Ecological Modelling Research Group

Community Ecology

We have very broad interests in community ecology (on coral reefs and elsewhere). Ongoing research topics include:

• Drivers of biodiversity maintenance in coral assemblages.

• Heterospecific aggression and community structure in butterflyfishes

• Diversity-stability relationships

• Trophic dynamics of coral reefs

• Temporal niche partitioning in nitrogen competition by microalgae

Current Researchers:

• Shane Blowes

• Loic Thibaut

• Martino Malerba

• Jordan Casey

• Sean Connolly

Current Collaborators:

• Maria Dornelas
• Andrew Baird
• Joshua Madin
• Morgan Pratchett
• Kirsten Heimann
• John Choat
• Tracy Ainsworth

Selected Publications:

• Salomon, Y., S.R. Connolly, and L. Bode. 2010. Effects of asymmetric dispersal on the coexistence of competing species. Ecology Letters 13: 432–441.

• Thibaut, L.M., S.R. Connolly, and H.P.A. Sweatman. 2012. Diversity and stability of herbivorous fishes on coral reefs. Ecology 93: 891-901.

• Figueiredo, J. and S.R. Connolly. 2012. Dispersal-mediated Coexistence under Recruitment Limitation and Displacement Competition. Ecological Modelling 243: 133-142.

• Malerba, M.E., S.R. Connolly, and K. Heimann. Nitrate-nitrite dynamics and phytoplankton growth: Formulation and experimental evaluation of a dynamic model. Limnology and Oceanography, in press. Accepted 17 June 2012.