Chercheurs

Sciences de la Vie / VANDERMEER, JOHN

jvander

Position

Margaret Davis Collegiate Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

Thèmes de recherche

Ecology, theoretical ecology, tropical ecology and agroecology

The main research areas of his laboratory are :
- tropical forest ecology,
- tropical agroecology,
- theoretical ecology.
Tropical forest ecology is concentrated on a major project in the Atlantic lowlands of Nicaragua where post hurrican succession has been under study for the past 17 years. Tropical agroecology is concentrated on the ecology of the traditional shaded coffee agroecosystem in southern Mexico where a large plot (45 hectares) has been followed for the past two years and the spatial dynamics of a major arthropod community is under study. Theoretical ecology is focused on the study of coupled systems of consumer/resource (using LV-type equations) and spatial dynamics (usuing stochastic cellular automata and coupled map lattices) connected with the field work in both Nicaragua and Mexico. The lab works closely with the lab of Ivette Perfecto in the School of Natural resources and Environment.

Prix et récompenses

Publications

Vandermeer, J. H. and I. Perfecto. 2006. A keystone mutualism drives pattern in a power function. Science (in press)

Vandermeer, J. H., and M. Pascual. 2005. Competitive coexistence through intermediate polyphagy. Ecological Complexity, (in press).

Vandermeer, J. H. 2005. Omnivory and the stability of food webs. J. Theor. Biol. (in press).

Koelle, K. and J. Vandermeer. 2005. Dispersal-induced desynchronization: from metapopulations to metacommunities. Ecol. Letters, 8:167.

Vandermeer, J. H. 2004. Wada basins and qualitative unpredictability in ecological models. Ecol. Modelling 176:65-74.

Vandermeer, J. H. 2004. Coupled oscillations in food webs: Balancing competition and mutualism in simple ecological models. Am. Nat. 163:857-867

Vandermeer, J., M. A. Evans, P. Foster, T. Höök, M. Reiskind, and M. Wund. 2002. Increased competition may promote species coexistence. PNAS 99:8731-8736.

Vandermeer, J. H., L. Stone, and B. Blasius. 2001. Categories of chaos and fractal basin boundaries in forced predator-prey models. Chaos, solitons and fractals 12:265-276.

II. Dynamics of rain forest succession -- field work in Nicaragua in rain forest damaged by Hurricane Joan and by agricultural activities. This research is concentrated at two sites on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua in the area visited by Hurricane Joan in 1988. Annual censuses of all trees in these plots provide data for the analysis of post disturbance succession in this highly diverse tropical ecosystem, with comparative post-agricultural sites. Representative publications include:

Vandermeer, J. H. and I. Granzow de la Cerda. 2004. Height dynamics of the thinning canopy of a tropical rain forest: 14 years of succession in a post-hurricane forest in Nicaragua. Forest Ecology and Management, 199:125-135.

Vandermeer, J. H., I. Granzow de la Cerda, I. Perfecto, D. H,. Boucher, J. Ruiz and A. Kaufmann. 2004. Multiple basins of attraction in a tropical rain forest: evidence for non-equilibrium community structure. Ecology 85:575-579.

Ferguson, B. G., J. Vandermeer, H. Morales and D. Griffith. 2003. Post agricultural succession in El Peten, Guatemala. Conservation Biology 17:818-828.

Vandermeer, J. H., D. H. Boucher, I. Granzow de la Cerda, and I. Perfecto. 2001.
Growth and development of the thinning canopy in a post hurricane tropical rain forest in Nicaragua. Forest Ecology and Management 148:221-242.

Vandermeer, J. H., I. Granzow de la Cerda, D. Boucher, I. Perfecto, and J. Ruiz. 2000. Hurricane disturbance and tropical tree species diversity. Science 290:788-791.

Vandermeer, J. H., A. Brenner, and I. Granzow de la Cerda. 1999. Growth rates of tree height six years after hurricane damage at four localities in eastern Nicaragua. Biotropica 30:502-509.

III. Ecology of multidimensional agroecological systems -- intercropping systems and agroforestry systems in Tropical America, field work in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico. The focus is on the role of biodiversity in the functioning of agroecosystems, especially the multispecies systems so common in tropical areas. Recent publications include:

Vandermeer, J. and I. Perfecto. 2005. The future of farming and conservation. Letter to Science, Vol 308:1257-1258.

Perfecto, I., J. Vandermeer, L. Soto, y A. Mas. 2005. Biodiversity, yield and shade coffee certification. Ecological Economics, 54:435-446.

Armbrecht, I., I. Perfecto, and J. Vandermeer. 2004. Enigmatic biodiversity correlations: litter ant biodiversity in a coffee landscape. Science 304:284-286.

Philpott, S. M. , J. Maldonado, J. Vandermeer, I. Perfecto. 2004. Taking trophic cascades up a level: behaviorially-modified effects of phorid flies on ants and ant prey in coffee agroecosystems. Oikos 105:141-147.

Perfecto, I., J. Vandermeer, T. Deitch, and A. Mas. 2003. Tritaxa comparison of species diversity in different coffee production systems in Chiapas, Mexico. Biodiversity and Conservation 12:1239-1252

Vandermeer, J., I. Perfecto, G. Ibarra Nuñez, S. Phillpott, and A. Garcia Ballinas. 2002. Ants (Azteca sp.) as potential biological control agents in shade coffee production in Chiapas, Mexico. Agroforestry Systems 56:271-276.

Vandermeer, J. 2002. Tropical Agroecosystems (edited volume). CRC Press, Boca Raton.