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Staff,
Students & Associates
Pola Pasvolsky Chair in Conservation Biology
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Prof. Graeme
Cumming
BSc (Hons) Rhodes,
DPhil (Oxon)
John Day Building: 2.04.2
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 3439
Fax: +27 (0)21 650 3295
Email: Graeme.Cumming -at- uct.ac.za
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Activities and research
interests
Landscape Ecology, Conservation Biology, Community Ecology,
Resilience and Complex Systems Theory.
About me: I grew up (well,
mostly) in Harare, Zimbabwe, where I went to Saint George’s
College. I studied Zoology and Entomology to the honours level
at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. I then moved
to Oxford University, U.K., on a Rhodes Scholarship. While at
New College, Oxford, I completed my doctorate on ‘The
Evolutionary Ecology of African Ticks’ under the supervision of
Drs. Sarah Randolph and David Rogers. From Oxford I moved to the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, funded by a D. H. Smith
Postdoctoral Fellowship from The Nature Conservancy (TNC). In
Madison I worked with TNC and Professor Steve Carpenter at the
Center for Limnology on applying species-based models to
management and conservation-related problems in freshwater
systems. After two years as a postdoc, I was hired as an
Assistant Professor in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and
Conservation at the University of Florida. I left UF at the end
of 2005 and am currently Pola Pasvolsky Chair in Conservation
Biology at the University of Cape Town.
I have a wide range of interests,
centering around spatial aspects of ecology and in particular on
how heterogeneity within biological systems translates across
spatial and temporal scales. I am also interested in
conservation and the sustainable management of natural
resources. For example, the distributions of invertebrates are
determined by a range of factors, from individual physiology
through local patchiness in the environment to continent-wide
climatic conditions. Understanding and predicting changes in
species distributions requires an approach that crosses these
different scales. Similarly, human-caused habitat fragmentation
may have broader-scale ecological and evolutionary consequences
that affect the long-term sustainability and resilience of
animal and plant populations. Clarification of these cross-scale
dynamics is essential if we are to maintain long-term ecosystem
function.
Research programs
My main focus at present is on
exploring the relationships between landscape heterogeneity,
biodiversity, and ecosystem function in linked social-ecological
systems. Under this broad theme I am currently focusing on two
programs: (1) spatial parasitology and epidemiology; and (2) pattern-process linkages in landscape ecology.
Student
involvement
If you are a student looking for
an advisor, please have a look at my
notes for prospective students. Note also that although
I am based at an Ornithology Institute, I do not expect all
of the student projects that I advise on to deal with birds.
Doctoral
Julia Baum:
Social-ecological resilience of private protected
areas in the Cape (Supervisor: Graeme Cumming)
Grant Joseph: The influence of
termitaria on biodiversity and resilience in herbivore-impacted
miombo woodlands: an exploration of the extent to which spatial
heterogeneity affects species and functional diversity in
disturbed landscapes (Supervisors: Graeme
Cumming & David Cumming).
Mduduzi Ndlovu: Moult and movement
ecology of Southern African waterfowl, with a particular
emphasis on Egyptian Geese. (Supervisors:
Graeme Cumming & Phil Hockey).
Sharon Okanga:
The influences of host community, urbanization and water quality
on avian malaria ecology in South African passerines
(Supervisors:
Graeme Cumming and Phil Hockey).
Masters
Dominic Henry: Water birds and
nutrient dispersal in iSimangaliso Wetlands Park (Supervisor:
Graeme Cumming).
John Heydinger: Birds and the resilience of
private protected areas in South Africa (Supervisor: Graeme Cumming).
Conservation Biology Masters
Jeremy Goss: Wildlife translocations in the Western Cape and
their significance for conservation (Supervisor: Graeme Cumming).
Christine Moore: Network analysis in a socio-ecological
system: The role of socio-economic interaction in disease
transmission in the avian flu outbreak in Oudtshoorn, South
Africa (Supervisor: Graeme Cumming)
Recent
peer-reviewed publications
You can check out citation metrics
for my ISI-listed journal articles here.
2012 / In press
Cumming, G. S. and Cornélis, D. (in press).
Quantitative comparison and selection of home range metrics for telemetry
data. Diversity and Distributions IP.
Cumming, G. S., Gaidet, N., and Ndlovu, M. (in
press). Towards a unification of movement ecology and biogeography:
conceptual framework and a case study on Afrotropical ducks. Journal of
Biogeography IP.
Cumming, G. S., Olsson, P., Chapin, F. S. III,
and Holling, C. S. (in press). Resilience, experimentation, and scale
mismatches in social-ecological landscapes. Landscape Ecology IP
Cumming, G. S., Paxton, M., King, J., and
Beuster, H. (in press). Foraging guild membership explains variation in
waterbird responses to the hydrological regime of an arid-region flood-pulse
river in Namibia. Freshwater Biology IP.
Cumming, G. S., Southworth, J., Rondon, X. J.,
and Marsik, M. (in press). Spatial complexity in fragmenting Amazonian
Rainforests: do feedbacks from edge effects push forests towards an
ecological threshold? Ecological Complexity IP.
Cundill, G., Cumming, G.S., Biggs, D. &
Fabricius, C. (2012). Soft systems thinking and social learning for adaptive
management. Conservation Biology 26:13-20.
Gaidet, N., Caron, A., Cappelle, J., Cumming, G. S., Balança,
G., Hammoumi, S., Cattoli, G., Abolnik, C., Servan de
Almeida, R., Gil, P., Fereidouni, S. R., Grosbois, V., Tran,
A., Mundava, J., Fofana, B., Ould Elmamy, B., Ndlovu, M.,
Mondain-Monval, J.Y., Triplet, P., Hagemeijer, W., Karesh,
W. B., Newman, S.H., & Dodman, T. (in press). Understanding the
ecological drivers of avian influenza virus infection in
wildfowl: a continental scale study across Africa.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B. IP. (online before print: DOI:
10.1098/rspb.2011.1417).
Rondon, X. J., Cumming, G. S., Cossio, R., and
Southworth, J. (in press). The effects of selective logging behaviors on
forest fragmentation and degradation. International Journal of Forestry
Research IP.
2011
Allen, C.R., Cumming, G. S., Garmestani, A.J.,
Taylor, P., and Walker, B. (2011). Implementing the resilience approach for
wildlife management. Wildlife Biology 17(4) 337-349.
Caron, A., Abolnik, C., Mundava, J., Gaidet,
N., Burger, C. E., Mochotlhoane, B., Bruinzeel, L.W., Chiweshe, N. and
Cumming, G. S. (2011). Persistence of low pathogenic avian influenza virus in
waterfowl in a southern African ecosystem. EcoHealth 8:109-115. (DOI:
10.1007/s10393-010-0356-4).
Collier, J. & Cumming, G. S. (2011). A
dynamical approach to ecosystem identity. In: Brown, B., de Laplante, K., and
Peacock, K. (eds). Philosophy of Ecology Handbook. Volume 11 in the
Handbook of the Philosophy of Science. Elsevier. 444 p.; pp. 201-218.
Cumming, G. S. (2011).
Spatial Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems. Springer,
254pp. ISBN: 978-94-007-0306-3 [URL: http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/ecology/book/978-94-007-0306-3].
Cumming, G. S. (2011). The
resilience of big river basins. Water International
36:17-49.
Cumming, G. S. (2011). Spatial Resilience:
integrating landscape ecology, resilience, and sustainability. Landscape
Ecology 26:899-909.
Cumming, G.S., Caron, A., Abolnik, C., Cattoli,
G., Bruinzeel, L.W., Burger, C.E., Cecchettin, K., Chiweshe, N., Mochotlhoane,
B., Mutumi, G.L. & Ndlovu, M. (2011). The ecology of Influenza A viruses in
wild birds in southern Africa. Ecohealth 8:4-13.
Cumming, G. S. & Ndlovu, M. (2011).
Satellite telemetry of Afrotropical ducks: methodological details and
assessment of success rates. African Zoology 46:425–434.
Joseph, G. S., Cumming, G. S.,
Cumming, D. H. M., Mahlangu, Z., Altwegg, R., and Seymour, C.
L. (2011). Large termitaria act as refugia for tall trees,
deadwood and cavity-using birds in a miombo woodland. Landscape Ecology 26: 439-448. (DOI:
10.1007/s10980-011-9572-8).
MacGregor, L. H., Cumming, G. S. & Hockey, P. A.R. (2011).
Understanding pathogen transmission dynamics in waterbird
communities: at what scale should interactions be studied? South African Journal of Science 107:56-65.
Southworth, J., Marsik, M., Qiu,
Y., Perz, S., Cumming, G. S., Stevens, F., Rocha, K., Duchelle,
A., and Barnes, G. (2011). Roads as drivers of change:
Trajectories across the Tri-National Frontier in MAP, the Southwestern Amazon. Remote Sensing 3: 1047-1066. (DOI: 10.3390/rs3051047).
2010
Abolnik, C., G. H. Gerdes, M.
Sinclair, B.W. Ganzevoort, J. P. Kitching, C. E. Burger, M.
Romito, M. Dreyer, S. Swanepoel, G. S. Cumming, and A. J.
Olivier (2010). Phylogenetic analysis of influenza A viruses
(H6N8, H1N8, H4N2, H9N2, H10N7) isolated from wild birds,
ducks and ostriches in South Africa from 2007 to 2009.
Avian Diseases 54: 313-322.
Caron, A., De
Garine-Wichatitsky, M. Gaidet, N., Chiweshe, N. and Cumming,
G. S. (2010). Estimating dynamic risk factors for pathogen
transmission using community-level bird census data at the
wildlife/domestic interface. Ecology and Society 15(3):
25. [URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss3/art25/]
Cumming, G.S. (2010). Risk
mapping for avian influenza: a social-ecological problem.
Ecology and Society15(3): 32. [URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss3/art32/]
Cumming, G.S., Bodin, O., Ernstson, H. Elmqvist,
T. (2010). Network analysis in
conservation biogeography: challenges and opportunities.
Diversity and Distributions 16: 414-425.
Dures, S.G. & Cumming, G.S.
(2010). The confounding influence of homogenising invasive
species in a globally endangered and largely urban biome: does
habitat quality dominate avian biodiversity? Biological
Conservation 143:768-777.
Ndlovu, M., Cumming, G.S.,
Hockey, P.A.R., and Bruinzeel, L. (2010). Phenotypic
flexibility of a Southern African duck during moult: do
northern hemisphere paradigms apply? Journal of Avian
Biology 41: 558-564.
Peres-Neto, P. and G.S.
Cumming (2010). A Multi-Scale Framework for the Analysis of
Fish Metacommunities. In: Gido, K., and Jackson, D. Community
Ecology of Stream Fishes: Concepts, Approaches, and
Techniques. American Fisheries Society. 664pp.
Robertson, M. P., Cumming, G.
S., and Erasmus, B. (2010). Getting the most out of Atlas
data. Diversity and Distributions 16: 363-375.
Seymour, C.L, Milton, S.J.,
Joseph, G.S., Dean, W.R.J., Ditlhobolo, T., and Cumming, G.S. (2010). Twenty years of rest returns grazing potential, but
not diversity of palatable species, to a rangeland in the
southern Karoo. Journal of Applied Ecology 47: 859-867.
2009
Child, M.F., Cumming, G.S.
and Amano, T. (2009). Assessing the broad-scale impact of
agriculturally transformed and protected area landscapes on
avian taxonomic and functional richness. Biological
Conservation 142: 2593-2601.
Cumming, G.S. (2009). Current
themes and recent advances in modelling species occurrences.
f1000 Biology Reports 1:94. (see http://f1000biology.com/reports/).
Cumming,
G.S., and Child, M.F. (2009). Contrasting spatial patterns
of taxonomic and functional richness offer insights into
potential loss of ecosystem services. Philosophical Transactions
of the Royal Society B 364: 1683-1692. Cumming,
G.S., and George, A. (2009). Historical influences dominate
the composition of regenerating plant communities in abandoned
citrus groves in north-central Florida. Landscape Ecology
24: 957-970.
Geselbracht,
L., Torres, R., Cumming, G.S., Dorfman, D., Beck, M., and
Shaw, D. (2009). Identification of a spatially efficient
portfolio of priority conservation sites in marine and estuarine
areas of Florida. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater
Ecosystems 19: 408-420.
2008
Cumming,
G.S., and Havlicek, T.D. (2008). Discontinuity, multimodality
and the evolution of pattern. In: Allen, C.R., and Holling,
C.S. (editors). Discontinuities in ecosystems and other
complex systems. Columbia Press, NY. 288pp. Cumming,
G.S., Hockey, P.A.R., Bruinzeel, L.W., and Du Plessis, M.A.
(2008). Wild bird movements and avian influenza risk mapping
in southern Africa. Ecology and Society 13(2): 26.
[online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss2/art26/.Daniels, A.E. & Cumming,
G.S. (2008). conversion or conservation? Understanding wetland
change in Northwest Costa Rica. Ecological Applications
18:49-63
Houlahan,
J.E., Cottenie, K., Cumming, G.S., Currie, D.J., Findlay,
C.S., Gaedke, U., Legendre, P., Magnuson, J.J., McArdle,
B.H., Stevens, R.D., Woiwod, I.P., & Wondzell, S.M.
(2008). The utility of covariances: a response to Ranta
et al. Oikos 117: 1912-1913.
Norberg,
J., and Cumming, G.S. (2008). Complexity theory for
a sustainable future. Columbia Press, NY. 312pp. Okes, N.C., Hockey, P.A.R.
& Cumming, G.S. (2008). Habitat use and life history
as predictors of bird responses to habitat change. Conservation
Biology 22:151-162. Richter, H.V. & Cumming,
G.S. (2008). First application of satellite telemetry to
track African straw-coloured fruit bat migration. Journal
of Zoology 275:172-176.
Spiesman, B.J. & Cumming,
G.S. (2008). Communities in context: the influences of multiscale
environmental variation on local ant community structure. Landscape Ecology 23:313-325.
Peer-reviewed publications
from previous years Cumming,
G.S., and Barnes, G.D. (2007). Characterizing land tenure
dynamics by comparing spatial and temporal variation at
multiple scales. Landscape and Urban Planning 83:
219-227.
Cumming,
G.S. (2007). Global biodiversity scenarios and landscape
ecology. Landscape Ecology 22: 671-685. Houlahan,
J.E., Currie, D.J., Cottenie, K., Cumming, G.S., Ernest,
S.K.M., Findlay, C.S., Fuhlendorf, S.D., Gaedke, U., Legendre,
P., Magnuson, J.J., McArdle, B.H., Muldavin, E.H., Noble,
D., Russell, R., Stevens, R.D., Willis, T.J., Woiwod, I.P.,
and Wondzell, S.M. (2007). Compensatory dynamics are rare
in natural ecological communities. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences 104: 3273-3277.Cumming,
G.S., and Spiesman, B. (2006). Regional problems need integrated
solutions: pest management and conservation biology in agroecosystems. Biological Conservation 131: 533-543. Cumming,
G.S., and Guegan, J-F. (2006). Food Webs and Disease: Is
Pathogen Diversity Limited By Vector Diversity? EcoHealth
3: 163-170. Southworth,
J., Cumming, G. S., Marsik, M., Binford, M. W. (2006). Linking
spatial and temporal variation at multiple scales in a heterogeneous
landscape. Professional Geographer 58: 406-420 Dobson,
A., Lodge, D., Alder, J., Cumming, G.S., Keymer, J., Mcglade,
J., Mooney, H., Rusak, J.A., Sala, O., Wolters, V., Wall,
D., Winfree, R., & Xenopoulos, M.A. (2006). Habitat
loss, trophic collapse, and the decline of ecosystem services. Ecology 87(8):1915–1924. Cumming,
G. S., and Van Vuuren, D. (2006). Will climate change affect
ectoparasite species ranges? Global Ecology and Biogeography
15: 486-497. Rodriguez,
J.P., Beard, T.D., Bennett, E., Cumming, G.S., Cork, S.,
Agard, J., Dobson, A., and Peterson, G. (2006). Trade-offs
across space, time, and ecosystem services. Ecology
and Society 11(1): 28. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art28/ Cumming,
G. S., D. H. M. Cumming, and C. L. Redman. 2006. Scale mismatches
in social-ecological systems: causes, consequences, and
solutions. Ecology and Society 11(1): 14. [online]
URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vo11/iss1/art14/. Richter,
H. V., and Cumming, G. S. (2006). Food availability and
the annual migration of the straw-coloured fruit bat
(Eidolon helvum) at Kasanka National Park, Zambia.
Journal of Zoology, London 268: 35-44.Bennett, E. M., Cumming, G.S.
and Peterson, G. D. (2005). A systems models approach to
determining resilience surrogates for case studies.
Ecosystems 8: 945-947 Cumming, G. S. and Collier,
J. (2005). Change and identity in complex systems. Ecology
and Society 10:29Cumming, G. S., Barnes, G.,
Perz, S., Schmink, M., Sieving, K., Southworth, J., Binford,
M., Holt, R. D., Stickler, C., and Van Holt, T. (2005).
An exploratory framework for the empirical measurement of
resilience. Ecosystems 8: 975-987. Cumming, G. S., Alcamo, J.,
Sala, O., Swart, R., Bennett, E. M, & Zurek, M. (2005).
Are existing global scenarios consistent with ecological
feedbacks? Ecosystems 8: 143-152.Cumming, G. S., and Peterson,
G. D. (2005). Ecology in global scenarios. Chapter 3 in: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Volume 2: Scenarios
Assessment. Island Press, NY. Sala, O. E., D. van Vuuren,
H. Pereira, D. Lodge, J. Alder, G. S. Cumming, A. Dobson,
V. Wolters, and M. A. Xenopoulos. (2005). Biodiversity across
scenarios. Chapter 10 in: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Volume 2: Scenarios Assessment. Island Press, NY.Rodriguez, J. P., John Agard,
T. Douglas Beard, Jr., E. Bennett, S. Cork, G. S. Cumming,
D. Deane, A. P. Dobson, D. M. Lodge, M. Mutale, G. Nelson,
G. D. Peterson, and T. Ribeiro. (2005). Tradeoffs among
ecosystem services. Chapter 11 in: Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment Volume 2: Scenarios Assessment. Island Press,
NY. Kareiva, P., M. Manson, J.
Geoghegan, B. L. Turner II, R. Dickinson, P. Kabat, J. Foley,
R. Defries, M. Rosegrant, C. Ringler, V. Wolters, H. Pereira,
O. Sala, D. Lodge, G. S. Cumming, A. Dobson, J. Alder, M.
Xenopoulos, and D. Van Vuuren, S. Carpenter, E. Bennett,
A. M. Parma, M. A. Pascual, J. Agard, C. Butler, P. Wilkinson.
(2005). State of the art in describing future changes in
ecosystem services. Chapter 4 in: Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment Volume 2: Scenarios Assessment. Island Press,
NY.Cumming, G. S. (2004). The
impacts of low-head dams on fish species richness in Wisconsin,
USA. Ecological Applications 14: 1495-1506. Cumming, G. S. (2004). On
the relevance of abundance and spatial pattern for interpretations
of host-parasite association data. Bulletin of Entomological
Research 94: 401-409.Bennett, E. M., Carpenter,
S. R., Peterson, G. D., Cumming, G. S., Zurek, M., and Pingali,
P. (2003). Why global scenarios need ecology. Frontiers
in Ecology and the Environment 1: 322-329. Cumming, D. H. M. & Cumming,
G. S. (2003). Ungulate community structure and ecological
processes: body size, hoof area and trampling in African
savannas. Oecologia 134: 560-568.Peterson, G. D., Cumming,
G. S. & Carpenter, S. R. (2003). Scenario planning:
a tool for conservation in an uncertain future. Conservation
Biology 17: 358-366. Peterson, G. D., Beard, T.
D. Jr., Beisner, B. E., Bennett, E. M., Carpenter, S. R.,
Cumming, G. S., Dent, C. L., and Havlicek, T. D. (2003).
Assessing future ecosystem services: a case study of the
Northern Highlands Lake District, Wisconsin. Conservation
Ecology 7(3):1.Cumming, G. S. & Havlicek,
T. D. (2002). Evolution, ecology and multimodal distributions
of body size. Ecosystems 5: 705-711. Walker, B., Carpenter, S.,
Anderies, J., Abel, N., Cumming, G., Janssen, M., Lebel,
L., Norberg, J., Peterson, G. D., & Pritchard, R. (2002).
Resilience management in social-ecological systems: a working
hypothesis for a participatory approach. Conservation
Ecology 6(1): 14Dent, C. L., Cumming, G. S.,
& Carpenter, S. R. (2002). Non-linearities in lake and
stream ecosystems. Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society 357: 635-645. Cumming, G. S. (2002). Habitat
shape, species invasions, and reserve design: insights from
simple models. Conservation Ecology 6(1): 3.[Online]
URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol6/iss1/art3/Cumming, G. S. (2002). Comparing
climate and vegetation as limiting factors for species ranges
of African ticks. Ecology 83: 255-268. Cumming, G. S. (2000). Using
between-model comparisons to fine-tune linear models of
species ranges. Journal of Biogeography 27: 441-455.Cumming, G. S. (2000). Using
habitat models to map diversity: pan-African species richness
of ticks (Acari: Ixodida). Journal of Biogeography
27: 425-440. Cumming, G. S. (2000). Host
use does not clarify the evolutionary history of African
ticks (Acari: Ixodoidea). African Zoology 35: 43-50.Cumming, G. S. (1999). Host
distributions do not limit the species ranges of most African
ticks (Acari: Ixodida). Bulletin of Entomological Research
89: 303-327. Cumming, G. S. (1999). The
Evolutionary Ecology of African ticks. D. Phil. Thesis,
University of Oxford.Cumming, G. S. (1998). Host
preference in African ticks: a quantitative data set. Bulletin
of Entomological Research 88: 379-406. Fenton, M. B., Cumming, D.
H. M., Rautenbach, I. L., Cumming, G. S., Cumming, M. S.,
Ford, A. G., Taylor, R. D., Dunlop, J. M., Hovorka, M. D.,
Johnston, D. S., Portfors, C. V. R., Kalcounis, M., &
Mahlanga, Z. (1998). Bats and loss of tree canopy in African
woodlands. Conservation Biology 12(2):399-407.Cumming, D. H. M., Fenton,
M. B., Rautenbach, I. L., Taylor, R. D., Cumming, G. S.,
Cumming, M. S., Dunlop, J. M., Ford, A. G., Hovorka, M.
D., Johnston, D. S., Kalcounis, M., Mahlanga, Z., &
Portfors, C. V. R. (1997). Elephants, woodlands and biodiversity
in southern Africa. South African Journal of Science
93: 231-236. Bernard, R. T. F. & Cumming,
G. S. (1997). African bats: evolution of reproductive patterns
and delays. Quarterly Review of Biology 72(3): 253-274.Cumming, G. S. & Bernard,
R. T. F. (1997). Rainfall, food abundance and timing of
parturition in African bats. Oecologia 111: 309-317. Cumming, G. S. (1996). Mantis
movements by night and the interactions of sympatric bats
and mantises. Canadian Journal of Zoology 74: 1771-1774.
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