Dr Nicola Stevens

Trapnell Research Fellow in African Environments

Academic Profile

Nicola is the current Trapnell Fellow in African Environments. My current research interests are centred around understanding the dynamics of African grassy ecosystems and how they are changing in the Anthropocene. I'm especially interested in understanding how altered fire and herbivory regimes against a backdrop of changing CO2 concentrations are driving changes. Along this vein I have become particularly interested in the phenomenon of woody encroachment where open ecosystems across the tropics are being invaded by native woody species. It has also driven me to improve our ability to predict future species ranges under global change by improving our mechanistic understanding of range edges in disturbance limited systems. I have ongoing projects in Southern and East Africa.

Selected Publications

For a full publications list, please see Google Scholar

Archibald, S., Twine, W., Mthabini, C. and Stevens, N. (2021) Journal of Ecology, 109(110), pp. 3685–3698.
1185937 - Browsing is a strong filter for savanna tree seedl...
Teman, S., Stevens, N., Monadjem, A., Fletcher, R., Austin, J. and McCleery, R. (2021) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9.
1179900 - Savanna rodents? selective removal of an encroachi...
Stringer, L., Mirzabaev, A., Benjaminsen, T., Harris, R., Jafari, M., Lissner, T., Stevens, N. and Tirado-von der Pahlen, C. (2021) One Earth, 4(6), pp. 851–864.
1179904 - Climate change impacts on water security in global...
Stevens, N. (2021) Ecology and Evolution, 11(9), pp. 3726–3736.
1166192 - What shapes the range edge of a dominant African s...
Wigley, B., Charles-Dominique, T., Hempson, G., Stevens, N., te Beest, M., Archibald, S., Bond, W., Bunney, K., Coetsee, C., Donaldson, J., Fidelis, A., Gao, X., Gignoux, J., Lehmann, C., Massad, T., Midgley, J., Millan, M., Schwilk, D., Siebert, F., Solofondranohatra, C., Staver, A., Zhou, Y. and Kruger, L. (2021) AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY, 69(2), p. 110 - +.
1174189 - A handbook for the standardised sampling of plant ...
García Criado, M., Myers-Smith, I., Bjorkman, A., Lehmann, C. and Stevens, N. (2020) Global Ecology and Biogeography, 29(5), pp. 925–943.
1086581 - Woody plant encroachment intensifies under climate...
Wigley, B., Charles-Dominique, T., Hempson, G., Stevens, N., TeBeest, M., Archibald, S., Bond, W., Bunney, K., Coetsee, C., Donaldson, J., Fidelis, A., Gao, X., Gignoux, J., Lehmann, C., Massad, T., Midgley, J., Millan, M., Schwilk, D., Siebert, F., Solofondranohatra, C., Staver, A., Zhou, Y. and Kruger, L. (2020) Australian Journal of Botany [Preprint].
1147259 - A handbook for the standardised sampling of plant ...
Morecroft, M., Duffield, S., Harley, M., Pearce Higgins, J., Stevens, N., Watts, O. and Whitaker, J. (2020) Science (New York, N.Y.), 367(6477), pp. 518–519.
1086732 - Agricultural lands key to mitigation and adaptatio...
LeClare, S., Mdluli, M., Wisely, S. and Stevens, N. (2019) Global Ecology and Conservation, 21.
1085734 - Land-use diversity within an agricultural landscap...
Morecroft, M., Duffield, S., Harley, M., Pearce-Higgins, J., Stevens, N., Watts, O. and Whitaker, J. (2019) Science, 366(6471).
1082722 - Measuring the success of climate change adaptation...
Dr Nicola Stevens
Environmental Change Institute