Rebecca Rowe
I am interested in questions at the interface of community ecology, historical ecology, and landscape ecology, and in promoting the use of natural history collections data in ecology and conservation. I conduct field surveys and use historical records and geospatial data to investigate the impact of climate change and land use on species’ distributions and community dynamics, and the processes shaping patterns of diversity along both spatial gradients and disturbance gradients. Work to date has focused on small mammals in mountainous regions. My research is motivated by the need for synthesis across ecological disciplines spanning a range of spatial and temporal scales to provide the necessary framework to better understand and forecast the chronic and cumulative effects of anthropogenic environmental change. Central to this work is the question of how patterns of biodiversity, both their detection and attribution, vary across spatial scales.
Research Interests
- Conservation Biology
- Ecology
- Global Change
- Mammalogy
Courses Taught
- NR 603: Landscape Ecology
- NR 642: Introduction to Biogeography
- NR 712/812: Mammalogy
Selected Publications
Ouimette, A. P., Ollinger, S. V., Lepine, L. C., Stephens, R. B., Rowe, R. J., Vadeboncoeur, M. A., . . . Hobbie, E. A. (2020). Accounting for Carbon Flux to Mycorrhizal Fungi May Resolve Discrepancies in Forest Carbon Budgets. Ecosystems, 23(4), 715-729. doi:10.1007/s10021-019-00440-3
Stephens, R. B., & Rowe, R. J. (2020). The underappreciated role of rodent generalists in fungal spore dispersal networks. Ecology, 101(4). doi:10.1002/ecy.2972
Stephens, R. B., Trowbridge, A. M., Ouimette, A. P., Knighton, W. B., Hobbie, E. A., Stoy, P. C., & Rowe, R. J. (2020). Signaling from below: rodents select for deeper fruiting truffles with stronger volatile emissions. Ecology, 101(3). doi:10.1002/ecy.2964
Stephens, R. B., Burke, C. B., Woodman, N., Poland, L. B., & Rowe, R. J. (2018). Skeletal injuries in small mammals: a multispecies assessment of prevalence and location. Journal of Mammalogy, 99(2), 486-497. doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyy020
Massey, A. L., Rickart, E. A., & Rowe, R. J. (2017). Habitat Use of the Piñon Mouse (Peromyscus truei) in the Toiyabe Range, Central Nevada. Western North American Naturalist, 77(4), 464-477. doi:10.3398/064.077.0407
Rowe, R. J., Terry, R. C., & Rickart, E. A. (2011). Environmental change and declining resource availability for small-mammal communities in the Great Basin. Ecology, 92(6), 1366-1375. doi:10.1890/10-1634.1
Rickart, E. A., Balete, D. S., Rowe, R. J., & Heaney, L. R. (2011). Mammals of the northern Philippines: tolerance for habitat disturbance and resistance to invasive species in an endemic insular fauna. Diversity and Distributions, 17(3), 530-541. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00758.x
Rowe, R. J., Finarelli, J. A., & Rickart, E. A. (2010). Range dynamics of small mammals along an elevational gradient over an 80-year interval. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, 16(11), 2930-2943. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.02150.x
Rowe, R. J. (2009). Environmental and geometric drivers of small mammal diversity along elevational gradients in Utah. Ecography, 32(3), 411-422. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0587.2008.05538.x
Rowe, R. J. (2005). Elevational gradient analyses and the use of historical museum specimens: a cautionary tale. Journal of Biogeography, 32(11), 1883-1897. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01346.x
Most Cited Publications