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Posts
Future Blog Post
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Blog Post number 4
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Blog Post number 3
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Blog Post number 2
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Blog Post number 1
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inprogress
pastresearch
Predator-prey interactions in the Western Alps
The Western Alps natural recolonization by the wolf is a region-wide natural experiment. I studied how prey change their behavior once the predator returns after decades of absence.
Roe and Red Deer in Trentino and Technology Project
Herbivores often move large distance to follow plants blooming waves. In a team of international researchers, we studied the migrations of roe deers in the Eastern Alps.
Activity Budget Scaling in Carnivores
Carnivores live a high-risks, high-rewards life: they eat highly energetic food but it costs a lot of energy to hunt. I used a mathematical models to study how different-sized species respond to these challenges.
Baboon Population Ecology
Baboons live in large group with complex social structures. I worked with behavioural and population ecologist to learn more about how these social groups work.
portfolio
Ecology of Individuals
Organisms are the starting point of my research. In particular, I am interested in the constant feedback and feedforward mechanisms they are involved in with each other and their environment. I began my career as a behavioural ecologist working on animal behavior, studying how species interactions modified their activities. Over the years, my interests grew, leading me to investigate what factors influence and constrain animal activities—from biochemistry to the laws of physics. As well, I developed an interest in how researchers and scientists describe and study the interactions among organisms and their environment. I have worked to develop new approaches to better integrate animal ecology in the larger picture of ecosystem functioning and dynamics, using tools that range from isotope analyses to remote sensing products.
Ecology of Ecosystems
From Ellis-Soto et al. (2021).
Organisms, of course, are not isolated from their enviroment, nor are they just receivers of environmental inputs. They actively influence the environment they live in, shaping it in myriad ways. Identity, condition, activity, density, and diversity of the organisms living in an environment are but a few of the biological factors that can change the non-living world—and in turn be changed by it. This theme made up a substantial portion of my doctoral research and is still a major component of my work. In particular, I am interested in the zoogeochemistry of organisms and how it influences ecosystem structure and functions.
Theoretical Ecology
Empirical, field-based research sparked my passion for ecology. However, among fieldwork bouts, I developed an interest in ecological theory and its multiple facets. Theoretical work in ecology is helpful as working on a piece of paper or a computer screen provides something very hard to come by in the field: repeatability and control. I am interested in how mathematical models of ecosystem functioning account for animal activities. I am also working with several stellar researchers to introduce additional currencies in models of ecosystem functioning, to improve our ability to study and predict their dynamics.
publications
1. Rizzuto, M.✉, Carbone, C. and Pawar, S. (2018). Foraging constraints reverse the scaling of activity time in carnivores. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2(2), 247–253. Cover story
citation 2. Rizzuto, M.✉, Leroux, S.J., Vander Wal, E., Wiersma, Y.F., Heckford, T.R., Balluffi-Fry, J. (2019). Patterns and potential drivers of intraspecific variability in the body C, N, P composition of a terrestrial vertebrate, the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus). Ecology and Evolution, 9, 14453–14464. 
3. Balluffi-Fry, J.✉, Leroux, S.J., Wiersma, Y.F., Heckford, T.R., Rizzuto, M., Richmond, I.C., Vander Wal, E. (2020). Quantity-quality trade-offs revealed using a multiscale test of herbivore resource selection on elemental landscapes. Ecology and Evolution, 10, 13847–13859.
4. Richmond, I. C.✉, Leroux, S.J., Vander Wal, E., Heckford, T.R., Rizzuto, M., Balluffi-Fry, J., Kennah, J., Wiersma, Y.F. (2021). Temporal variation and its drivers in the elemental traits of four boreal plant species. Journal of Plant Ecology, 14(3), 398–413
5. Ellis-Soto, D.✉, Ferraro, K.M., Rizzuto, M., Briggs, E., Monk, J.D., and Schmitz, O.J. (2021) A Methodological Roadmap to Quantify Animal-vectored Spatial Ecosystem Subsidies. Journal of Animal Ecology, 90(7), 1605–1622. Winner, Sidnie Manton Award 2021
6. Rizzuto, M.✉, Leroux, S.J., Vander Wal, E., Richmond, I.C., Heckford, T.R., Balluffi-Fry, J., Wiersma, Y.F. (2021) Forage stoichiometry predicts the home range size of a small terrestrial herbivore. Oecologia, 197(2), 327–338. Winner, Hanski Prize 2021
7. Heckford, T.R.✉, Leroux, S.J., Vander Wal, E., Rizzuto, M., Balluffi-Fry, J., Richmond, I.C., Wiersma, Y.F. (2022). Spatially explicit correlates of plant functional traits inform landscape patterns of resource quality. Landscape Ecology, 37, 59–80.
8. Richmond, I.C.✉, Balluffi-Fry, J., Vander Wal, E., Leroux, S.J., Rizzuto, M., Heckford, T.R., Kennah, J.L., Riefesel, G.R., Wiersma, Y.F. (2022) Individual snowshoe hares manage risk differently: Integrating stoichiometric distribution models and foraging ecology. Journal of Mammalogy, 103(1), 196–208.
9. Balluffi-Fry, J.✉, Leroux, S.J., Wiersma, Y.F., Richmond, I.C., Heckford, T.H., Rizzuto, M., Kennah, J.L., Vander Wal, E. (2022) Integrating plant stoichiometry and feeding experiments: state-dependent forage choice and its implications on body mass. Oecologia, 198(3), 579–591
10. Little, C.J.✉, Rizzuto, M.✉, Luhring, T.M., Monk, J.D., Nowicki, R.J., Paseka, R.E., Stegen, J.C., Symons, C.C., Taub, F.B., Yan, J.D.L. (2022) Movement with Meaning: Integrating Information into Meta-Ecology. Oikos, 2022(8), e08892. Editor's Choice
11. Heckford, T.R.✉, Leroux, S.J., Vander Wal, E., Rizzuto, M., Balluffi-Fry, J., Richmond, I.C., Wiersma, Y.F. Ecoregion and community structure influences on the foliar elemental niche of balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) and white birch (Betula papyrifera Marshall) Ecology and Evolution, 2022(12), e9244.
12. McLeod, A. M.✉, Leroux, S. J., Rizzuto, M., Leibold, M. A., Schiesari, L. Integrating ecosystem and contaminant models to predict the effects of ecosystem fluxes on contaminant dynamics. Ecosphere, 2024, 15(1): e4739.
13. Rizzuto, M.✉, Leroux, S.J., Schmitz, O.J., Vander Wal, E., Wiersma, Y.F., Heckford, T.R. Animal-vectored nutrient flows across resource gradients influence the nature of local and meta-ecosystem functioning. Ecological Modelling, 2024(488), 110570.
14. Rizzuto, M.✉, Leroux, S. J., Schmitz, O. J. Rewiring the carbon cycle: a theoretical framework for animal-driven ecosystem carbon sequestration. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 2024(129), e2024JG008026.
research
Elemental composition of Vertebrates
What chemical elements make up a vertebrate and in what proportions? Working with theoretical, wildlife, and landscape ecologists, I studied the elemental composition of a small vertebrate and how it varies among individuals.
Food quality and consumer home range size
Food quality varies over space and time in natural systems. Animals respond to this variation by making space use decision. I work with data from a small terrestrial herbivore to test if it varies its home range size with variation in its preferred foods’ nutrient content
Nutrient transport by animals
Animals are constantly on the move to find and exploit high quality food patches. These movement, which happen at small spatial scale and on a daily basis, hold the potential to link habitats with different productivities and nutrients availability. I am working to develop a mathematical model to describe these links and their implications for ecosystem dynamics and conservation policies.
Integrating Information in Meta-ecosystems
Information is a fundamental, if understudied, currency of life and is everywhere in nature. I am co-leading a team of researchers from various ecological backgrounds to integrate biological information theory with metaecosystem theory. Our goal is to provide a research framework to help shed light on the role of this currency in shaping natural systems.
Emergent technologies to study animal subsidies across scales
Nutrient transfer across ecosystem boundaries is a fundamental part of ecosystem functioning. Yet, it is quite challenging to study it in the field. I am collaborating with researchers from Yale University to develop a framework to help future studies of this phenomenon.
talks
Rizzuto, M.†, Carbone, C., Pawar, S. Bio-mechanical constraints on foraging reverse the scaling of activity rate among carnivores.
Published:
Rizzuto, M.†, Leroux, S. J., Vander Wal, E., Wiersma, Y., Heckford, T. R., Balluffi-Fry, J. Life in a Limiting Environment. Ontogeny and Ecological Stoichiometry of Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) in the Boreal Forests of Newfoundland.
Published:
Rizzuto, M.†, Leroux, S. J., Vander Wal, E., Wiersma, Y., Heckford, T. R., Balluffi-Fry, J. Beyond Diffusion: Animal-Mediated Nutrient Transport at Different Spatial Scales.
Published:
Rizzuto, M.†, Leroux, S. J., Schmitz, O. J., Vander Wal, E., Wiersma, Y. F., Heckford, T. R. Going against the flow: non-diffusive organismal movement influences local and meta-ecosystem functioning
Published:
Rizzuto, M.†, Leroux, S. J., Schmitz, O. J., Vander Wal, E., Wiersma, Y. F., Heckford, T. R. Movers and shakers: Animal‐ vectored nutrient flows across resource gradients influence local and meta‐ecosystem functioning.
Published:
Rizzuto, M.†, Leroux, S. J., Schmitz, O. J. Modeling the zoogeochemical effects of herbivores on ecosystem carbon cycles.
Published:
Rizzuto, M.†, Leroux, S. J., Schmitz, O. J. Modeling the zoogeochemical effects of herbivores on ecosystem carbon cycles.
Published:
teaching
Introduction to Biological Statistics
Undergraduate Course, Imperial College London - South Kensington Campus, Department of Life Sciences, 2014
Macroecology and Climate Change
Graduate Course, Imperial College London - Silwood Park Campus, Department of Life Sciences, 2014
Statistics
Graduate Course, Imperial College London - Silwood Park Campus, Department of Life Sciences, 2014
Behavioural Ecology
Undergraduate Course, Imperial College London, Department of Life Sciences, 2015
Ecology
Undergraduate Course, Imperial College London, Department of Life Sciences, 2015
Principles of Biology
Undergraduate course, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Department of Biology, 2017
Principles of Ecology
Undergraduate Course, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Department of Biology, 2018
Models in Biology
Mixed Graduate and Undergraduate Course, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Department of Biology, 2020
Industrial Ecology
Graduate Course, Yale University, School of the Environment, 2022
Ecosystems and Landscapes
Graduate Course, Yale University, School of the Environment, 2023
The Modern Instructor Lecture Series
Graduate Course, Yale University, School of the Environment, 2023