Oswald J. Schmitz

Oswald J. Schmitz is the Oastler Professor of population and community ecology, in the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His research focuses on studying the linkage between two important components of natural systems: biodiversity and ecosystem services. These issues are examined using field experimentation guided by formal mathematical theory of species interactions. Both theory development and field research is aimed at identifying functionally unique groupings of predators and herbivores. These insights are used to explain how predator and herbivore species determine the species composition and productivity of plants in ecosystems, and ensuing ecosystem processes such as nutrient and carbon cycling. Research also focuses on elucidating how important environmental disturbances, such as global climate change and natural resource exploitation, alter the nature and strength of species interactions in ecosystems and ensuing ecosystem services. The scientific insights aid efforts to conserve vital services that species in ecosystems provide to humankind. His research evaluates how to rethink conservation strategies by considering species as part of a natural portfolio with substantial investment opportunity. This portfolio represents a wealth of potential alternatives to contemporary technologically intensive and expensive approaches in environmental management.

Biography Updated on 15 July 2007

Articles in Scholarly Journals [Incomplete List]

  1. Consequences of body size variation among herbivores on the strength of plant–herbivore interactions in a seasonal environment
    Ecological Modelling, vol. 206, no. 1-2, pp. 119–130, 2007
  2. Alternative Dynamic Regimes and Trophic Control of Plant Succession
    Ecosystems, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 659–672, 2006
  3. Genetic Divergence of Connecticut Melanoplus femurrubrum Populations
    Journal of Heredity, vol. 97, no. 3, pp. 290–293, 2006
  4. PREDATORS HAVE LARGE EFFECTS ON ECOSYSTEM PROPERTIES BY CHANGING PLANT DIVERSITY, NOT PLANT BIOMASS
    Ecology, vol. 87, no. 6, p. 1432, 2006
  5. Biodiversity, Ecosystem Function, and Investment Risk
    BioScience, vol. 56, no. 12, p. 977, 2006
  6. EFFECTS OF GROUPING BEHAVIOR AND PREDATORS ON THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF A FOREST FLOOR ARTHROPOD
    Ecology, vol. 86, no. 4, p. 960, 2005
  7. Pushing the Boundaries of Ecosystems
    Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 301–306, 2005
  8. Scaling from plot experiments to landscapes: studying grasshoppers to inform forest ecosystem management
    Oecologia, vol. 145, no. 2, pp. 224–233, 2005
  9. SCALING FROM INDIVIDUALS TO FOOD WEBS: THE ROLE OF SIZE-DEPENDENT RESPONSES OF PREY TO PREDATION RISK
    Israel Journal of Zoology, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 273–297, 2004
  10. Trait and density mediated indirect interactions in simple food webs
    Oikos, vol. 107, no. 2, pp. 239–250, 2004
  11. Trophic cascades: the primacy of trait-mediated indirect interactions
    Ecology Letters, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 153–163, 2004
  12. Perturbation and abrupt shift in trophic control of biodiversity and productivity
    Ecology Letters, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 403–409, 2004
  13. Ecosystem Responses to Global Climate Change: Moving Beyond Color Mapping
    BioScience, vol. 53, no. 12, p. 1199, 2003
  14. Linking Individual-Scale Trait Plasticity to Community Dynamics1
    Ecology, vol. 84, no. 5, p. 1081, 2003
  15. Top predator control of plant biodiversity and productivity in an old-field ecosystem
    Ecology Letters, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 156–163, 2003
  16. Global climate change and mammalian species diversity in U.S. national parks
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 100, no. 20, pp. 11474–11477, 2003
  17. CONNECTING THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF TRAIT-MEDIATED INTERACTIONS
    Ecology, vol. 84, no. 5, p. 1101, 2003
  18. Aggregate Effects of Multiple Predator Species on a Shared Prey
    Ecology, vol. 83, no. 9, p. 2367, 2002
  19. Linking individuals with ecosystems: Experimentally identifying the relevant organizational scale for predicting trophic abundances
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 99, no. 20, pp. 12927–12931, 2002
  20. Linearity in the aggregate effects of multiple predators in a food web
    Ecology Letters, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 168–172, 2002
  21. Effects of Top Predator Species on Direct and Indirect Interactions in a Food Web
    Ecology, vol. 82, no. 7, p. 2072, 2001
  22. Trophic Cascades in Terrestrial Systems: A Review of the Effects of Carnivore Removals on Plants
    The American Naturalist, vol. 155, no. 2, pp. 141–153, 2000
  23. Predator and Prey Models with Flexible Individual Behavior and Imperfect Information
    The American Naturalist, vol. 155, no. 5, pp. 669–683, 2000
  24. Direct and Indirect Effects of Predation and Predation Risk in Old-Field Interaction Webs
    American Naturalist, vol. 151, no. 4, p. 327, 1998
  25. Trophic Control across a Natural Productivity Gradient with Sap-Feeding Herbivores
    Oikos, vol. 82, no. 3, p. 552, 1998
  26. Press Perturbations and the Predictability of Ecological Interactions in a Food Web
    Ecology, vol. 78, no. 1, p. 55, 1997
  27. Behaviorally Mediated Trophic Cascades: Effects of Predation Risk on Food Web Interactions
    Ecology, vol. 78, no. 5, p. 1388, 1997
  28. Foraging to balance conflicting demands: novel insights from grasshoppers under predation risk
    Behavioral Ecology, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 551–559, 1997
  29. Experimental evidence for a behavior-mediated trophic cascade in a terrestrial food chain
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 94, no. 20, pp. 10735–10738, 1997
  30. Reply from K.H. Johnson et al.
    Trends in Ecology & Evolution, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 32–33, 1997
  31. Evolutionary Ecology, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 73–94, 1997
  32. Evolutionary Ecology, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 379–398, 1997
  33. Evolutionary Ecology, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 773–784, 1997
  34. Biodiversity and the productivity and stability of ecosystems
    Trends in Ecology & Evolution, vol. 11, no. 9, pp. 372–377, 1996
  35. Biodiversity and the Need for Habitat Renewal
    Ecological Applications, vol. 5, no. 3, p. 579, 1995
  36. Parasite-Mediated Competition in Deer and Moose: How Strong is the Effect of Meningeal Worm on Moose?
    Ecological Applications, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 91, 1994
  37. Plant Defenses and Optimal Foraging by Mammalian Herbivores
    Journal of Mammalogy, vol. 75, no. 4, p. 816, 1994
  38. Resource Edibility and Trophic Exploitation in an Old-Field Food Web
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 91, no. 12, pp. 5364–5367, 1994
  39. Trophic exploitation in grassland food chains: simple models and a field experiment
    Oecologia, vol. 93, no. 3, pp. 327–335, 1993
  40. Owen-Smith's evaluation of herbivore foraging models: What is constraining?
    Evolutionary Ecology, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 525–529, 1993
  41. Optimal diet selection by white-tailed deer: Balancing reproduction with starvation risk
    Evolutionary Ecology, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 125–141, 1992
  42. Exploitation in model food chains with mechanistic consumer-resource dynamics
    Theoretical Population Biology, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 161–183, 1992
  43. Plant Chemical Defense and Twig Selection by Snowshoe Hare: An Optimal Foraging Perspective
    Oikos, vol. 65, no. 2, p. 295, 1992
  44. Thermal constraints and optimization of winter feeding and habitat choice in white-tailed deer
    Ecography, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 104–111, 1991
  45. Optimal diet selection with variable nutrient intake: Balancing reproduction with risk of starvation
    Theoretical Population Biology, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 100–114, 1991
  46. Global warming and increasing population densities: a prescription for seal plagues
    Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 280–284, 1990
  47. Management Implications of Foraging Theory: Evaluating Deer Supplemental Feeding
    The Journal of Wildlife Management, vol. 54, no. 4, p. 522, 1990
  48. Intrinsic rate of increase, body size, and specific metabolic rate in marine mammals
    Oecologia, vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 305–309, 1984