Faculty James R. Vonesh Ph.D. University of Florida (2003) jrvonesh@vcu.edu Office room: 003 Office phone: (804) 828-6643 Lab room: 005 Lab phone: (804) 828-0055 Courses offered: Vertebrate Natural History Lab (BIOZ 313)

Research interests:
Phenotypic plasticity; Complex life histories; Stage- and size-structured population dynamics; Predator-prey ecology; Food webs; Reciprocal subsidies; Conservation biology; Amphibian ecology

Dr. Vonesh received his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Florida (with C. Osenberg) in 2003, followed by post docs at Boston University (K. Warkentin) and Washington University in Saint Louis (J. Chase). He joined the faculty at VCU in 2007. His research focuses on species with complex life cycles and seeks to understand how individual-level processes such as behavior and phenotypic plasticity scale-up to influence demography, species interactions, food webs, and linkages between aquatic and terrestrial systems. Current projects focus on (1) the effects of predators/anthropogenic stressors on behavior, morphology, life history and survival, (2) the demographic consequences of sequential predators/stressors across life history stages, (3) the importance of the lethal and non-lethal effects of predators/stressors in aquatic food webs, and (4) the effects of aquatic predators/stressors in reciprocal subsidies between aquatic and terrestrial food webs.

Recent publications:
Vonesh, J.R. & K. M. Warkentin. 2006. Predator-induced shifts in metamorphosis
            in response to larval and metamorph risk. Ecology 87(3): 556-562

Vonesh, J.R. & B. Bolker. 2005.  Compensatory larval responses shift trade-offs
            associated with predator-induced hatching in an African treefrog. Ecology
            86(6): 1580-1591

Vonesh, J.R. 2005. Effects of egg- and larval-predators on larval performance and
            postmetamorphic predation in the African tree frog, Hyperolius
            spinigularis. Oecologia 143: 280-290

Vonesh, J.R. & C.W. Osenberg. 2003. Multi-predator effects across life-history
            stages: non-additivity of egg- and larval-stage predation in an African
            treefrog. Ecology Letters 6: 503 – 508

Vonesh, J.R. & O. De la Cruz. 2002. Complex life cycles and density-
            dependence: Population-level consequences of early mortality in
            amphibians. Oecologia 133: 325 – 333