Faculty by Research Areas
Douglas J. Levey
personal site
Professor
Ph. D.
University of Wisconsin, 1986
621 Carr
Box 118525
Gainesville, FL
32611-8525
Voice: (352) 392-9169
Fax: (352) 392-3704
dlevey@zoology.ufl.edu
Research Interests
I
am broadly interested in the evolutionary ecology of plant-animal
interactions, especially seed dispersal and especially in the tropics.
For example, one of my research projects addresses the evolutionary
ecology of chili peppers in Bolivia, where one can find chili species
that are polymorphic for production of capsaicin (the compound that
makes hot peppers hot). I’m also exploring the evolution of
bird migration in South America and the conservation value of habitat
corridors in South Carolina.
Students Currently Supervised
Connie Clark
(PH.D)
Roles of seed limitation, recruitment limitation, and Janzen-Connell
effects on tree species diversity. (Africa)
Alex
Jahn (PH.D)
www.zoology.ufl.edu/centers/migration/
Evolutionary ecology of austral bird migration. (Argentina and Bolivia)
Jill
Jankowski (PH.D, co-advised with Scott
Robinson)
Tropical bird community structure. (Costa Rica and Peru)
Silvia
Lomáscolo (PH.D)
Coevolution of figs and their seed dispersers. (New Guinea)
Gustavo
Londoño
(PH.D, co-advised with Scott Robinson)
Nesting ecology of tropical birds; seed dispersal. (Colombia)
Carlos
Manchego (MS)
Evolutionary ecology of chili peppers. (Bolivia)
Julian
Resasco (PH.D)
Habitat corridors and ant communities. (South Carolina)
Representative Publications
Clark, C. J., J. R. Poulsen, D. J. Levey, and C. W.
Osenberg. 2007. Are plant populations seed limited? A meta-analysis and
critique of seed addition experiments.
Levey, D. J., J. J. Tewksbury, M. L. Cipollini, and T. A. Carlo. 2006.
A field test of the directed deterrence hypothesis in two species of
wild chilies. Oecologia 150:61-69.
Damschen, E. I., N. M. Haddad, J. L. Orrock, J. J.
Tewksbury, and D. J. Levey. 2006. Corridors increase plant species
richness at large scales. Science 313: 1284-1286.
Levey, D.J., B.M. Bolker, J. J. Tewksbury, S. Sargent,
and N.M. Haddad. 2005. Effects of landscape corridors on seed dispersal
by birds. Science 309:146-148. [pdf reprint]
Levey, D.J. 2005. Adding SPICE to science. Science Scope 28:30-32.
(published in collaboration with M.W. McCoy, K.A. McCoy, and S.J.
Brooks) [pdf reprint]
Levey, D.J., R.S. Duncan, and C.J. Levins. 2004. Use of dung as a tool
by burrowing owls. Nature 431:39. [pdf
reprint]
Moegenburg, S.M. and D.J. Levey. 2002. Prospects for conserving
biodiversity in Amazonian extractive reserves. Ecology Letters
5:320-324. [pdf reprint]
Tewksbury, J.J., D.J. Levey, N.M. Haddad, S. Sargent, J.L. Orrock, A.
Weldon, B. J. Danielson, J. Brinkerhoff, E.I. Damschen, and P.
Townsend. 2002. Corridors affect plants, animals, and their
interactions in fragmented landscapes. PNAS 99:12923-12926. [pdf
reprint]
Wenny, D.G. and D.J. Levey. 1998. Directed seed dispersal by bellbirds
in a tropical cloud forest. PNAS 95:6204-6207. [pdf reprint]