M. Henry H. Stevens
, Associate Professor
Ph.D.
(1999) University of Pittsburgh
Areas of Expertise
Ecology and evolution of community dynamics and biodiversity; statistical methods.
Research Interests
Our lab uses several model systems to address a variety of questions in community ecology: What local and regional processes control species diversity and genetic diversity within species? Do communities function differently by virtue of their diversity, per se? How does resource availability influence the dynamics of food webs? How predictable are communities -- do they show multiple basins of attraction? What determines how vulnerable a community is to invasion? To address these questions and others, we do experiments in experimental grasslands, laboratory microcosms, and build new analytic and simulation models.
Selected Publications
Li, W., and Stevens, M.H.H. 2012. Fluctuating resource availability increases invasibility in microbial microcosms. Oikos, 121:435-441.
Reiss, P.T., M.H.H. Stevens, Z. Shehzad, E. Petkova, and M.P. Milham. 2010. On Distance-Based Permutation Tests for Between-Group Comparisons. Biometrics, 66:636-643.
M.H.H. Stevens. 2010 A Primer of Ecology with R. Use R! Series, Springer, 400 pp. Preview
J. A. Banta, M.H.H. Stevens, and M. Pigliucci. 2009. Theoretical models do not account for the effect of nutrient levels on tolerance to apical meristem damage in Arabidopsis thaliana. Oikos, 119:359-369.
Bolker B.M., M.E. Brooks, C.J. Clark, S.W. Geange, J.R. Poulsen, M.H.H. Stevens, and J.S. White. 2009. Generalized linear mixed models: a practical guide for ecology and evolution. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 24:127-135.
Stevens, M.H.H., M. Sanchez, J. Lee, and S. E. Finkel. 2007. Diversification Rates Increase With Population Size and Resource Concentration in an Unstructured Habitat. Genetics 177:2243-2250. PDF for this publications.
Nowlin, Weston H., Maria J. Gonzalez, Michael J. Vanni, M. Henry H. Stevens, Matthew w. Fields, and Jonathon J. Valente. 2007. Allochthonous subsidy of periodical Cicadas affects the dynamics and stability of pond communities. Ecology, 88(9) pp. 2174-2186. PDF for this publications.
Stevens, M.H.H. and C. E. Steiner. 2006. Effects of predation and nutrient enrichment on a food web with edible and inedible prey. Freshwater Biology 51:666-671. PDF for this publication.
Stevens, M.H.H. 2006. Placing local plant species richness in the context of environmental drivers of metacommunity richness. Journal of Ecology, 94:58-65. PDF for this publication