World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Rising Stars
2025

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Rising Stars

D-Index
36
Citations
13534
World Ranking
782
National Ranking
128

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
41
Citations
13201
World Ranking
5696
National Ranking
1938

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2025 - Research.com Rising Stars Award

Overview

Jonathan S. Lefcheck is affiliated with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in the United States. Their research primarily focuses on environmental science and earth and planetary sciences, with a strong emphasis on ecology and oceanography as subfields. Their work encompasses a range of topics related to marine ecosystems, coastal environments, and ecological dynamics.

The scientist's recent publications highlight varied aspects of marine and coastal ecology. These papers include:

  • Restoration of seagrass habitat leads to rapid recovery of coastal ecosystem services, 2020, Science Advances
  • Functional diversity of marine megafauna in the Anthropocene, 2020, Science Advances
  • General destabilizing effects of eutrophication on grassland productivity at multiple spatial scales, 2020, Nature Communications
  • Establishing the ecological basis for conservation of shallow marine life using Reef Life Survey, 2020, Biological Conservation
  • Herbivory limits success of vegetation restoration globally, 2023, Science

Lefcheck has published extensively in several scientific venues, notably:

  • Nature Communications
  • Marine Ecology Progress Series
  • Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
  • Science Advances
  • The Science of The Total Environment

Frequent collaborators include:

  • J. Emmett Duffy
  • Robert J. Orth
  • Graham J. Edgar
  • Rick D. Stuart-Smith
  • Qiang He

The researcher's work mainly covers these topics:

  • Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
  • Marine and coastal plant biology
  • Marine and fisheries research
  • Marine Biology and Ecology Research
  • Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
  • Coastal and Marine Management
  • Marine animal studies overview

Jonathan S. Lefcheck's academic contributions reflect an integrative approach to understanding marine and coastal ecosystem function, biodiversity, and conservation strategies. The breadth of their work, spanning ecological theory to applied conservation, positions them as a significant contributor to ongoing research in environmental and marine sciences.

Best Publications

  • piecewiseSEM: Piecewise structural equation modelling in r for ecology, evolution, and systematics

    Jonathan S. Lefcheck

  • Investigating the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality: challenges and solutions

    Jarrett E. K. Byrnes;Lars Gamfeldt;Forest Isbell;Jonathan S. Lefcheck

  • Biodiversity enhances ecosystem multifunctionality across trophic levels and habitats

    Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Jarrett E. K. Byrnes;Forest Isbell;Lars Gamfeldt

  • Integrating abundance and functional traits reveals new global hotspots of fish diversity

    Rick D. Stuart-Smith;Amanda E. Bates;Jonathan S. Lefcheck;J. Emmet Duffy

  • Statistical solutions for error and bias in global citizen science datasets

    Tomas J. Bird;Tomas J. Bird;Amanda E. Bates;Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Nicole A. Hill

  • BioTIME: A database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene

    Maria Dornelas;Laura H. Antão;Laura H. Antão;Faye Moyes;Amanda E. Bates;Amanda E. Bates

  • Energy Flux: The Link between Multitrophic Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning

    Andrew D. Barnes;Andrew D. Barnes;Malte Jochum;Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Nico Eisenhauer

  • Marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: What's known and what's next?

    Lars Gamfeldt;Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Jarrett E. K. Byrnes;Bradley J. Cardinale

  • Coral reef ecosystem functioning: eight core processes and the role of biodiversity

    Simon J Brandl;Simon J Brandl;Douglas B Rasher;Isabelle M Côté;Jordan M Casey;Jordan M Casey

  • Are coastal habitats important nurseries? A meta‐analysis

    Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Brent B. Hughes;Andrew J. Johnson;Bruce W. Pfirrmann;Bruce W. Pfirrmann

  • Restoration of seagrass habitat leads to rapid recovery of coastal ecosystem services

    Robert J. Orth;Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Karen S. McGlathery;Lillian Aoki

  • Biodiversity enhances reef fish biomass and resistance to climate change

    James Emmett Duffy;Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Rick D. Stuart-Smith;Sergio A. Navarrete

  • Long-term nutrient reductions lead to the unprecedented recovery of a temperate coastal region

    Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Robert J. Orth;William C. Dennison;David J. Wilcox

  • Biodiversity mediates top–down control in eelgrass ecosystems: a global comparative‐experimental approach

    J Emmett Duffy;J Emmett Duffy;Pamela L Reynolds;Christoffer Boström;James A Coyer

  • Functional diversity of marine megafauna in the Anthropocene.

    Catalina Pimiento;Catalina Pimiento;F. Leprieur;F. Leprieur;D. Silvestro;D. Silvestro;J. S. Lefcheck

  • Multiple stressors threaten the imperiled coastal foundation species eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Chesapeake Bay, USA.

    Jonathan S. Lefcheck;David J. Wilcox;Rebecca R. Murphy;Scott R. Marion

  • Climate resilience in marine protected areas and the 'Protection Paradox'

    Amanda E. Bates;Amanda E. Bates;Robert S.C. Cooke;Murray I. Duncan;Murray I. Duncan;Murray I. Duncan;Graham J. Edgar

  • Multitrophic functional diversity predicts ecosystem functioning in experimental assemblages of estuarine consumers

    Jonathan S. Lefcheck;J. Emmett Duffy;J. Emmett Duffy

  • General destabilizing effects of eutrophication on grassland productivity at multiple spatial scales

    Yann Hautier;Pengfei Zhang;Michel Loreau;Kevin R. Wilcox

  • Physiological effects of diet mixing on consumer fitness: a meta‐analysis

    Jonathan S. Lefcheck;Matthew A. Whalen;Matthew A. Whalen;Theresa M. Davenport;Joshua P. Stone

  • Reef Life Survey: Establishing the ecological basis for conservation of shallow marine life

    Graham J. Edgar;Antonia Cooper;Susan C. Baker;William Barker

  • piecewiseSEM: Piecewise structural equation modeling in R for ecology, evolution, and systematics

    Jonathan S. Lefcheck

Frequent Co-Authors

J. Emmett Duffy
J. Emmett Duffy Smithsonian Institution
Robert J. Orth
Robert J. Orth Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Amanda E. Bates
Amanda E. Bates Memorial University of Newfoundland
Graham J. Edgar
Graham J. Edgar University of Tasmania
Rick D. Stuart-Smith
Rick D. Stuart-Smith University of Tasmania
John N. Griffin
John N. Griffin Swansea University
Forest Isbell
Forest Isbell University of Minnesota
Lars Gamfeldt
Lars Gamfeldt University of Gothenburg
Andy Hector
Andy Hector University of Oxford
Neville S. Barrett
Neville S. Barrett University of Tasmania

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