Ansatte

James D. M. Speed

Research Interests

My research interests involve the impact of vertebrate herbivores on plant communities and ecosystems, the ability of herbivores to affect ecosystem and vegetation states and the how the impact of herbivory on ecosystems feeds back to the herbivore population.  My research is within both high arctic and temperate-alpine regions.

Current Research

I  am currently involved in a project investigating the impact of sheep grazing on treeline dynamics in the Norwegian mountains.  Traditional extensive grazing of livestock in upland regions across Europe has decreased over the past decades.  This has been linked to encroachment of shrubs and trees into alpine areas, which will have huge impacts upon biodiversity, land use and conservation in these regions.  Through use of a landscape-scale long-term grazing experiment in the municipality of Hol, southern Norway, I am quantifying the impact of grazing on the distribution and growth of mountain birch above the forest line.  This is in collaboration with Gunnar Austrheim (NTNU), Atle Mysterud (University of Oslo) and Alison Hester (Macaulay Land Use Research Institute).

Project Homepage

Career and Education

2001 – 2005: BSc (Hons.) Biology, University of York

2006 – 2009: PhD Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen

2009 - Present: Postdoctoral Fellow, Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Publications

Google Scholar profile

Bernes, C., Bråthen, K.A., Forbes, B.C., Hofgaard, A., Moen, J. & Speed, J.D.M. (2013). What are the impacts of reindeer/caribou (Rangifer tarandus L.) on arctic and alpine vegetation? A systematic review protocol. Environmental Evidence, 2, 6.

Lenoir, J., Graae, B.J., Aarrestad, P.A., Alsos, I.G., Armbruster, S.W., Austrheim, G., Bergendorff, C., Birks, H.J.B., Bråthen, K.A., Brunet, J., Bruun, H.H., Dahlberg, C.J., Decocq, G., Diekmann, M., Dynesius, M., Ejrnæs, R., Grytnes, J.-A., Hylander, K., Klanderud, K., Luoto, M., Milbau, A., Moora, M., Nygaard, B., Odland, A., Ravolainen, V.T., Reinhardt, S., Sandvik, S.M., Schei, F.H., Speed, J.D.M., Tveraabak, L.U., Vandvik, V., Velle, L.G., Virtanen, R., Zobel, M., Svenning, J.-C., 2013. Local temperatures inferred from plant communities suggest strong spatial buffering of climate warming across Northern Europe. Global Change Biology, 10.1111/gcb.12129.

Myking, T., Solberg, E.J., Austrheim, G., Speed, J.D.M., Bøhler, F., Astrup, R. & Eriksen, R. (2013) Browsing of sallow (Salix caprea L.) and rowan (Sorbus aucuparia L.) in the context of life history strategies: a literature review. European Journal of Forest Research, DOI 10.1007/s10342-013-0684-3.

Speed, J.D.M., Austrheim, G., Hester, A.J., Solberg, E.J. & Tremblay, J.-P. (2013) Regional-scale alteration of clear-cut forest regeneration caused by moose browsing. Forest Ecology and Management, 289, 289-299.

Speed, J.D.M., Austrheim, G., Birks, H.J.B., Johnson, S., Kvamme, M., Nagy, L., Sjögren, P., Skar, B., Stone, D., Svensson, E. & Thompson, D.B.A. (2012) Natural and cultural heritage in mountain landscapes: towards an integrated valuation. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, 8, 313-320.

Speed, J.D.M., Austrheim, G., Hester, A.J. & Mysterud, A. (2012) Elevational advance of alpine plant communities is buffered by herbivory. Journal of Vegetation Science 23:617-625

Speed, J.D.M., Austrheim, G., Hester, A.J. & Mysterud, A. (2011) Browsing interacts with climate to determine tree-ring increment. Functional Ecology. 25, 1018-1023

Speed, J.D.M., Austrheim, G., Hester, A.J. & Mysterud, A. (2011) Growth limitation of mountain birch caused by sheep browsing at the altitudinal treeline. Forest Ecology and Management. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2011.01.017

Speed, J.D.M., Cooper, E.J., Jónsdóttir, I.S., Van der Wal, R. & Woodin, S.J. (2010) Plant community properties predict vegetation resilience to herbivore disturbance in the Arctic. Journal of Ecology. 98, 1002-1013. DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2010.01685.x

Speed, J.D.M., Austrheim, G., Hester, A.J. & Mysterud, A. (2010) Experimental evidence for herbivore limitation of the treeline. Ecology 91, 3414-3420. DOI 10.1890/09-2300

Speed, J.D.M., Woodin, S.J., Tømmervik, H. & Van der Wal, R. (2010) Extrapolating herbivore-induced carbon loss across an arctic landscape. Polar Biology, 33, 789-797 DOI 10.1007/s00300-009-0756-5

Speed, J.D.M., Woodin, S.J., Tommervik, H., Tamstorf, M.P. & Van der Wal, R. (2009) Predicting Habitat Utilization and Extent of Ecosystem Disturbance by an Increasing Herbivore Population. Ecosystems, 12, 349-359.

Speed, J.D.M., Van der Wal, R. & Woodin, S.J. (2009) Do Nitrogen Concentration and Forage Quality of the Moss Racomitrium lanuginosum Increase with Latitude? Research Letters in Ecology, vol. 2009, 4.