I study how changing environments affect organisms’ abundances, traits and ecological interactions. This includes understanding how species respond to natural environmental variation, as well as understanding how they respond to human-caused disturbance such as habitat destruction and climate change. Understanding species’ responses will play a critical role in developing conservation strategies for imperiled species, and control strategies for harmful species. My main study organisms are amphibians, which are undergoing severe worldwide declines. It is important to determine why amphibians are declining and how we can stop those declines because amphibians provide important ecological services and they can also serve as a sensitive indicator of environmental change that might directly harm humans.
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/case.edu/benard-lab/
Publications:
Neptune, TC, Koester, DC., & MF Benard. 2025. Freeze‐tolerant frogs accumulate cryoprotectants using photoperiod: A potential ecological trap. Journal of Animal Ecology, 94(11), 2255-2266. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.70125
Benard, MF. and KR Greenwald. 2023. Environmental Drivers of Amphibian Breeding Phenology across Multiple Sites. Diversity (15) 253. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15020253
Dimitrie, DA and MF Benard. 2023. Female treefrog preference for breeding sites matches offspring performance in the presence of two anuran competitors. Ecology. e4164. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4164