Here is a sampling of some projects I have worked on:
Coexistence in complex competitive communities
Competition is a ubiquitous interaction between organisms that structures communities worldwide. Our current understanding of competition derives mostly from two-species models – either mechanistic or phenomenological. This understanding has led to a lot of progress in understanding coexistence of species in communities. While these insights are fairly robust and hold across more complex communities, some of them break down as communities get more complex. Complex communities, however, are harder to manipulate and study. Thus, it is crucial to understand the ways in which the insights from pairwise competition break down in complex communities and the factors causing this.
In collaboration with Thomas Koffel and Chris Klausmeier, I have been doing some theoretical work to investigate competition between three species.
Multi-species coexistence along nutrient gradients
Anthropogenic activity has led to severe nutrient addition in freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. This has led to an increase in productivity across these systems. To understand the impact of this productivity, a body of literature has tried to distinguish between top-down vs bottom up control of food webs in these ecosystems. Typically, these studies analyze the impact of the increased productivity on the equilibrium densities of these species. However, they do not comment on the assembly and maintenance of species diversity in these communities. Since the assembly of the food web determines the diversity of these food webs, it also mediates the impact of increased productivity on these food webs.
Together with Thomas Koffel and Chris Klausmeier, I have been developed a model to investigate the impact of nutrient gradients on community structure and species diversity.
Possibilities of facilitation among consumers sharing a resource (Masters' Thesis)
In a system where two consumer species are consuming one resource, the traditional literature predicts the extinction of one of the consumers. In collaboration with Sumanta Bagchi, I explored this system to look for scenarios where the consumer can facilitate each other, potentially leading to their coexistence. We found some interesting results, which are published in Theoretical Population Biology.
Coexistence in complex competitive communities
Competition is a ubiquitous interaction between organisms that structures communities worldwide. Our current understanding of competition derives mostly from two-species models – either mechanistic or phenomenological. This understanding has led to a lot of progress in understanding coexistence of species in communities. While these insights are fairly robust and hold across more complex communities, some of them break down as communities get more complex. Complex communities, however, are harder to manipulate and study. Thus, it is crucial to understand the ways in which the insights from pairwise competition break down in complex communities and the factors causing this.
In collaboration with Thomas Koffel and Chris Klausmeier, I have been doing some theoretical work to investigate competition between three species.
Multi-species coexistence along nutrient gradients
Anthropogenic activity has led to severe nutrient addition in freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. This has led to an increase in productivity across these systems. To understand the impact of this productivity, a body of literature has tried to distinguish between top-down vs bottom up control of food webs in these ecosystems. Typically, these studies analyze the impact of the increased productivity on the equilibrium densities of these species. However, they do not comment on the assembly and maintenance of species diversity in these communities. Since the assembly of the food web determines the diversity of these food webs, it also mediates the impact of increased productivity on these food webs.
Together with Thomas Koffel and Chris Klausmeier, I have been developed a model to investigate the impact of nutrient gradients on community structure and species diversity.
Possibilities of facilitation among consumers sharing a resource (Masters' Thesis)
In a system where two consumer species are consuming one resource, the traditional literature predicts the extinction of one of the consumers. In collaboration with Sumanta Bagchi, I explored this system to look for scenarios where the consumer can facilitate each other, potentially leading to their coexistence. We found some interesting results, which are published in Theoretical Population Biology.