Research Statement

A key question in ecology and conservation biology is whether an ecosystem can recover to its original state following a perturbation. In the case of perturbations caused by invasive species, ecosystems may have been altered such that they jump to an alternate state. Invasive species removal, then, may not be sufficient to restore ecosystems back to their original states. In such cases, active restoration of ecosystem function must be coupled with invasive species removal to successfully restore systems. I plan to use the many and ongoing rodent eradications on New Zealand offshore islands, and the relatively recent idea of actively restoring seabird populations following rodent removal as a study system to evaluate ecosystem resilience in the face of invasive species removal.

I am using a 3-pronged approach to study island ecosystem recovery following invasive rodent removal.

1) Natural Experiment - I will use islands with different invasive rodent histories to do a systematic replicated natural experiment evaluating ecosystem function on islands with invasive rodents, with invasive rodents removed and no subsequent seabird restoration, with invasive rodents removed and subsequent seabird restoration, and that have never had invasive rodents.

2) Experimental Ecosystem Recovery - Although seabird social attraction islands may exhibit full ecosystem recovery, the social attraction projects on my chosen study islands are only a few years old and seabirds can take decades to recover due to slow reproductive rates. If first season field data show that socially attracted seabird populations are not dense enough to detect nutrient recovery in island food webs, I will simulate seabird recovery using a fertilization experiment.

3) Insular Response Models - I will use the data I gather along with seabird time-activity budgets to model seabird nutrient input on islands. I will then use seabird population data to generate a population viability analysis for seabirds on seabird restoration islands. Finally, I will combine nutrient and seabird models to project both seabird and nutrient recovery into the future.

See more about my research, funding, and for links to my publications at my website http://www.cbc.yale.edu/people/schmitz/Holly%20Jones.html