what do we do?

The over-arching research theme in the 
​Laboratory for Landscape and Conservation Ecology
has been to explore how spatial pattern influences ecological processes:
from individual dispersal and movement behavior;
to population distributions and dynamics;
to species interactions and community patterns 

In other words, we do landscape ecology,
​with an emphasis on questions related to the consequences of 
habitat loss, fragmentation, and land management 
for species and processes of ​conservation or ecological concern

researcH projects

Research in the LLACE has involved various methodological approaches, spanning a broad range of ecological responses to landscape change by various species in forest and grassland ecosystems

• Modelling extinction risk and the adaptive response of migratory songbirds to habitat loss and fragmentation
• Assessing the regional viability of grassland birds in the Flint Hills, the largest intact tallgrass prairie left in the world
• Defining the landscape ecology of invasive spread
• Assessing the risk of disease spread in spatially heterogeneous landscapes (landscape epidemiology)
• Evaluating landscape and population connectivity for vertebrates (snakes and lizards) in managed grasslands
• Experimental landscape ecology:  partitioning the direct and indirect effects of habitat amount versus fragmentation on species and their interactions (insects)
• Quantifying the local vs. landscape effects of agricultural land use on the abundance and distribution of vertebrates (anurans and bats) in the Brazilian Cerrado, a tropical savanna and global biodiversity hotspot

For a list of publications related to these and other projects, please click on the PUBLICATIONS link