Julia Monk

New York University | NYU · Department of Environmental Studies

Ungulates play vital roles in ecological systems, shaping plant biomass and diversity via herbivory and impacting soil properties through trampling and nutrient deposition. As ungulate communities fluctuate across the globe, the extent to which wild ungulates and domestic livestock can play similar ecological roles is an increasingly vital - and fr...

Large animals could be important drivers of spatial nutrient subsidies when they ingest resources in some habitats and release them in others, even moving nutrients against elevational gradients. In high Andean deserts, vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) move daily between nutrient‐rich wet meadows, where there is abundant water and forage but high risk of...

Animal carcass decomposition is an often-overlooked component of nutrient cycles. The importance of carcass decomposition for increasing nutrient availability has been demonstrated in several ecosystems, but impacts in arid lands are poorly understood. In a protected high desert landscape in Argentina, puma predation of vicuñas is a main driver of...

Spatial subsidies of nutrients within and among ecosystems have profound effects on ecosystem structure and functioning. Large animals can be important drivers of nutrient cycling and transport as they ingest resources in some habitats and release them in others, even moving nutrients against elevational gradients. In high Andean deserts, vicuñas (...

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban...

Disease outbreaks induced by humans increasingly threaten wildlife communities worldwide. Like predators, pathogens can be key top‐down forces in ecosystems, initiating trophic cascades that may alter food webs. An outbreak of mange in a remote Andean protected area caused a dramatic population decline in a mammalian herbivore (the vicuña), creatin...

Fluxes of matter, energy and information over space and time contribute to ecosystems' functioning and stability. The meta‐ecosystem framework addresses the dynamics of ecosystems linked by these fluxes but, to date, has focused solely on energy and matter. Here, we synthesize existing knowledge of information's effects on local and connected ecosy...

Spatial heterogeneity in ecological systems can result from animal-driven top-down processes, but despite some theoretical attention, the emergence of spatial heterogene-ity from feedbacks caused by animals is not well understood empirically. Interactions between predators and prey influence animal movement and associated nutrient transport and rel...

Energy, nutrients and organisms move over landscapes, connecting ecosystems across space and time. Meta‐ecosystem theory investigates the emerging properties of local ecosystems coupled spatially by these movements of organisms and matter, by explicitly tracking exchanges of multiple substances across ecosystem borders. To date, meta‐ecosystem rese...

Fluxes of matter, energy, and information over space and time contribute to ecosystems’ functioning. The meta-ecosystem framework addresses the dynamics of ecosystems linked by these fluxes, however, to date, meta-ecosystem research focused solely on fluxes of energy and matter, neglecting information. This is problematic due to organisms’ varied r...

Ecosystems are open systems connected through spatial flows of energy, matter, and nutrients. Predicting and managing ecosystem interdependence requires a rigorous quantitative understanding of the drivers and vectors that connect ecosystems across spatio-temporal scales. Animals act as such vectors when they transport nutrients across landscapes i...

Conservation of shorebirds throughout their breeding and migratory ranges has become a priority as shorebird populations decline globally. Along the North Atlantic Coast, management efforts have particularly focused on preserving nesting habitat for piping plovers ( Charadrius melodus ), which are protected under the Endangered Species Act. It is u...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Same-sex sexual behaviour (SSB) has been recorded in over 1,500 animal species with a widespread distribution across most major clades. Evolutionary biologists have long sought to uncover the adaptive origins of ‘homosexual behaviour’ in an attempt to resolve this apparent Darwinian paradox: how has SSB repeatedly evolved and persisted despite its...

The emerging field of eco-evolutionary dynamics has demonstrated that both ecological and evolutionary processes can occur contemporaneously. Ecological interactions, such as between predator and prey, are important focal areas where an eco-evolutionary perspective can advance understanding about phenotypically plastic and adaptive evolutionary res...

Shorebird populations worldwide are declining because of habitat loss from sea‐level rise, accelerated erosion, development, and recreational land use. To better understand the consequences of human recreational activity, we monitored survival, habitat use, condition, and behavior of pre‐fledged piping plover (Charadrius melodus) chicks on Fire Isl...

Between April 2014 and August 2015, we observed 4 Charadrius melodus (Piping Plover) consume small, dead fish, including Anchoa mitchilli (Bay Anchovy) on New York barrier islands. These observations are among the first documented evidence of vertebrate prey in Piping Plover diets. While fish consumption is an opportunistic and infrequent occurrenc...