What drives ecosystems’ functioning? How does landscape structure affect what plants and animals are found where, and what they’re doing there? The Little Ecology Group’s research focuses on two pathways: community ecology and meta-ecosystem ecology. The first considers how communities of organisms assemble, the interactions between organisms of similar and different trophic groups, and how their traits contribute to ecosystem function. We are also fascinated by the way that ecosystems are intrinsically connected: by organismal movement and dispersal, and by the flows of materials (for example, resource subsidies) across ecosystem boundaries. So the second avenue of our research considers how these exchanges affect the functioning of recipient ecosystems. We use a combination of laboratory experiments, field experiments, observational data, and data synthesis/meta-analysis in our research.

As stated in its name, the Little Ecology Group values each little piece that makes up our collective group. You can find out more about our values by clicking “Join Us.”