Harald Beck

Biography

My research interests include mammal-plant interaction, multi trophic-level interactions, and ecosystem engineering in temperate and tropical ecosystems. Recently, my research focuses on the effects of hyper-abundance of ungulates in the northern hemisphere and defaunation of ungulates in the southern hemisphere. My study sites are located within the Peruvian Amazonas and forests in Maryland.

Publications

Biles, T., L., Beck, H. and Masters, B. 2021. Microbiomes in Canidae. Ecology and Evolution 11: 18531-18539.

Hazelwood, K., Beck, H. and Paine, C. E. T. 2021. Negative density dependence in the mortality and growth of tropical tree seedlings is strong, and primarily caused by fungal pathogens. Journal of Ecology 109:1909-1918. 

Hurtado, C., Beck, H. Thebpanya, P. and Altrichter M. 2020. Spatial patterns of the first group of 
collared peccaries (Pecari tajacu) reintroduced in South America. Tropical Ecology 61: 400-411.

Hazelwood, K., Paine, C. E. T., Cornejo Valverde, F. H., Pringle, E. G., Beck, H. and Terborgh, J. 
2020. Changes in tree community structure in defaunated forests are not driven only by 
dispersal limitation. Ecology and Evolution 10:3392-3401. 

Terborgh, J., Nuñez, N. H., Feeley, K., and Beck, H. 2020. Gaps present a trade‐off between 
dispersal and establishment that nourishes species diversity. Ecology 101: e02996.

Beck, H. 2019. Tropical Ecology. In: B. Fath (ed.). Encyclopedia of Ecology (pp. 671-678). 
Volume II, second edition, Elsevier B.V., Oxford. 

Hurtado, C., Beck, H. and Thebpanya, P. 2018. From exploration to establishment: Activity 
changes of the first collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) group reintroduced in South America. 
HYSTRIX, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy 29:229-231. 

Pacheco, L. F., Altrichter, M., Beck H., Buchori, D. and Owusu E. 2018. Economic Growth as a Major Cause of Environmental Crisis. Comment to Ripple et al. BioScience 68:238.

Reyna-Hurtado, R., Keuroghlian, A., Altrichter, M., Beck, H. and Gongora, J. 2017. Collared Peccary Pecari spp. (Linnaeus, 1758). In M. Melletti & E. Meijaard (Eds.), Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries (pp. 255-264). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Beck, H., Keuroghlian, A., Reyna-Hurtado, R., Altrichter, M. and Gongora, J. 2017. White-lipped Peccary Tayassu pecari (Link, 1795). In M. Melletti & E. Meijaard (Eds.), Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries (pp. 265-276). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Keuroghlian, A., Reyna-Hurtado, R., Meijaard, E., Altrichter, M., Beck, H. and Gongora, J. 2017. Conservation of Wild Pigs and Peccaries. In M. Melletti & E. Meijaard (Eds.), Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries (pp. 277-290). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Courses Taught

• Spring: BIOL 446/546 Tropical Ecology and Conservation
• Spring: BIOL 484 Seminar in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior