The work of Stephen C. Stearns (1989, 1992) has shaped the way I think about evolutionary ecology and population demography. The life-history strategies that organisms employ and the trade-offs that they experience ultimately shape population dynamics. At the same time, we live in a rapidly changing world where anthropogenic actions have tremendous ecological consequences. In the short-term, inter- and intra-annual variation in temperature, precipitation, and extreme weather events have major effects on the success of life-history strategies. In the long-term, anthropogenic actions are changing global climates irrevocably. These changes have critical implications for life-history strategies that evolved over millennia. Understanding the effects of climatic changes on life-history trade-offs is critically important for successful conservation ecology, particularly for specialist organisms with slow-paced life-history strategies.

Representative Publications

  1. Gibson D, Riecke TV, Catlin DH, Hunt KL, Friedrich MJ, Karpanty SM, Koons DK, Fraser JD (2023) Climate change and industrial fishing practices codetermine survival of a long-lived seabird. Global Change Biology, 29, 324-340.

  2. Riecke TV, Hegelbach J, Schaub M (2023) Senescence and mating strategy interact and conflict to drive reproductive success in a passerine. Journal of Animal Ecology, 92, 838-849.

  3. Acevedo CR, Riecke TV, Leach AG, Lohman MG, Sedinger JS. (2020) Are all eggs created equal? Hierarchical models reveal fitness constraints in a long-lived specialist herbivore. Journal of Animal Ecology, 89, 1978-1987.

  4. Leach AG, Riecke TV, Sedinger JS, Ward DH, Boyd WS (2020) Mate fidelity improves survival and breeding propensity of a long-lived bird. Journal of Animal Ecology, 89, 2290-2299.

  5. Leach AG, Sedinger JS, Riecke TV, Van Dellen AW, Ward DH, Boyd WS (2019) Brood size affects future reproduction in a long-lived bird with precocial young. The American Naturalist, 193, 458-471.