Center for Environmental Sciences & Engineering
and
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

University of Connecticut
3107 Horsebarn Hill Road
Storrs, Connecticut 06269-4210

Phone: (860) 486-1772
FAX: (860) 486-5488
email: steven.presley@uconn.edu

Research Interests

I am currently participating in the Dimensions of Biodiversity Distributed Graduate Seminar (DBDGS), an innovative approach for synthesizing knowlege about biodiversity with a focus on training the next generation of researchers for higher levels of scientific collaboration. About 15 universities from around the world will be participating in this seminar during the 2011-2012 academic year, with a team of researchers (faculty and graduate students) from each university exploring relationships between environmental drivers and biodiversity and between biodiversity and ecosystem function.

Currently, my research has multiple foci: 1) use of a metacommunity approach to understand patterns of species distributions along latent environmental gradients, 2) use of data on Caribbean vertebrates to explore biogeographic factors associated with species richness, composition, or metacommunity structure, 3) evaluation of effects of anthropogenic activities on bat populations, assemblages, and temporal activity in the Neotropics, and 4) use of ectoparasite populations and assemblages from bats of Paraguay as model systems to explore potential mechanism that mold patterns of abundance, species richness, and biodiversity on host populations and species.

More detailed information on:

• Metacommunity structure
• Temporal activity patterns
• Reduced-impact logging in the Brazilian Amazon
• Habitat conversion in the Peruvian Amazon
• Island biogeography of Caribbean bats and birds
• Ectoparasite populations and communities on bats
• Paraguayan bats

Male king salmon in the Salmon River near Pulaski, NY.

Education

Bachelor of Science. 1991. Western Illinois University, Macomb, Il. Dr. Jeanette A. Thomas, Advisor.

Master of Science. 1994. Western Illinois University, Macomb, Il. Thesis Title: Small Mammals of McDonough County, Illinois. Dr. Jeanette A. Thomas, Advisor.

Doctor of Philosophy in Biology.  2004.  Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University,  Lubbock, Texas. Dissertation Title: Ectoparasitic assemblages of Paraguayan bats: ecological and evolutionary perspectives. Dr. Michael R. Willig, Advisor. PDF

Publications

López-González, C., S. J. Presley, R. D. Owen, M. R. Willig, and Isabel Gamarra de Fox.  1998.  Noteworthy records of bats (Chiroptera) from Paraguay.  Mastozoología Neotropical, 5:41-45.PDF

Presley, S. J.  2000.  (Review of) Ecología de los Vertebrados de Chile by A. F. Jaksic.  Journal of Mammalogy, 81:282-284.

Presley, S. J. 2000.  Eira barbara.  Mammalian Species Account, 636:1-6. PDF

Willig, M. R., S. J. Presley, R. D. Owen, and C. López-González.  2000.  Composition and structure of bat assemblages in Paraguay: a subtropical – temperate interface.  Journal of Mammalogy, 81:386-401. PDF

López-González, C., S. J. Presley, R. D. Owen, and M. R. Willig.  2001.  The taxonomic status of Myotis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in Paraguay.  Journal of Mammalogy, 82:138-160. PDF

López-González, C., and S. J. Presley.  2001.  Taxonomic status of Molossus bondae J. A. Allen (Chiroptera: Molossidae), 1904, with new records for Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay and description of a new subspecies.  Journal of Mammalogy 82:760-774. PDF

Presley, S. J.  2005.  Ectoparasitic assemblages of Paraguayan bats: ecological and evolutionary perspectives.  Mastozoología Neotropical 12:103-105. PDF

Willig, M. R., S. J. Presley, C. P. Bloch, C. L. Hice, S. P. Yanoviak, M. M. Díaz, L. Arias Chauca, V. Pacheco, and S. C. Weaver.  2007.  Phyllostomid bats of lowland Amazonian: effects of habitat alteration on abundance.  Biotropica 39:737-746. PDF

Castro-Arellano, I., S. J. Presley, L. N. Saldanha, M. R. Willig, and J. M. Wunderle.  2007.  Effects of low-intensity logging on bat biodiversity in terra firme forest of lowland Amazonia.  Biological Conservation 138:269-285. PDF

Presley, S. J.  2007.  Streblid bat-fly assemblage structure on Noctilio leporinus (Chiroptera: Noctilionidae): nestedness and species co-occurrence.  Journal of Tropical Ecology 23:409-417. PDF

Stevens, R. D., C. López-González, and S. J. Presley.  2007.  Geographical ecology of Paraguayan bats: spatial integration and metacommunity structure of interacting assemblages. Journal of Animal Ecology 76:1086-1093. PDF

Presley, S. J., M. R. Willig, J. M. Wunderle, and L. N. Saldanha.  2008.  Effects of reduced-impact logging and forest physiognomy on bat populations of lowland Amazonian forest.  Journal of Applied Ecology 45:14-25. PDF

Presley, S. J., and M. R. Willig.  2008. Intraspecific patterns of ectoparasite abundances on Paraguayan bats: effects of host sex and body size.  Journal of Tropical Ecology 24:75-83. PDF

Presley, S. J., and M. R. Willig.  2008. Composition and structure of Caribbean bat (Chiroptera) assemblages: effects of inter-island distance, area, elevation, and hurricane-induced disturbance.  Global Ecology and Biogeography 17:747-757. PDF

Presley, S. J., M. R. Willig, I. Castro-Arellano, and S. C. Weaver.  2009. Effects of habitat conversion on activity patterns of phyllostomid bats in lowland Amazonian rainforest. Journal of Mammalogy 90:210-221. PDF

Presley, S. J., M. R. Willig, L. N. Saldanha, J. M. Wunderle, and I. Castro-Arellano.  2009. Reduced-impact logging has little effect on temporal activity of frugivorous bats (Chiroptera) in lowland Amazonia.  Biotropica 41:369-378. PDF

Presley, S. J., C. L. Higgins, C. López-González, and R. D. Stevens. 2009. Elements of metacommunity structure of Paraguayan bats: multiple gradients require analysis of multiple axes of variation. Oecologia 160:781-793. PDF

Castro-Arellano I., S. J. Presley, M. R. Willig, J. M. Wunderle, and L. N. Saldanha. 2009. Reduced-impact logging and temporal activity of understorey bats in lowland Amazonia. Biological Conservation 142:2131-2139. PDF

Willig, M. R., S. J. Presley, C. P. Bloch, and H. H. Genoways.  2009.  Macroecology of Caribbean bats: effects of area, elevation, latitude, and hurricane-induced disturbance. Pages 216-264 in Island bats: evolution, ecology, and conservation (T. Fleming, and P. Racey, Eds.). University of Chicago Press. PDF

Presley, S. J., and M. R. Willig.  2010. Bat metacommunity structure on Caribbean islands and the role of endemics. Global Ecology and Biogeography 19:185-199. PDF

Presley, S. J., C. L. Higgins, and M. R. Willig. 2010. A comprehensive framework for the evaluation of metacommunity structure. Oikos 119:908-917. PDF

Santos, G. M. de M. and S. J. Presley. 2010. Niche overlap and temporal activity patterns of social wasps in a Brazilian cashew orchard. Sociobiology 56:121-131. PDF

Willig, M. R., S. J. Presley, and C. P. Bloch. 2011. Long-term dynamics of tropical walking sticks in response to multiple large-scale and intense disturbances. Oecologia 165:357-368. PDF

Presley, S. J., M. R. Willig, C. P. Bloch, I. Castro-Arellano, C. L. Higgins, and B. T. Klingbeil. 2011. A complex metacommunity structure for gastropods along an elevational gradient. Biotropica 43: 480-488. PDF

Presley, S. J. 2011. Interspecific aggregation of ectoparasites on bats: importance of hosts as habitats supersedes interspecific interactions. Oikos 120: 832-841. PDF

Willig, M. R., S. J. Presley, C. P. Bloch, I. Castro-Arellano, L. M. Cisneros, C. L. Higgins, and B. T. Klingbeil. 2011. Tropical metacommunities and elevational gradients: effects of forest type and other environmental factors. Oikos 120:1497-1508. PDF

López-González, C., S. J. Presley, A. Lozano, R. D. Stevens, and C. L. Higgins. 2012. Metacommunity analysis of Mexican bats: environmentally mediated structure in an area of high geographic and environmental complexity. Journal of Biogeography 39:177-192. PDF

Presley, S. J. 2012. Sex-based population structure of ectoparasites from Neotropical bats. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 107:56-66. PDF

Brito, A. F., S. J. Presley, and G. M. de M. Santos. 2012. Temporal and Trophic Niche Overlap in a Guild of Flower-Visiting Ants in a Seasonal Semi-Arid Tropical Environment. Journal of Arid Environments 87:161-167. PDF

Presley, S. J., L. M. Cisneros, B. D. Patterson, and M. R. Willig. 2012. Vertebrate metacommunity structure along an extensive elevational gradient in the tropics: a comparison of bats, rodents and birds. Global Ecology and Biogeography 21:968-976. PDF

Aguiar, C. M. L., G. M. de M.Santos, C. F. Martins, and S. J. Presley. 2013. Trophic niche breadth and niche overlap in a guild of flower-visiting bees in a Brazilian dry forest. Apidologie 44:153-162. PDF

Willig, M. R., and S. J. Presley. 2013. Latitudinal gradients of biodiversity. Pages 612-626 in Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, 2nd edition, Volume 4 (S. Levin, Ed.). Academic Press, Waltham, Massachusetts. Email author for PDF.

Willig, M. R., S. J. Presley, C. P. Bloch, and J. Alvarez. 2013. Population, community, and metacommunity dynamics of terrestrial gastropods in the Luquillo Mountains: a gradient perspective. In: Ecological Gradient Analyses in a Tropical Ecosystem (G. González and M. Willig, Eds.). Ecological Bulletins 54 (in press).

Presley, S. J., K. R. Burgio, L. M. Cisneros, L. M. Dreiss, B. T. Klingbeil, B. D. Patterson, and M. R. Willig. Partitioning multiple dimensions of biodiversity along an extensive tropical elevational gradient: a comparison of three vertebrate orders. Global Ecology and Biogeography (submitted).

Dallas, T., and S. J. Presley. Relative effects of host traits and host phylogeny on the structure of parasite metacommunities. Oikos (submitted).

Cisneros, L. M., K. R. Burgio, L. M. Dreiss, B. T. Klingbeil, B. D. Patterson, S. J. Presley, and M. R. Willig. Multiple dimensions of bat biodiversity along an extensive tropical elevational gradient. Journal of Animal Ecology (submitted).