Brian Spiesman
Postdoctoral research associate
Education
Ph.D. (2012), Biological Science, Florida State University, Advisor: Dr. Brian Inouye
M.S. (2006), Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Advisor: Dr. Graeme Cumming
B.S. (1999), Biology, Portland State University
Research Interests
I am interested in how environmental variation, on multiple scales, affects the diversity and function of ecological communities. For my dissertation I studied how regional habitat loss can alter the architecture of local plant-pollinator interaction networks. As a postdoc in the Gratton lab I lead a team researching native pollinators in bioenergy grasslands. We are working to understand how local management (harvesting) and variation in the surrounding landscape combine to affect pollinator diversity and function.
Spiesman, BJ, A Bennett, R Isaacs, and C Gratton. 2017. Bumble bee colony growth and reproduction depend on local flower dominance and natural habitat area in the surrounding landscape. Biological Conservation 206:217-223.
Spiesman, BJ and C Gratton. 2016. Flexible foraging shapes the topology of plant-pollinator interaction networks. Ecology 97:1431-1441.
*Wenninger, A, TN Kim, BJ Spiesman, and C Gratton. 2016. Contrasting foraging patterns: testing resource-concentration and dilution effects with pollinators and seed predators. Insects 7:23.
Kim, TN, BJ Spiesman, AL Buchanan, A Hakes, S Halpern, BD Inouye, A Kilanowski, N Kortessis, DW McNutt, AC Merwin, and N Underwood. 2015. Selective removal of insect herbivores influences an old-field plant community. Plant Ecology 216:1029-1045.
Spiesman, BJ and BD Inouye. 2015. The consequences of multiple indirect pathways of interaction for species coexistence. Theoretical Ecology 8:225-232.
Bartrons, M, C Gratton, BJ Spiesman, MJ Vander Zanden. 2015. Taking the trophic bypass: Aquatic-terrestrial linkage reduces methylmercury in a terrestrial food web. Ecological Applications 25:151-159.
Spiesman, BJ and BD Inouye. 2013. Habitat loss alters the architecture of plant-pollinator interaction networks. Ecology 94:2688-2696.
Spiesman, BJ and GS Cumming. 2008. Communities in context: The influence of multiscale environmental variation on local ant community structure. Landscape Ecology 23:315-325.
Cumming, GS and BJ Spiesman. 2006. Regional problems need integrated solutions: pest management and conservation biology in agroecosystems. Biological Conservation 131:533-543.
In progress
Spiesman, BJ, A Bennett, R Isaacs, and C Gratton. Harvesting effects on bee communities in bioenergy grasslands depend on nesting guild. In review
Spiesman, BJ, H Kummel, and RD Jackson. Carbon storage potential increases with increasing ratio of C4 to C3 grass cover and soil productivity in restored tallgrass prairies. In review.
Spiesman, BJ, AP Stapper, and BD Inouye. Independent effects of habitat amount, arrangement, and matrix quality on community structure and ecosystem function in an experimental microcosm. In prep.
*Bartel, S, TN Kim, BJ Spiesman and C Gratton. Body size distributions of ants and bees in mixed-prairie grasslands. In prep
*Undergraduate-led research