Current Research

Our lab is interested in community ecology, conservation biology and computational applications in both of these areas. Below are some specific projects. Descriptions in boldface are also links to more detailed descriptions.

Applied Spatio-Temporal Population Dynamics

After some studies of extinction dynamics in small patches and islands, and testing classic island biogeography theory against data, we have moved in the direction of studying how active, directed movement changes our predictions of the spatial distributions of organisms in patchy environments. Examples of this work include the discovery of some surprizing patterns in the island biogeography of breeding bird populations in the UK and Ireland, analysis of the movement patterns of elephants (and soon bears) in heterogenous landscapes, and the complex metapopulation dynamics of colonially-breeding herons and egrets in in the New York/New Jersey Harbor.

• RUSSELL, G. J. & A. ROSALES (2010) Sociability leads to instability: site-switching cascades in a colonial species. Theoretical Ecology 3: 3–12.
• HARRIS, G. M., G. J. RUSSELL, R. I. VAN AARDE & S. L. PIMM (2008) Rules of habitat use by elephants (Loxodonta africana) in southern Africa: insights for regional management. Oryx 42(1): 1–10.
• RUSSELL, G. J., T. M. REED, J. M. DIAMOND & S. L. PIMM (2006) Breeding birds on small islands: island biogeography or optimal foraging? Journal of Animal Ecology 75(2): 324–339.

We also engaged in creating a large-scale spatial model of the endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimis mirabilis). This project is funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

A recent development is an attempt to adapt the concept of metapopulation capacity to the assessment of species’ extinction threat. Jessica Schnell is taking the lead on this.

Automated species identification

This is a new project (started Summer 2007), funded by the National Science Foundation, to develop an underwater camera system for the automated identification and counting of coral reef fish. I am working in collaboration with Joe Wilder of Rutgers’ Center for Advanced Information Processing (CAIP).

Click here to see the proposal.

Community Dynamics Incorporating Evolution

Ecological game theory — ONGOING
Automated Monitoring

Novel Ecology: The Ecology and Management of Non-Natural Ecosystems

Clearinghouse of studies

Opportunities to get involved

Right now I am looking for volunteers to help with the following projects

Translation for www.eco-tools.net.

This involves the creation of versions of one of the eco-tools modules — Simple PVA — in as many languages as possible. I already have volunteers for Spanish, Portugese and French. I would like to add some non-Roman languages if possible, so if you can translate into Russian, Chinese, etc., and especially if you know how to make a web page in these languages, please get in touch. But any languages are welcome — the more, the merrier.
The work is not arduous, because the web pages are not long — although they are a bit technical — so it shouldn't take too long for someone who is fluent.

Modeling organisms using Maya.

I am looking for someone with moderate proficiency in using the 3D modeling program Maya, to assist in a pilot project for the automated species ID project described above.