Northern Illinois University
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Research Interests

• Ecology and evolution
• Mammals
• Biogeography
• Conservation biology

Representative Publications

• Farias, A.A., C. Armas, A. Gaxiola, A.P. Cea, J.L. Cortés, R.P. Lopéz, F. Casanoves, M. Holmgren, P.L. Meserve, J.R. Gutiérrez, and D.A. Kelt. 2020. Species interactions across trophic levels mediate rainfall effects on dryland vegetation dynamics. Ecological Monographs.
• Armas, C., P.L. Meserve, J.R. Gutiérrez, and D.A. Kelt. 2020. Species all in one: ephemerals, rodents, and their predators shape the effects of El Niño on arid perennial vegetation. Ecological Bulletin, 6 pp.
• Meserve, P.L., S. Gómez-González, and D.A. Kelt. 2019. The Chilean matorral: characteristics, biogeography, and disturbance. Encyclopedia of the World’s Biomes, Elsevier Publ., 7 pp.
• Alfaro, F.D., M. Manzano, S. Abades, N. Trefault, R. de la Iglesia, A. Gaxiola, P.A. Marquet, J.R. Gutiérrez, P.L. Meserve, D.A. Kelt, J. Belnap, and J.J. Armesto. 2018. Exclusion of small mammals and lagomorphs invasion interact with human trampling to drive changes in topsoil microbial community structure and function in semiarid Chile. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 124:1-10.
• Kelt, D.A., P.L. Meserve, J.R. Gutiérrez, W.B. Milstead, and M.A. Previtali. Long-term monitoring in the face of biotic and abiotic influences at a semiarid site in north-central Chile. Ecology 94:977.
• Madrigal, J., D.K. Kelt, P.L. Meserve, J.R. Gutiérrez, and F.A. Squeo. Bottom-up control of consumers leads to top-down indirect facilitation of invasive annual herbs in semiarid Chile. Ecology 92:282-288.
• Previtali, M.A., M. Lima, P.L. Meserve, D.A. Kelt, and J.R. Gutiérrez. 2009. Population dynamics of two sympatric rodents in a variable environment: the influence of rainfall, resource availability, and predation. Ecology 90:1996-2006.
• Meserve, P.L. 2007. Chapter 8, Zoogeography of South America, pp. 112-132. IN A. Orme (editor) Physical geography of South America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England.
• Holmgren, M., P. Stapp, C.R. Dickman, C. Gracia, S. Graham, J.R. Gutiérrez, C. Hice, F. Jaksic, D.A. Kelt, M. Letnic, M. Lima, B.C. López, P.L. Meserve, W.B. Milstead, G.A. Polis, M.A. Previtali, M. Richter, S. Sabaté, and F.A. Squeo. Extreme climatic events shape arid and semiarid ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 4: 87-95.
• Kelt, D.A., P.L. Meserve, K.L. Nabors, M.L. Forister, and J.R. Gutiérrez. 2004. Foraging ecology of small mammals in semiarid Chile: the interplay of biotic and abiotic effects. Ecology 85:383-397.
• Yunger, J.A., P.L. Meserve, and J.R. Gutiérrez. 2002. Small mammal foraging behavior: mechanisms for coexistence and implication for population dynamics. Ecological Monographs 72:561-577.
• Meserve, P.L., W.B. Milstead, J.R. Gutiérrez, and F.M. Jaksic. The interplay of biotic and abiotic factors in a semiarid Chilean mammal assemblage: results of a long-term experiment. Oikos 85:364-372.
• Meserve, P.L., J.R. Gutiérrez, J.A. Yunger, L.C. Contreras, and F.M. Jaksic. Role of biotic interactions in a small mammal assemblage in semiarid Chile. Ecology 77:133-148.
• Kelt, D.A., M.L. Taper and P.L. Meserve. Assessing the impact of competition on community assembly: a case study using small mammals. Ecology 76:1283-1296.
• Meserve, P.L., J.R. Gutiérrez and F.M. Jaksic. Effects of vertebrate predation on a caviomorph rodent, the degu (Octodon degus), in a semiarid thorn scrub community in Chile. Oecologia 94:153-158.
• Meserve, P.L. and E.B. Le Boulengé. Population dynamics and ecology of small mammals in the northern Chilean semiarid region, p. 413-431. In Studies in Neotropical Mammalogy: Essays in Honor of Philip Hershkovitz (B.P. Patterson and R.M. Timm, eds). Fieldiana: Zoology, new ser.
• Meserve, P.L. Trophic relationships among small mammals in a Chilean semi arid thorn scrub community. J. Mammalogy 62:304-314.
• Meserve, P.L. Resource partitioning in a Chilean semi-arid small mammal community. J. Animal Ecology 50:745-757.