Dr. Dylan Craven

Postdoc

email: dylan.craven[at]uni-goettingen.de
phone: +49-(0)551-39-10443

Research interests

I am a plant community ecologist interested in temporal and spatial patterns of biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems and their ability to resist and recover from global change drivers. More specifically, I study how multiple facets of biodiversity, e.g. taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional, are mediated by contemporary ecological and historical biogeographical drivers. I test these questions across a wide range of ecosystems, from experimental temperate grasslands to tropical island forests.

At the University of Göttingen, I am developing an extensive database of forest plots across islands that will be integrated with GIFT (Global Inventory of Floras and Traits; http://gift.uni-goettingen.de/map). Together these two databases will enable us to link biodiversity patterns across multiple spatial scales.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Yale University, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (2012)
Masters of Forest Science, Yale University, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (2006)
Bachelor of Arts, University of Virginia (2000)

Selected Publications

Craven, D., Eisenhauer, N., Pearse, W.D., Hautier, Y., Isbell, F., Roscher, C., Bahn, M., Beierkuhnlein, C., Bönisch, G., Buchmann, N., Byun, C., Catford, J.A., Cerabolini, B.E.L., Cornelissen, J.H.C., Craine, J.M., De Luca, E., Ebeling, A., Griffin, J.N., Hector, A., Hines, J., Jentsch, A., Kattge, J., Kreyling, J., Lanta, V., Lemoine, N., Meyer, S.T., Minden, V., Onipchenko, V., Polley, H.W., Reich, P.B., van Ruijven, J., Schamp, B., Smith, M.D., Soudzilovskaia, N.A., Tilman, D., Weigelt, A., Wilsey, B. & Manning, P. 2018. Multiple facets of biodiversity drive the diversity–stability relationship. Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0647-7 pdf

Craven, D., J.S. Hall, M.S. Ashton, G.P. Berlyn, and M. v. Breugel. 2018. Environmental
filtering limits functional diversity during succession in a seasonally wet tropical
secondary forest. Journal of Vegetation Science DOI:10.1111/jvs.12632.

Craven, D., M.P. Thakur, E.K. Cameron, L.E. Frelich, R. Beausejour, R.B. Blair, B. Blossey, J
Burtis, A. Choi, A. Davalos, T.J. Fahey, N.A. Fisichelli, K. Gibson, I.T. Handa, K. Hopfensperger,
S.R. Loss, V. Nuzzo, J.C. Maerz, T. Sackett, B.C. Scharenbroch, S.M. Smith, M. Vellend, L.G.
Umek, and N. Eisenhauer. 2017. The unseen invaders: introduced earthworms as drivers of change
in plant communities in North American forests (a meta-analysis). Global Change Biology 23(3): 1065–1074.

Guerrero-Ramirez, N.R., D. Craven, P.B. Reich, J.J. Ewel, F. Isbell, J. Koricheva, J.A. Parrotta, H. Auge,
H.E. Erickson, D.I. Forrester, A. A. Hector, J. Joshi, F. Montagnini, C. Palmborg, D. Piotto, C. Potvin, C. Roscher,
J. van Ruijven, D. Tilman, B. Wilsey, and N. Eisenhauer. Diversity-dependent temporal divergence of ecosystem
functioning in experimental ecosystems. Nature Ecology & Evolution 10.1038/S41559-017-0325-1.

Craven, D., F. Isbell, P. Manning, J. Connolly, H. Bruelheide, A. Ebeling, C. Roscher, J. van
Ruijven, A. Weigelt, B. Wilsey, C. Beierkuhnlein, E. de Luca, J.N. Griffin, Y. Hautier, A. Hector,
A. Jentsch, J. Kreyling, V. Lanta, M. Loreau, S.T. Meyer, A.S. Mori,S. Naeem, C. Palmborg,
H.W. Polley, P.B. Reich, B. Schmid, A. Siebenkas, E. Seabloom, M.P. Thakur, D. Tilman, A.
Vogel, and N. Eisenhauer. 2016. Plant diversity effects on grassland productivity are robust to
both nutrient enrichment and drought. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of
London B: Biological Sciences 371.

Craven, D., E. Filotas, V. A. Angers, and C. Messier. 2016. Evaluating resilience of tree
communities in fragmented landscapes: linking functional response diversity with landscape
connectivity. Diversity and Distributions 22(5): 505-518.

Craven, D., J. S. Hall, G. P. Berlyn, M. S. Ashton, and M. van Breugel. 2015. Changing gears
during succession: shifting functional strategies in young tropical secondary forests. Oecologia
179:293-305.

Isbell, F.,D. Craven, J. Connolly, M. Loreau, B. Schmid, C. Beierkuhnlein, T.M. Bezemer, C.
Bonin, H. Bruelheide, E. de Luca, A. Ebeling, J.N. Griffin, Q. Guo, Y. Hautier, A. Hector, A.
Jentsch, J. Kreyling, V. Lanta, P. Manning, S.T. Meyer, A.S. Mori, S. Naeem, P.A. Niklaus,
H.W. Polley, P.B. Reich, C. Roscher, E.W. Seabloom, M.D. Smith, M.P. Thakur, D. Tilman,
B.F. Tracy, W.H. van der Putten, J. van Ruijven, A. Weigelt, W.W. Weisser, B. Wilsey, and
N. Eisenhauer. 2015. Biodiversity increases the resistance of ecosystem productivity to climate
extremes. Nature 526: 574-577

Craven, D., D. Dent, D. Braden, M. S. Ashton, G. P. Berlyn, and J. S. Hall. 2011. Seasonal
variability of photosynthetic characteristics influences growth of eight tropical tree species at two
sites with contrasting precipitation in Panama. Forest Ecology and Management 261:1643-
1653.

Craven, D., S. Gulamhussein, and G. P. Berlyn. 2010. Physiological and anatomical responses
of Acacia koa (Gray) seedlings to varying light and drought conditions. Environmental and
Experimental Botany 69:205-213.