My research focuses on the ecology and conservation of grassland and savannas ecosystems. In particular, I am interested in understanding the unique co-evolution that has occurred between plants and large herbivores in African savannas and the consequences of these interactions for ecosystem processes across large scales. The majority of my research is conducted in the Serengeti Ecosystem of East Africa, one of the last remaining fully functional “grazing ecosystems”, home to earth’s largest free-ranging ungulate herds and one of the best studied ecosystems in the paleotropics.

Recent and current projects include: (1) multivariate investigations of how landscape features, plant forage quality and risk of predation interact to determine the spatial distribution of large herbivore resident habitats; (2) understanding how phylogenetic relatedness among plant species contributes to the assembly of communities across ecological gradients; (3) seeking an understanding of factors that maintain savanna heterogeneity and plant species diversity across spatial scales; (4) investigations of the effects of plants and herbivores on nutrient cycling; (5) understanding the factors that determine the dynamics and stability of tree-grass coexistence in savannas across continents.

Grace, J.B., T.M. Anderson, H. Olff, and S. Scheiner. Improving the connection between biological data and theory through the use of structural equation meta-models. In press, Ecological Monographs.

Reed, D.N., T.M. Anderson, J. Dempewolf, K.L. Metzger, and S. Serneels. 2009. The spatial distribution of vegetation types in the Serengeti ecosystem: the influence of rainfall and topographic relief on vegetation patch characteristics. The Journal of Biogeography 36:770-782.

Sankaran, M., and T.M. Anderson. 2009. Management and restoration in African savannas: interactions and feedbacks. Pages 136-155 in R. Hobbs and K. Suding (eds) New Models for Ecosystem Dynamics. Island Press, Washington.

Anderson, T.M., J. Dempewolf, K.L. Metzger, D.N. Reed, and S. Serneels. 2008. Generation and maintenance of heterogeneity in the Serengeti ecosystem. Pages 135-182 in A.R.E. Sinclair, C. Packer, S.A.R. Mduma and J.M. Fryxell (eds) Serengeti III: Human Impacts on Ecosystem Dynamics. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Anderson, T.M. 2008. Plant compositional change over time increases with rainfall in Serengeti grasslands. Oikos 117:675-682.

Anderson, T.M., M.E. Ritchie, E. Mayemba, S. Eby, J.B. Grace, and S.J. McNaughton. 2007. Forage nutritive quality in the Serengeti ecosystem: the roles of fire and herbivory. The American Naturalist 170:343-357.

Grace, J.B., T.M. Anderson, M. Smith, E. Seabloom, S. Andelman, G. Meche, E. Weiher, L.K. Allain, H. Jutila, M. Sankaran, J. Knops, M. Ritchie, and M. Willig. 2007. Does species diversity limit productivity in natural grassland communities? Ecology Letters 10:680-689.

Anderson, T.M., M.E. Ritchie, and S.J. McNaughton. 2007. Rainfall and soils modify plant community response to grazing in Serengeti National Park. Ecology 88:1191-1201. (Recommended by Faculty of 1000)

Anderson, T.M., W.T. Starmer and M. Thorne. 2007. Bimodal root diameter distributions in Serengeti grasses exhibit plasticity in response to defoliation and soil texture: implications for nitrogen uptake. Functional Ecology 21:50-60.

Anderson, T.M., K.L. Metzger, and S.J. McNaughton. 2007. Multi-scale analysis of plant species richness in Serengeti grasslands. Journal of Biogeography 34:313-323.

Anderson, T.M., Y. Dong, and S.J. McNaughton. 2006. Nutrient acquisition and physiological responses of dominant Serengeti grasses to variation in soil texture and grazing. Journal of Ecology 94:1164-1175.

Anderson, T.M., M.A. Lachance, and W.T. Starmer. 2004. The relationship of phylogeny to community structure: the cactus yeast community. The American Naturalist 164:709-721. (Recommended by Faculty of 1000)

Anderson, T.M., S.J. McNaughton, and M.E. Ritchie. 2004. Scale-dependent relationships between the spatial distribution of a limiting resource and plant species diversity in an African grassland ecosystem. Oecologia 139:277-287.

Anderson, M.T., and D.A. Frank. 2003. Defoliation effects on reproductive biomass: importance of scale and timing. Journal of Range Management 56:501-516.