Loss Lab
Global Change Ecology & Management
Scott R. Loss
Associate Professor
Dept. of Natural Resource Ecology & Management
Oklahoma State University
Welcome to the Loss Lab! We study multiple aspects of global change ecology and management, including effects of climate change on wildlife and habitats, distributions and effects of invasive species, the role of wildlife and land cover change in vector-borne disease transmission, and direct sources of human-caused wildlife mortality like predation by free-ranging cats and bird collisions with structures (e.g., buildings, energy infrastructure & vehicles). Birds are the focus of much of our work, but we also study plants, invertebrates, and wildlife more broadly.
Lab News
January 2024 - Loss Lab alum Jared Elmore publishes a new paper in Wildlife Biology showing that different shorebird species respond differently to landscape and local wetland characteristics during migration stopovers.
November 2023 - Loss Lab postdoc alum David Londe has published a new paper in Ecological Applications showing that "Climate change causes decliens and greater extremes in wetland inundation in a region important for wetland bird."
August 2023 - Loss Lab members Holly Todaro and Lucas Bobay presented their research at the annual conference of the American Ornithological Society in London, Ontario!
March 2023 - A new review paper led by Scott and including 4 previous Loss Lab members "Citizen science to address the global issue of bird-window collisions" has been published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment!
January 2023 - New paper led by Loss Lab MS student alum Georgia Riggs "Field-testing effectiveness of window markers in reducing bird-window collisions" has been published in Urban Ecosystems!
December 2022 - A new paper led by Loss Lab postdoc Dave Londe "Climate change and wetlands in the Southern Great Plains: How are managers dealing with an uncertain future?" has been published in Environmental Management!
Novemeber 2022 - We've had 2 new papers 1st-authored by Loss Lab MS students published this month, including a study finding that "Bird-building collisions increase with weather conditions that favor nocturnal migration and with inclement and changing weather" (led by Sirena Lao and published in Ornithological Applications) and a study evaluating "Effects of native and non-native earthworms on grassland plant communities and abundance of associated arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (led by Yev Malyutina and published in Biological Invasions).
September 2022 - It's an exciting time in the Loss Lab as we welcome 4 new graduate students including PhD student Holly Todaro and MS students Jozlyn Kizer, Lucas Bobay, and Tucker Taylor! More info about each student and their research is on our People page.
August 2022 - We have a new co-authored paper out in Biological Invasions proposing "A science-based policy for managing free-roaming cats."
August 2022 - We have a new paper out in Journal of Vector Ecology on the effect of woody plant encroachment by eastern redcedar on mosquito communities and West Nile virus in Oklahoma.
June 2022 - A new paper led by Loss Lab postdoc Dave Londe "Inundation of depressional wetlands declines under a changing climate" is now published in Climatic Change!
May 2022 - We have a new paper out: "Review and synthesis of the global literature on domestic cat impacts on wildlife," published in Journal of Animal Ecology, the result of our whole-lab collaboration including 2 Loss Lab postdocs, 3 grad students, and 1 undergrad researcher!
March 2022 - We collaborated with researchers at the USGS on a new paper in Royal Society Open Science evaluating vulnerability of avian populations to renewable energy production.
February 2022 - A new paper led by Loss Lab MS alum Georgia Riggs is now published in PLOS ONE - Stakeholder perceptions of bird-window collisions!
January 2022 - We're excited to welcome 2 new Loss Lab grad students! Lucas Bobay will study interactions among prescribed fire, invasive earthworms, and migratory birds in tallgrass prairies, and Matt Broadway will develop and use a protocol to monitor the distribution and habitat associations of the declining Eastern Whip-poor-will in Oklahoma!
November 2021 - A new review paper led by Scott is out in the Journal of Applied Ecology on the effects of woody plant encroachment on the ecology of vector-borne diseases.
November 2021 - A new paper led by Loss Lab postdoctoral fellow Ellen Robertson is out in Global Change Biology. Ellen analyzed how prescribed fire creates variation in thermal conditions across the landscape, providing multiple options for a turtle species to thermoregulate in a warming climate.