Currently my research focuses on the importance of species traits, and specifically whether we can use those traits to predict the existence, strength and structure of trophic interactions within a food web. I am investigating this in a variety of systems and using a number of approaches, including mathematical modeling, mesocosm experiments, spatial food web data, and computer simulations.
I completed my masters with Dr. Daniel Stouffer at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. There my research used computer simulations to study the stability of food webs to different disturbances, and what elements of food web structure increase or decrease their stability to these disturbances.
EF Cagua, KL Wootton, DB Stouffer (2019). Keystoneness, centrality, and the structural controllability of ecological networks. Journal of Ecology
AN Laubmeier, KL Wootton, JE Banks, R Bommarco, A Curtsdotter, T Jonsson, T Roslin, HT Banks (2018) From theory to experimental design - Quantifying a trait-based theory of predator-prey dynamics. PLoS ONE 13(4): e0195919
KL Wootton (2017). Omnivory and stability in freshwater habitats: Does theory match reality? Freshwater Biology 62 (5) 821–832
KL Wootton, DB Stouffer (2016). Species' traits and food-web complexity interactively affect a food web's response to press disturbance. Ecosphere 7(11), e01518 .
KL Wootton, DB Stouffer (2016). Many weak interactions and few strong; food-web feasibility depends on the combination of the strength of species' interactions and their correct arrangement. Theoretical Ecology 9(2), 185–195 .
