This research highlights the influence of family, nesting guilds, dietary preferences, social behavior, and emergence seasons on variations in mean proboscis lengths and foraging ranges among bees.
Stemet L. S., Biddinger D. J., Naithani K., Szalanski A. L., and Joshi N. K. (in review) Intertegular distance of wild bees and its use in estimating proboscis lengths and foraging ranges to better understand bee conservation ecology.
This research introduces novel tools for evaluating and conserving multi-trophic biodiversity in forested ecosystems at the landscape scale.
St. Rose A., and Naithani K. (2025) Unraveling the Influence of Structural Complexity, Environmental, and Geographic Factors on Multi-Trophic Biodiversity in Forested Landscapes. Ecology and Evolution, Vol: 15(2) e70907. doi: 10.1002/ece3.70907
Sheep grazing reduces insect diversity.
Acharya R. S., Leslie T., Burke J., Naithani K., Fitting E., Loftin K., and Joshi N. K. (2024) Sheep grazing influences the abundance, diversity, and community composition of wild bees and other insects in livestock pastures. Ecological Indicators. Vol: 162, 111839. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.111839
Logging and forest conversion significantly affect soil microbial diversity and can have lasting effects on carbon cycling in tropical montane forests.
Sniegocki R., Moon J. B., Rutrough A., Gireneus J., Seelan J. S. S., Weindorf D. C., Farmer M. C., and Naithani K. (2022) Recovery of soil microbial diversity and functions along a tropical montane forest disturbance gradient, Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10:853686. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2022.853686
neonMicrobe: R package for analyzing NEON marker gene sequence data.
Qin C., Bartelme R., Chung A., Fairbanks D., Lin Y., Liptzin D., Muscarella C., Naithani K., Peay K., Pellitier P., St. Rose A., Stanish L., Werbin Z., and Zhu K. (2021) From DNA sequences to microbial ecology: Wrangling NEON soil microbe data with the neonMicrobe R package. Ecosphere, 12 (11): e03842. doi: 10.1002/ecs2.3842.
Using nests with paper liners may accelerate pollinator population establishment and propagation in commercial orchards.
Joshi N. K., Naithani K., Biddinger D. J. (2020) Nest modification protects immature stages of the Japanese orchard bee (Osmia cornifrons) from invasion of a cleptoparasitic mite pest. Insects, 11(1), 65.
Promising multivariate soil indices as indicators of wetland condition.
Moon J. B., Wardrop D. H., Smithwick E. A. H. & Naithani K. J. (2019) Fine-scale spatial homogenization of microbial habitats: a multivariate index of headwater wetland complex condition. Ecological Applications. 29(1), e0181.
Coupled human and natural systems approach is needed to resolve human-elephant conflicts
Shaffer L. J., Khadka K. K., Van Den Hoek J. & Naithani K. J. (2019) Human-elephant conflict: A review of current management strategies and future directions. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 6:235.
Value of O. cornifrons as a pollinator in cherry orchard was demonstrated using an immunomarking method.
Biddinger D.J., Joshi N.K., Rajotte E.G., Halbrendt N.O., Pulig C., Naithani K.J. & Vaughn M. (2013). An immunomarking method to determine the foraging patterns of Osmia cornifrons and resulting fruit set in a cherry orchard. Apidologie, 44: 738-749.
Vegetation and soil moisture become increasingly homogenized and coupled from leaf-onset to maturity but heterogeneous and uncoupled from leaf maturity to senescence.
Naithani K.J., Baldwin D.C., Gaines K.P., Lin H. & Eissenstat D.M. (2013) Spatial distribution of tree species governs the spatio-temporal interaction of leaf area index and soil moisture across a forested landscape. PLoS ONE, 8:e58704.
We observed congruent spatial structures (i.e., patchiness) of microbial, cover, and N mineralization variables, suggestive of strong linkages between pattern (microbial abundance, aboveground cover) and process (N mineralization) in burned plots.
Smithwick E.A.H., Naithani K.J., Balser T.C., Romme W.H. & Turner M.G. (2012) Post-fire spatial patterns of soil nitrogen mineralization and microbial abundance. PLoS ONE, 7:e50597.