604-822-1350 srivast@zoology.ubc.ca

I do experimental field research in community ecology. My research interests are fairly broad but center around the ecology of species diversity. In particular, my research addresses four key questions: 1. How is ecosystem function related to trophic and species diversity? The Earth is currently losing species at a higher rate than that any other time in the last million years. What effect will this loss in species diversity have on vital ecosystem functions, such as carbon fixation and decomposition? This is a large question, but we can begin to get an idea of the answers by using small-scale communities, such as the detritivorous insects in bromeliads (see below) and enclosures in streams. I have been involved in a number of research syntheses in this field. 2. How important is the regional species pool for maintenance of local species richness? If local species richness depends heavily on regional processes (long-range dispersal, species invasions and evolutionary events), then conservation needs to focus more on the preservation of large regions and dispersal corridors than on the preservation of isolated habitats. This question can be addressed by comparing species richness in similar habitats around the world; we are carrying out such comparisons with bromeliad insects, treeholes insects and bracken herbivores. We are also directly testing this idea by using mites in moss patches. 3. How does habitat affect local species diversity? I use aquatic insects in Costa Rican bromeliads to examine how habitat geometry and size affects insect communities. Bromeliad complexity appears to provide a stochastic refuge for prey species, but also reduces their searching efficiency for resources. Bromeliad size is linked to drought risk, especially important for the top predator in bromeliads, a long-lived damselfly larva. This may explain why large bromeliads have more trophic levels than small bromeliads. Our research on mites in moss patches indicates that habitat connectivity is especially important for recovery of communities from catastrophic disturbance. We have also used mites in moss patches as a model system to study the effects of no-take reserves on harvest sustainability. 4. How do human activities affect species diversity? New research in Costa Rica explores the effects of landscape changes, such as forest fragmentation, on decomposer food webs and processes. Previous research in Cameroon showed that logging affects the diversity of different taxa in very different ways. Earlier research examined effects of goose management on arctic marshes, and effects of eutrophication on lake vegetation.

B.Sc. (1990) Dalhousie University M.Sc. (1993) University of Toronto Ph.D. (1997) Imperial College at Silwood Park, UK UBC Biodiversity Postdoc (1997-1999), UBC Lecturer (1999), Simon Fraser University NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow (1999-2001), UBC

Research systems.

My approach to research has been to first decide upon an exciting research question, and then find a good system with which to test it. Most of the systems I am currently using involve contained communities of invertebrates:

• Aquatic insects contained within bromeliads (tropical epiphytes, research carried out in northwestern Costa Rica): website
• Micro-invertebrates confined to moss patches (research carried out in southwestern British Columbia) website
• Soil mites in patches of trees retained after forestry: website

Such contained communities are particularly useful systems for testing diversity theory; they are small, discrete and numerous, allowing for complete census of species richness and replicated manipulations.

 

Current research projects:

• ·Landscape effects on the structure and functioning of tropical decomposer foodwebs: MSc student Melissa Cuke
• Effects of aquatic insects on the nitrogen nutrition of bromeliads. PhD student Jackie Ngai
• Competition amongst bromeliad mosquitoes: niche vs neutral explanations for species distributions: PhD student Ben Gilbert
• Plant community composition and invasion success: PhD student Ben Gilbert
• Landscape effects on the local diversity of micro-invertebrates (mites and collembola) in moss patches. Collaborator: A. Gonzalez, McGill.
• Modeling the trophic distribution of biomass in bromeliad food webs: collaborator Risa Sargent, Berkeley
• Effects of insect extinctions on protozoan diversity in Costa Rican bromeliads. Collaborator: T. Bell, Oxford University.
• Biogeographical comparisons of bromeliad food webs. Collaborator: B. Richardson, Edinburgh, MK Trzcinski Dept Fisheries Oceans
• Grren tree retention and soil biodiversity. 9 collaborators, lead by Sue Grayston Forestry.

Recent graduate projects:

• Determinants of local species richness of mites in moss patches. Graduated PhD student: B. Starzomski.
• Moss patches as a model system to study harvesting impacts on diversity. Graduated MSc. student: K. Venter
• Lewis Woodpecker habitat selection and nesting success. Graduated MSc student Xiang Zhu.
• Rhinocerous auklets: diet and energetics. Graduated MSc student Jessica Beaubier
  
  

Graduate students

I will be accepting new graduate students to start Sept 2009/ Jan 2010. Please send your cv, transcript and a statement of research interests to me (via email) as soon as possible. I am accepting students to do research projects on:

1. Bromeliad insect food webs in Costa Rica and other Neotropical countries: biogeographic comparisons.

2. Landscape alteration and ecosystem functioning (Costa Rica)

3. Testing spatial ecology and conservation biology theory using mites in moss patches (Canada)

 

Mite biodiversity database: Derek Tan

Publications:

Ngai, J.T. and D.S. Srivastava. 2006. Predators accelerate nutrient cycling in a bromeliad ecosystem Science 314:963 PDFmain article PDF supplemental

Bradley J. Cardinale, Diane S. Srivastava, J. Emmett Duffy, Justin P. Wright, Amy L. Downing, Mahesh Sankaran, Claire Jouseau. 2006. Effects of biodiversity on the functioning of trophic groups and ecosystems Nature 443:989-992

Srivastava, D.S. 2006. Habitat structure, trophic structure and ecosystem function: interactive effects in a bromeliad-insect community. Oecologia 149: 493-504. PDF

Fox, J.E. and D.S. Srivastava. 2006. Predicting local–regional richness relationships using island biogeography models. Oikos 113: 376-382. PDF

Srivastava, D.S. and M Vellend. 2005. Biodiversity-ecosystem function research: Is it relevant to conservation? Annual Review of Ecology Evolution Systematics 36: 267-290.PDF

Raffaelli, D, Solan M, Cardinale BJ, Downing AL, Engelhardt KAM, Ruesink JL, Srivastava DS. 2005. Reinventing the wheel in ecology research? Response. Science 307: 1875-1876.PDF

Srivastava, D.S. 2005. Do local processes scale to global patterns? The role of drought and the species pool in determining treehole insect diversity Oecologia 145: 205-215 PDF

He, F., Gaston, K.J., Connor, E.F., Srivastava, D.S. 2005. The local-regional relationship: immigration, extinction and scale. Ecology PDF

Srivastava D.S., Melnychuk M.C., Ngai J.T. 2005. Landscape variation in the larval density of a bromeliad-dwelling zygopteran, Mecistogaster modesta (Odonata: Pseudostigmatidae). International Journal of Odonatology PDF

Solan M, Cardinale BJ, Downing AL, Engelhardt KAM, Ruesink JL, Srivastava DS. 2004. Extinction and ecosystem function in the marine benthos. Science 306: 1177-80. PDF

Srivastava, D.S., J.Kolasa, J. Bengtsson, A. Gonzalez, S.P. Lawler, T.E. Miller, P. Munguia, T. Romanuk, D.C. Schneider, M.K. Trzcinski. 2004. Are natural microcosms useful model systems for ecology? Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 19:379-384. PDF*. Copyright (2004), posted with permission from Elsevier, Trends in Ecology and Evolution http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01695347

Shurin, J and D. S. Srivastava. 2005 New Perspectives on Local and Regional Diversity: Beyond Saturation. In: Metacommunities (Ed. By M. Holyoak, M. Leibold and R. Holt). University of Chicago.

Stork, N.E., D.S. Srivastava, A.D. Watt, and T.B. Larsen. 2003. Butterfly diversity and silvicultural practice in lowland rainforests of Cameroon. Biodiversity and Conservation 12: 387-410. PDF

Srivastava, D.S. 2002. The role of conservation in expanding biodiversity research. Oikos 98:351-360. PDF

Melnychuk, M. and D.S. Srivastava. 2002.Vertical distibution of a bromeliad-dwelling damselfly larva (Mecistogaster modesta) in a Costa Rican rainforest. International Journal of Odonatologia, 5 (1): 81-97.

Srivastava, D.S. and R.L. Jefferies. 2002. Intertidal plant communities of a sub-Arctic salt marsh, isostatic uplift and herbivory. Ecoscience 9: 112-118.

Ruesink, J.L. and D.S. Srivastava. 2001. Numerical and per capita responses to species loss: mechanisms maintaining ecosystem function in a community of stream insect detritivores. Oikos 93: 221-234.

Srivastava, D.S. 2001. Masculinity. Bulletin of the British Ecological Society 32(3):20.

Srivastava, D.S. 1999. Using local-regional richness plots to test for species saturation: Pitfalls and potentials. Journal of Animal Ecology 68: 1-17. PDF

Srivastava, D.S. 1999. El mundo en miniatura de las Bromelias [The minature world of bromeliads]. Rothschildia 6: 8-11.

Srivastava, D.S. and J.H. Lawton 1998. Why more productive sites have more species: an experimental test of theory using tree-hole communities. American Naturalist 152:510-529. PDF

Srivastava, D.S. and J.L. Ruesink. 1998. Population growth and environmental destruction: it isn't that simple! Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 79:219-221.

Lawton, J.H., D.E. Bignell, B. Bolton, G.F. Bloemers, P. Eggleton, P.M. Hammond, M. Hodda, R.D. Holt, T.B. Larsen, N.A. Mawdsley, N.E. Stork, D.S. Srivastava, and A.D. Watt. 1997. Biodiversity inventories, indicator taxa and effects of habitat modification in tropical forest. Nature 391:72-76.

Srivastava, D.S., J.H. Lawton and G.D. Robinson. 1997. Spore-feeding: A new, regionally-vacant niche for bracken herbivores. Ecological Entomology 22:475- 478.

Watt, A.D., N.E. Stork, P. Eggleton and D.S. Srivastava. 1996. Impact of forest loss and regeneration on insect abundance and diversity. In: Forests and Insects (A.D. Watt, N.E. Stork and M.D. Hunter, ed.), Chapman and Hall, London, pp 271-284.

Srivastava, D.S. and R.L. Jefferies. 1996. A positive feedback: herbivory, plant growth, salinity and the desertification of an arctic salt-marsh. Journal of Ecology 84: 31- 42. PDF

Srivastava, D.S. and R.L. Jefferies. 1995. Mosaics of vegetation and soil salinity: a consequence of goose foraging in an arctic salt marsh. Canadian Journal of Botany 73: 75-83.

Srivastava, D.S. and R.L. Jefferies. 1995. The effect of salinity on the leaf and shoot demography of two arctic forage species. Journal of Ecology 83: 421-430. PDF

Srivastava, D.S., C.A. Staicer, B. Freedman. 1995. Aquatic vegetation of Nova Scotian lakes differing in acidity and trophic status. Aquatic Botany 51: 181-196. PDF

Jefferies, R.L., F.L. Gadallah, D.S. Srivastava and D.J. Wilson. 1995. Desertification and trophic cascades in arctic coastal ecosystems: a potential climatic change scenario? In: Global Change and Arctic Terrestrial Systems: Ecosystem Research Report 10 (T.V. Callaghan, U. Molau, M.J. Tyson, J.I. Holten, W.C. Oechel, T. Gilmanov, B. Maxwell and B. Sveinbjorinsson, eds.), pp 201-205. European Commision Directorate General XII, Brussels and Luxembourg.

Staicer, C.A., B. Freedman, D.S. Srivastava, N. Dowd, J. Kilgar, J. Hayden, F. Payne and T. Pollock. 1994. Use of lakes by black duck broods in relation to biological, chemical, and physical features. Hydrobiologia 279/280: 185-199.

*Elsevier wishes me to remind you that single copies of the article can be downloaded and printed only for the reader’s personal research and study