly be reversed by applying high-intensity fires. Preliminary findings following experimental fires in 2010 and 2013 indicated that woody plant...

    1.    Fire regimes are expected to change with climate change, resulting in a crucial need to understand the specific ways in which variable fire regimes impact important contributors to ecosystem functioning, such as mound-building termites. Termite...

Termites consume substantial amounts of plant material across tropical and subtropical ecosystems. During the process of lignocellulose digestion, the symbiotic methanogenesis within termites’ guts produces the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH4)...

1. Vegetation structural complexity (VSC)—the three-dimensional distribution of plants within an ecosystem—is an important ecological trait. To date, research has focused primarily on the effects of VSC on ecological patterns and processes, but...