Publications by Jon Lefcheck

IAN is committed to producing practical, user-centered communications that foster a better understanding of science and enable readers to pursue new opportunities in research, education, and environmental problem-solving. Our publications synthesize scientific findings using effective science communication techniques.

Closing the parachute and opening the umbrella: Strategies for inclusivity and representation in producing impactful coastal ecosystem research (Page 1)

Closing the parachute and opening the umbrella: Strategies for inclusivity and representation in producing impactful coastal ecosystem research

Laumann KM, Hoad NM, Alvaro L, Badri SL, Burke N, Carew A, Corte GN, Croquer A, Shah Esmaeili Y, Farrell M, Kouchi N, Lee J, Nakaoka M, Nordlund LM, Sellares-Blasco RI, Sheldon E, Villalpando MF, and Lefcheck JS ·
2025

Parachute science is the problematic and extractive practice of non-local researchers taking data, knowledge and information from communities of which they are not members, failing to engage the local community and local scientists, marginalizing them in most aspects of the research, and using the results to their own benefit.

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Seasonal asynchrony and harvest diversification contribute to demersal finfish fisheries stability in Chesapeake Bay (Page 1)

Seasonal asynchrony and harvest diversification contribute to demersal finfish fisheries stability in Chesapeake Bay

Hardison, SB, Lefcheck JS, White SB, Liang M, Zhang YS, Patrick CJ, and Scheld AM ·
2025

Biodiversity can confer temporal stability to ecosystem processes through asynchrony in species' abundances and may promote asynchrony and stability of commercial fishing harvests derived from exploited species. However, the linkages between asynchrony in the population dynamics of commercially harvested species and asynchrony of associated harvests have been difficult to resolve due to ecological, social, and economic dynamics that mediate resource extraction.

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Taking advantage of open data in coastal science and conservation (Page 1)

Taking advantage of open data in coastal science and conservation

Hoad NM, Lefcheck JS, Alexandridis N, Jones BLH, Eklöf JS, and Nordlund LM ·
2025

Human society relies on, and interacts with, a diverse assortment of organisms and ecological systems, from the local to the global level. Research and management of these coupled social-ecological systems requires data that speaks to the variety of processes, statuses, and situations defined by them. Effective stewardship is enhanced by interdisciplinary thinking and, critically, access to interoperable data describing human society and governance and ecological and environmental conditions.

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Biotic Mechanisms Strengthen Functional and Phylogenetic Convergence of Reef Fish Assemblages at Higher Latitudes (Page 1)

Biotic Mechanisms Strengthen Functional and Phylogenetic Convergence of Reef Fish Assemblages at Higher Latitudes

Bosch NE, Stuart-Smith RD, Laumann KM, Edgar GJ, Waldock C, Duffy JE, and Lefcheck JS ·
2025

How communities of organisms come together has long fascinated scientists, with renewed interest in using functional and evolutionary patterns to infer mechanisms of community assembly. Ecological theory predicts that biotic interactions could lead to either divergence in the event of niche partitioning or convergence through the exclusion of competitively inferior species, but most macroecological studies attribute the latter to environmental influences.

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Evaluating the effectiveness of field-based probiotic treatments for stony coral tissue loss disease in southeast Florida, USA (Page 1)

Evaluating the effectiveness of field-based probiotic treatments for stony coral tissue loss disease in southeast Florida, USA

Pitts KA, Scheuermann M, Lefcheck JS, Ushijima B, Danek N, McDonald EM, Milanese AR, Schul MD, Meyer JL, Toth KA, Ferris Z, De La Flor YT, DeMarco T, Noren HKG, Walker BK and Paul VJ ·
2025

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) has spread throughout Florida’s Coral Reef, causing extensive mortality of over 30 species of reef-building corals, and has rapidly spread to many other countries and territories throughout the Caribbean. Current treatments for SCTLD, including a proprietary paste mixed with the antibiotic amoxicillin, do not provide protection from future infections and may select for antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria.

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Submersed Aquatic Vegetation Enhances Density and Diversity of Epifaunal Invertebrates Compared to Filamentous Mats in the Central Baltic Sea (Page 1)

Submersed Aquatic Vegetation Enhances Density and Diversity of Epifaunal Invertebrates Compared to Filamentous Mats in the Central Baltic Sea

D'Agata C, Staveley TAB, Eklöf JS, Lefcheck JS, Rosenqvist G, and Nordlund LM ·
2025

Submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) provides essential habitat and food to numerous coastal invertebrate species. In the eu-trophic Baltic Sea, fast-growing drifting algae form extensive mats that can negatively impact SAV. However, these mats alsooffer additional habitat and food to epifauna. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of SAV and filamentous mats onepifaunal communities in shallow soft-bottom habitats around Gotland, Sweden, in the central Baltic Sea.

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BioTIME 2.0: Expanding and Improving a Database of Biodiversity Time Series (Page 1)

BioTIME 2.0: Expanding and Improving a Database of Biodiversity Time Series

Dornelas M, Antão LH, Bates AE, Brambilla V, Chase JM, Chow CFY, Fontrodona-Eslava A, Magurran AE, Martins IS, Moyes F, Sagouis A, Adu-Acheampong S, Acquah-Lamptey D, Adam D, Ajani PA, Albaina A, Almaraz P, An J, Anderson RS, Anderson MJR, Antunes AZ, Arismendi I, Armbrecht L, Aros-Mardones P, Ashtamoorthy SK, Ayyappan N, Badihi G, Bailey JJ, Baird AH, Baird ME, Balakrishnan SV, Barão-Nóbrega JAL, Barash A, Barbosa M, Barlow J, Bässler C, Beaumont M, Beenaerts N, Begot TO, Beiroz W, Beldade R, Bell DM, Bellgrove A, Belmaker J, Benedetti-Cecchi L, Benkwitt CE, Berkum PM-v, Bestelmeyer BT, Betts MG, Billah MK, Bjorkman AD, Błażewicz M, Bloch CP, Blowes SA, Bode A, Bogoni JA, Bolger T, Bonebrake TC, Bonsdorff E, Bottarin R, Brokensha LN, Brooker RW, Brooks AJ, Bruelheide H, Bueno TA, Laguionie C, Campagnoli ML, Cant J, Caramaschi EP, Caron A, Carroll T, Caruso T, Carvajal-Quintero J, Castaldelli G, Castañeda-Moya E, Castilho PV, Cechin SZ, Chaikin S, Chandrashekara UM, Chase TJ, Chen CA, Cherem JJ, Choi S-W, Christensen EM, Christianini AV, Chu JWF, Coad P, Van Colen C, Comte L, Cooper EJ, Cornelissen JHC, Cosson E, Cotano U, Crevecoeur L, Crow SK, Cumming GS, Daga VS, Damasceno G, Daskalova GN, Davies CH, Davis RA, Day FP, De-La-Zerda S, Deacon AE, de Castro-Arrazola I, Degraer S, Deonarinesingh K, Diaz-Ricaurte JC, Dickman CR, Dirilgen T, Dolan CJ, Duffy JE, Dunn TE, Durigan G, Dwyer C, Earl S, Edelist D, Edgar GJ, Edmondson S, Elgin AK, Ellingsen KE, Elmendorf SC, Eriksen RS, Ernest SKM, Escribano R, Eterovick PC, Evans BS, Everett JD, Evtimova V, Exton DA, Fairbairn AJ, Fantacini FM, Farah FT, Farneda FZ, Favila ME, Fernandez-Fournier P, Fernández-Zapata B, Ferreira DF, Ferronato C, du Feu CR, Fidelis A, Fifield DA, Filho VP, Filho WM, Fitt RNL, Flechtmann CAH, Fraser WR, Fraser DL, Freixas L, Fryxell J, Fundakowski GJ, Gabara SS, Gallois E, Criado MG, García-Berthou E, Garrabou J, Gates AR, Gatti RC, Gavioli A, Gavriel T, Gendreau-Berthiaume B, Giam X, Gjerdrum C, Glemnitz M, Godbold JA, Gómez-Gras D, Gonçalves RB, Goold A, Gordon RR, Goren M, Goulart FVB, Gould WA, Grabowski MM, Graham NAJ, Graipel ME, Grange LJ, Greenville AC, Grossman GD, Guinder VA, Haase P, Haskins GN, Havstad K, Hermanutz L, Hickford MJH, Hidalgo P, Higuchi P, Hoey AS, Van Hoey G, Hofgaard A, Holeck KT, Hollister RD, Holmes RT, Hoogenboom MO, Hortal J, Horton T, Hsieh C-h, Huffard CL, Huikkonen I-M, Hurlbert AH, Hynes J, Irz P, Macedo Ivanauskas N, Iwayama A, James DK, Jandt U, Jażdżewska AM, Jocque M, Johnston ST, Jones SEI, Jones FAM, Jones JA, Jucevica E, Kagainis U, Kagami M, Kang J, Ke X, Keeley EC, Kinnear R, Klanderud K, Klinck U, van Klink R, Klotz S, Knockaert C, Knutsen H, Koivula M, Kortz A, Kriegel P, Kuo C-Y, Kushner DJ, Kyerematen R, Lagarde R, Lancaster LT, Landau OF, Van Landuyt W, Larson ER, Lazarus M, Lee CM, Lefcheck JS, Lembrechts JJ, Ferreira de Lima RA, Lima RG, Lima NGS, Linares C, Lindstrom SC, Lloret F, Lloyd JD, Lobato CMC, Lodge DM, Long PR, López-Abbate C, López-Baucells A, Louzada J, Louzao M, Lugliè A, Luiz MR, Macdonald SE, Madin JS, Magalhães ALB, Mahabir R, Maphisa D, Martin TE, Martins M, Martone PT, Matesanz S, Matsuzaki S-iS, Matthews TJ, Matthews IM, Maxwell CJ, McFarland KP, McGill BJ, McKnight DM, McWilliam MJ, Meador J, Meesenburg H, Meier K, Melecis V, Meserve PL, Meyer CFJ, Michelsen A, Miiller NOR, Milardi M, Milchakova N, Miller RJ, Millett J, Moens T, Montag LFA, Moore J, Müller J, Murali A, Murray SA, Myers-Smith IH, Myster RW, Nakamura M, Nayar S, Neat F, Nelson JA, Nelson MP, Nikolov BP, Nouioua R, Nsor CA, O'Connor M, Obodai EA, Offland AM, Ogaya R, Ogura H, Okey TA, Olden JD, Oliveira-Santos LGR, Oliver JC, Olsen EM, Onipchenko VG, Oro D, Ozolins D, Pabis K, Padedda BM, Palacio FX, Paquette A, Pardede ST, Paterson DM, Pausina S, Pélissier R, Pennings SC, Penuelas J, Pereira FW, Peroni N, Picó S, Pilotto F, Pinheiro HT, Pizarro O, Pizzolotto R, Pomati F, Pompeu PS, Ponton D, Post E, Poulet N, Pöyry J, Presley SJ, Prins HHT, Provoost P, Prudic KL, Punjayil V, Pyšek P, Querner P, Quimbayo JP, Ramnarine IW, Reed DC, Reich PB, Remillard SM, Richards C, Richardson AJ, van Rijn I, Rivera-Monroy VH, Rixen C, Robinson KP, Rocha R, Rodrigues RR, Rodrigues C, de Roos B, de Rossa-Feres DdC, Rosselli L, Rothlisberg PC, Rubio A, Rudstam LG, Ruz CS, Rybicki NB, Van Ryckegem G, Rypel AL, Sadler JP, Saito VS, Sal S, Salomão RP, Sanders NJ, Santos FAM, dos Santos TG, Sarker SK, Scanga SE, Schaub M, Schmidt J, Schmidt IK, Schooley RL, Schultz A, Scotti A, Serpell-Stevens A, Serrano FC, Shadwick EH, Shaft M, Sherry TW, Shimabukuro EM, Siciński J, Sievers C, da Silva FR, da Silva AC, Silveira JM, Siqueira T, Sivadasan AK, Sivan PTP, Skuja A, Slaughter AL, Slingsby JA, Smith JR, Soares BE, Solan M, Souza FM, Souza GBG, Sprague JL, Stachow U, Stadt JJ, Stallings CD, Stanchev RH, Stanley EH, Starzomski BM, Sterza JM, Stevens M, Stiles FG, Stoll S, Stuart-Smith RD, Súarez YR, Super L, Supp SR, Sutela T, Suthers IM, Suuronen A, Swadling KM, Szydlowski DK, Taki H, Taylor SJS, Tedesco PA, Teichert N, Terui A, Thiede GP, Thimonier A, Thomas O, Thompson PA, Thorn S, Tiemann JS, Toledo LF, Tolvanen A, Toniato MTZ, Torre I, Tortato MA, Totsu K, Trant A, Twilley RR, Urabe H, Valade P, Valdivia N, Vallejo MI, Valone TJ, Vanaverbeke J, Vasconcelos TS, Vehanen T, Venturoli F, Verheye HM, Vermeulen HJW, Verstraeten A, Vianna M, Vieira R, Vieira-Alencar JPS, Vilella M, Vitule JRS, Van Vu L, Waide RB, Warren PS, Wayman JP, Webb SL, Weigel B, Welti EAR, West F, Westermann F, Whalen MA, White EP, Widdicombe CE, Williams R, Williamson M, Willig MR, Wipf S, Woehler EJ, Woldering A, Woods KD, Xu W-B, Yahel R, Yang Z, Zawada KJA, Zornosa-Torres C, and Zvuloni A ·
2025

Here, we make available a second version of the BioTIME database, which compiles records of abundance estimatesfor species in sample events of ecological assemblages through time. The updated version expands version 1.0 of the database bydoubling the number of studies and includes substantial additional curation to the taxonomic accuracy of the records, as well asthe metadata. Moreover, we now provide an R package (BioTIMEr) to facilitate use of the database.

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Implications of improved remote sensing capabilities on blue carbon quantification (Page 1)

Implications of improved remote sensing capabilities on blue carbon quantification

Canty SWJ, Ciafuentes-Jara M, Herrera-Silveira J, Morrissette HK, Cissell JR, Acosta-Velázquez J, Cherrington E, Feller IC, Friess DA, Lefcheck JS, Simpson LT, Teutli-Hernandez C ·
2025

Important developments in remote sensing capabilities allow for improved accuracy in the mapping of ecosystems. Higher spatial resolution imagery enables more precise classification of land use and land cover categories, which therefore changes our characterization of mapped land- and seascapes. These changes impact how we visualize these ecosystems, and how we quantify their ecosystem services and benefits to people.

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Coastal wetland resilience through local, regional and global conservation (Page 1)

Coastal wetland resilience through local, regional and global conservation

He Q, Li Z, Daleo P, Lefcheck JS, Thomsen MS, Adams JB, and Bouma TJ ·
2025

Coastal wetlands, including tidal marshes, mangrove forests and tidal flats, support the livelihoods of millions of people. Understanding the resilience of coastal wetlands to the increasing number and intensity of anthropogenic threats (such as habitat conversion, pollution, fishing and climate change) can inform what conservation actions will be effective. In this Review, we synthesize anthropogenic threats to coastal wetlands and their resilience through the lens of scale.

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