Alexander Flecker, Cornell University
Professor
Ithaca, New York
asf3@cornell.edu
Office:
(607) 254-4263
Expert In
Bio/Research
Research in my lab is at the interface between community and ecosystem ecology and aims to understand the functional significance of biodiversity. Much of our research focuses on stream ecosystems in both the tropics and temperate zone, addressing questions pertaining to the importance of species...
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Bio/Research
Research in my lab is at the interface between community and ecosystem ecology and aims to understand the functional significance of biodiversity. Much of our research focuses on stream ecosystems in both the tropics and temperate zone, addressing questions pertaining to the importance of species diversity and identity for ecosystem functioning. We have found that species that engineer their physical and chemical environments can be particularly important drivers of ecosystem structure and function. For example, in river systems of South America, migratory fishes can be significant material subsidies as nutrient vectors, or can act as important modulators of ecosystem processes such as carbon and nitrogen cycling or as seed dispersal agents in vast flooded forests. In addition, we are interested in interactions between evolutionary and ecosystem processes in natural systems, working on the influence of phenotypic variation in Trinidadian guppies on stream ecosystem functioning. A further research theme is to use trait-based approaches for understanding the relative vulnerability of species to climate change in tropical versus temperate riverine systems. We are especially interested in placing our work in the context of ecosystem-level consequences of biodiversity loss due to factors such as overharvest and habitat destruction, or species additions via invasions. Part of our research has an international focus, especially in freshwater ecosystems of South America, Mesoamerica, and the Caribbean. We integrate a variety of approaches for testing ideas including observations of natural ecosystems over space and time, lab and mesocosm experiments, and whole-ecosystem manipulations.
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