Simon D. Schowanek- PhD
- Post-Doctoral Researcher at Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Simon D. Schowanek
- PhD
- Post-Doctoral Researcher at Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Postdoctoral Researcher in Ecology and Conservation
About
17
Publications
25,742
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
2,080
Citations
Introduction
Researching the history, ecology, and restoration of large herbivores.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
December 2016 - May 2020
Position
- PhD Student
Description
- Researching the history, ecology and restoration of large herbivores
Education
September 2014 - December 2016
September 2011 - June 2014
Publications
Publications (17)
Various authors have suggested that extinctions and extirpations of large mammalian herbivores during the last ca. 50,000 years have altered ecological processes. Yet, the degree to which herbivore extinctions have influenced ecosystems has been difficult to assess because past changes in herbivore impact are difficult to measure directly. Here, we...
Changes in lunar illumination alter the balance of risks and opportunities for animals, influencing activity patterns and species interactions. We examined if and how terrestrial mammals respond to the lunar cycle in some of the darkest places: the floors of tropical forests. We analysed long-term camera trapping data on 86 mammal species from 17 p...
Since prehistory, humans have altered the composition of ecosystems by causing extinctions and introducing species. However, our understanding of how waves of species extinctions and introductions influence the structure and function of ecological networks through time remains piecemeal. Here, focusing on Australia, which has experienced many extin...
Changes in lunar illumination alter the balance of risks and opportunities for animals at night, influencing activity patterns and species interactions. Our knowledge about behavioral responses to moonlight is incomplete, yet it can serve to assess and predict how species respond to environmental changes such as light pollution or loss of canopy co...
Aim
Reinstating large, native herbivores is an essential component of ecological restoration efforts, as these taxa can be important drivers of ecological processes. However, many herbivore species have gone globally or regionally extinct during the last 50,000 years, leaving simplified herbivore assemblages and trophically downgraded ecosystems. H...
Prehistoric and recent extinctions of large-bodied terrestrial herbivores had significant and lasting impacts on Earth’s ecosystems due to the loss of their distinct trait combinations. The world’s surviving large-bodied avian and mammalian herbivores remain among the most threatened taxa. As such, a greater understanding of the ecological impacts...
Significance
Humans have caused extinctions of large-bodied mammalian herbivores over the past ∼100,000 y, leading to cascading changes in ecosystems. Conversely, introductions of herbivores have, in part, numerically compensated for extinction losses. However, the net outcome of the twin anthropogenic forces of extinction and introduction on herbi...
Large-bodied mammalian herbivores can influence processes that exacerbate or mitigate climate change. Herbivore impacts are, in turn, influenced by predators that place top-down forcing on prey species within a given body size range. Here, we explore how the functional composition of terrestrial large-herbivore and -carnivore guilds varies between...
Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research sp...
There are strong opposing views among conservationists about whether we have to intervene to safeguard our natural heritage or not. In the Western European tradition, human intervention has been dominating, whereas, elsewhere, rewilding aimed at restoring self-regulating ecosystems has often been preferred. However, cultural rather than ecological...
Data needed for macroecological analyses are difficult to compile and often hidden away in supplementary material under non-standardized formats. Phylogenies, range data, and trait data often use conflicting taxonomies and require ad hoc decisions to synonymize species or fill in large amounts of missing data. Furthermore, most available data sets...
