Marcel Holyoak's Home Page

My research program focuses on questions about the importance of spatial dynamics to populations and communities. It addresses theories that are central to conservation and the maintenance of biodiversity, and combines field, laboratory and theoretical components. Many of these projects are collaborative, as described on the pages for each topic area.

My work focuses on four major topics:

(1) I am interested in the role of spatial dynamics in ecological communities (metacommunity ecology). Ongoing research investigates the factors that maintain species diversity in both laboratory and field systems. This work also re-evaluates and challenges existing community theory that was developed for closed local communities. Recent directions include investigating the effects of spatial spread in response to global climate change on the structure of ecological communities.

(2) Conservation of a threatened insect species, the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle. This project aims to better understand regional population survival using knowledge of local and regional dynamics. It includes consideration of both habitat restoration efforts and landscape-scale factors.

(3) The ecology of organismal movement. Collaborative projects developed an integrative conceptual framework for considering the movement of all kinds of organisms. I conducted an extensive literature review to identify what studies of movement usually study, and how they can be improved. In the long-term I would like to integrate the biology of movement into population and community ecology in more complete ways.

(4) A long-held interest of mine is developing and testing theory about metapopulations. This work uses microorganisms (protozoa and bacteria) in laboratory microcosms and theoretical models as tools for testing and improving ecological theory about mechanisms of persistence.

Curriculum Vitae as a PDF file

I am Editor-in-Chief for Ecology Letters. I am a past member of the editorial board of The American Naturalist and Ecology/Ecological Monographs, and a former member of the Faculty of 1000 in biology.

Teaching

I accept students through the Graduate Group in Ecology, although my ability to do this is usually dependent on funding being available. Information for prospective graduate students.

I currently teach two courses. I am also the master advisor for students in the Environmental Biology and Management major and co-Master Advisor of the new Environmental Science and Management major.

See SmartSite.ucdavis.edu for course pages.

EVE104 "Community Ecology" is a general upper division undergraduate class in the ecology of natural communities. Topics covered include population growth and density dependence; predation; exploitative, interference and apparent competition; coexistence mechanisms; niches, spatial and temporal variation; stability, diversity, and productivity of food webs; applications to conservation and biological control. Prerequisites: EVE 101 or ESP 100. It is taught in Winter quarter during odd numbered years.

ECL200A "Ecological Principles and Applications" forms the first part of the core course for the Graduate Group in Ecology. The main aim of Ecology 200A is to provide students with a broad background in the principles, theoretical underpinnings, and applications of ecology. This serves as preparation for more specialized courses in the ecology program and gives students a general grounding in ecology. The course has a lecture and discussion format. Lectures aim to give the necessary background to understand ongoing debates in ecology and to synthesize the current state of empirical and theoretical knowledge of a broad range of areas in ecology.

Last modified 04/20/2009, M. Holyoak