Biogeography, physiological ecology, tropical ecology

2011 – PhD, University of Washington

Biogeography, physiological ecology, tropical ecology, climate change, conservation biology, & natural history.

Research in the lab spans tropical and temperate ecosystems and takes advantage of the natural changes found along latitudinal and elevational gradients to address questions in ecology and evolution. Specific research interests include:

• Biogeography. Understanding the processes generating spatial patterns of biodiversity and the roles of biotic and abiotic factors in determining species’ range limits.
• Conservation biology. Applying knowledge of the mechanisms underlying species distributions to predict the impacts of environmental change on biodiversity.
• Climate change. Incorporating population-level variation in physiology and climatic variation to improve predictions of the impacts of climate change.
• Natural history. Observing and describing the ecology of plant and animal species.

Visit Google Scholar for more publications.

• Gibson-Reinemer, D., K.S. Sheldon, & F.J. Rahel. 2015. Climate change creates rapid ecological disassembly. Ecology and Evolution. doi: 10.1002/ece3.1518
• Sheldon, K.S., A.D. Leaché, & F.B. Cruz. 2015. The influence of seasonality in temperature on elevational range size across latitude: a test using Liolaemus lizards. Global Ecology and Biogeography doi: 10.1111/geb.12284.
• Sheldon, K.S., H.F. Greeney, & R.C. Dobbs. 2014. Nesting biology of the Flame-faced Tanager (Tangara parzudakii) in northeastern Ecuador. Ornitología Neotropical 25:397-406.
• Sheldon, K.S. & J.J. Tewksbury. 2014. The impact of seasonality in temperature on thermal tolerance and elevational range size of tropical and temperate beetles. Ecology 95:2134-2143 doi: 10.1890/13-1703.1
• Urban, M.C., J.J. Tewksbury, & K.S. Sheldon. 2012. On a collision course: Competition and climate change generate no-analog communities and extinction. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279:2072-2080. doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.2367.
• Sheldon, K.S., S. Yang, & J.J. Tewksbury. 2011. Climate change and community disassembly: impacts of warming on tropical and temperate montane community structure. Ecology Letters 14:1191-1200.