The major goals of my research are to elucidate the roles of spatial and temporal variation in population and community ecology and to link theoretical and empirical approaches. Making connections between theory and data requires a mathematical background, knowledge of experimental design and statistical analysis, and an understanding of natural history. I am excited about all three of these areas and use this breadth of interest to encourage the testing of ecological and evolutionary theory, the development of appropriate theory for conservation biology, and an understanding of complex patterns observed in the field.

My current projects include studies of (1) the effects of spatial variation in host-parasitoid interactions, using models and field-work with an agricultural pest (Lygus hesperus) and its specialist egg-parasitoid (Anaphes iole); (2) the community ecology of cynipid gall-wasps on oak trees and their parasitoids; and (3) the role of edaphic spatial variation in patterns of plant and insect biodiversity at four nested spatial scales, from 1 m up to several kilometers, in the central coast range of California.

Selected Publications:

Davies K.F., P. Chesson, S. Harrison, B. D. Inouye, B.A. Melbourne, and K.J. Rice. 2005. Spatial heterogeneity explains the scale dependence of the native-exotic diversity relationship. Ecology in press

Inouye, B.D. 2005. Scaling up from local interactions to regional coexistence across two scales of spatial heterogeneity: Insect larvae in the fruits of Apeiba membranacea. Oecologia. in press

N. Underwood, P. Hambäck, and B. D. Inouye. 2005. Large-scale questions and small-scale data: empirical and theoretical methods for scaling-up in ecology. Oecologia in press

Underwood, N., K. Anderson, and B. D. Inouye. 2005. Induced versus constitutive resistance and the spatial distribution of insect herbivores among plants. Ecology 86(3): 594–602. full article as .pdf

Inouye, B.D. 2005. The importance of the variance around the mean effect size of ecological processes: Comment. Ecology 86(1): 262– 265. full article as .pdf

Mendelson, T., B.D. Inouye, and M. Rausher. 2004. Quantifying patterns in the evolution of reproductive isolation. Evolution 58(7): 1424–1433.full article as .pdf

Postdoctoral Associates:

Anderson, Kurt E.
Lee, Charlotte T

Graduate Students:

Buchanan, Amanda L
Grinath, Joshua
Mordas, Allison
Nomann, Benjamin E.
Spiesman, Brian

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