Paige Warren
Professor & Department Head
Primary Interests
Dr. Warren’s research seeks to understand processes generating and maintaining biological diversity in a world that is becoming increasingly dominated by humans. Research in the lab spans the species, community and landscape levels and focuses on the impacts of urbanization on animals. Rapid urbanization is one of the greatest challenges facing conservation biology, with many cities growing in area faster than in population. In addition, the highly managed nature of a city landscape provides biologists with some unique opportunities to understand both the role of humans in altering patterns of biological diversity and the role of behavior in limiting animal distributions. A guiding principle for Dr. Warren’s research is that the typical indices of urbanization, such as human population density, describe only a portion of the habitat structure that is important for wildlife. Human behaviors, values, and resource consumption levels can influence the habitat and resource availability for birds and other organisms.
Current & Recent Projects
- Comparative ecology of cities – what makes an urban biota “urban”? (NSF Research Coordination Network)
- Socioeconomic status and biotic community composition in residential areas of Phoenix, AZ and Baltimore, MD (Central Arizona Phoenix LTER and Baltimore Ecosystem Study LTER)
- Untangling interactions among bottom up and top down processes in novel and invaded forest ecosystems (with D. King)
- Socio-ecological consequences of of urban greening and urban growth in the Boston Metropolitan Area (BMA ULTRA-Ex)
- Linking urban development and species interactions: implications for the evolution of native species in urban environments (with L. Adler and R. Irwin)
- Dead and decaying wood as a limiting resource for cavity nesting birds, measuring the impact of arboricultural practices (with B. Kane)
Courses Taught
ECO 622 – Urban Ecology & Evolution (3cr) – Spring in even years
Rapid urbanization is transforming landscapes around the world. This creates an urgent need both for wildlife conservation in cities and for science that addresses the ecology of places where people live. This course surveys current topics in urban wildlife ecology, such as altered biotic community structure, invasive species, altered trophic dynamics, urban evolutionary biology, and urban ecological theories. Other issues and topics are determined by the student composition of the course. Although this is a graduate course, interested undergraduates are encouraged to contact me for more information.
NRC 564 Wildlife Habitat Management (4cr) – Fall
Wildlife-habitat relationships illustrated through basic field zoology and natural history, evolutionary biology, ecological theory, and quantitative tools used to explain ecological processes and their influence on wildlife and their environment. Explores the dynamics and management of various habitats in North America and elsewhere. Topics include wildlife ecology, habitat classification, resource utilization, effects of humans, and management techniques. Prerequisite: NRC 261.
ECO 622 Conservation Biology (3cr) – Spring in odd years
Education
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
Selected Publications
Andrade, R., J. Franklin, K. L. Larson, C. M. Swan, S. B. Lerman, H. L. Bateman, P. S. Warren, A. M. York (2020) Predicting the assembly of novel communities in urban ecosystems, Landscape Ecology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01142-1
Brown, J. A., K. L Larson, S. B Lerman, D. L Childers, R. Andrade, H. L Bateman, S. J Hall, P. S Warren and A. York (2020) Influences of Environmental and Social Factors on Perceived Bio-cultural Services and Disservices, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, section Urban Ecology 8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.569730
Kuras, E., P. Warren, J. Zinda, M. Aronson, S. Cilliers, M. Goddard, C. Nilon, R. Winkler (2020), Urban socioeconomic inequality and biodiversity often converge but not always: a global meta-analysis, Landscape and Urban Planning 198:103799 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103799
Allen, D. C. Allen, H. L. Bateman, P. S. Warren, F. Suzart de Albuquerque, S. Arnett-Romero, and B. Harding (2019) Long-term effects of land-use change on bird communities depend on spatial scale and land-use type, Ecosphere 10(11): e02952 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2952
Warren, P. S., S. B. Lerman, R. Andrade, K. Larson, H. Bateman (2019) The more things change: Species losses detected in Phoenix despite stability in bird-socioeconomic relationships. Ecosphere 10(3):2-22 doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2624
Irwin, R.E., P.S. Warren, L.S. Adler (2018) Phenotypic selection on floral traits in an urban landscape. Invited submission to special issue, Proc Roy Soc B 285: 20181239 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.1239
Rega-Brodsky, C. C., C. H. Nilon, P. S. Warren (2018) Balancing urban biodiversity needs and resident preferences for vacant lot management, Sustainability 10:1679. doi.org/10.3390/su10051679
Banville, M., H. Bateman, S. Earl, P. Warren (2016) Decadal declines in bird abundance and diversity in urban riparian zones. Landscape and Urban Planning 159:48-61
Aronson, M.F.J., C.H. Nilon, C.A. Lepczyk, T. Parker, P. S. Warren, S. Cilliers, M.A. Goddard, A. Hahs, C. Herzog, M. Katti, F. A. La Sorte, N.S.G. Williams, and W. Zipperer (2016) Hierarchical filters determine community assembly of urban species pools. Ecology, 97:2952-2963, DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1535
Aronson, M., M. Katti, F. La Sorte, C. Nilon, P. Warren, et al. 2014. A global analysis of the impacts of urbanization on bird and plant diversity reveals key anthropogenic drivers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 281:20133330. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.3330
Danford, R.S., C. Cheng, M. Strohbach, R. Ryan, C. Nicolson, P. Warren (2014) What Does It Take to Achieve Equitable Urban Tree Canopy Distribution? A Boston Case Study Cities and the Environment 7(1): Article 2. http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cate/vol7/iss1/2
Warren, P. S., R. L. Ryan, S. B. Lerman, and K. Tooke. 2011. Social and institutional factors associated with land use and forest conservation along two urban gradients in Massachusetts. Landscape and Urban Planning 102:82-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2011.03.012
Lerman, S. B. and P. S. Warren. 2011. The conservation value of residential yards: Linking birds and people. Ecological Applications 21(4):1327-1339. https://doi.org/10.1890/10-0423.1
Warren, P. S., M. Katti, M. Ermann, and A. Brazel. 2006. Urban bioacoustics – It’s not just noise. Animal Behaviour 71(3):491-502, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.07.014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.07.014
Shochat, E., P. S. Warren, S. H. Faeth, N. E. McIntyre, and D. Hope. 2006. From patterns to emerging processes in mechanistic urban ecology. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 21:186–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2005.11.019
Kinzig, A. P., P. Warren, C. Martin, D. Hope, and M. Katti. 2005. The effects of human socioeconomic status and cultural characteristics on urban patterns of biodiversity. Ecology and Society 10:23. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26267712
Faeth, S. H., P. S. Warren, E. Shochat, and W. Marussich. 2005. Trophic dynamics in urban communities. BioScience 55(5):399-407. https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2005)055[0399:TDIUC]2.0.CO;2
Books
Lepczyk, C. and P. Warren (2012) Urban Bird Ecology and Conservation. University of California Press.