Ecology and Conservation

Dr Benno Simmons

Dr Benno Simmons

Lecturer in Ecological Data Science

 B.Simmons2@exeter.ac.uk

 SERSF 

 

Science and Engineering Research Support Facility (SERSF):, University of Exeter,  Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK

Overview

**Full details can be found on my lab website**

I’m an ecologist and conservationist who uses use data science, AI and technology to help understand and reverse biodiversity loss. I have broad interests, but some specific projects being worked on at the moment in the lab are:

  • Using deep learning to automate the identification of rare species in camera trap images
  • Using large datasets of species population trends to understand global biodiversity change
  • Assessing the potential for other effective area-based conservation measures to support marine biodiversity
  • Combining camera traps and bioacoustics to automatically monitor lion populations in Africa
  • Using global datasets of species interaction networks to predict the impacts of invasive species on ecological communities 
  • Using machine learning to forecast the productivity of the Amazon from climate models

If you’re interested in these topics, or anything else that combines data science and ecology or conservation, please do get in touch.

Full details of my publications can be found on my lab website or Google Scholar.

Qualifications

  • PhD Zoology, University of Cambridge
  • MRes, Imperial College London
  • BA (Hons), University of Oxford

Career

  • 2023 - present: Lecturer in Ecological Data Science, University of Exeter
  • 2020 - 2023: Research Fellow, University of Exeter
  • June 2019 - December 2019:  Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sheffield
  • 2015-2019:  PhD Student, University of Cambridge

Links

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Publications

Journal articles

Wauchope H, Amano T, Geldmann J, Johnston A, Simmons B, Sutherland W, Jones JPG (In Press). Evaluating impact using time-series data. Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Simmons BI, Beckerman AP, Hansen K, Maruyama PK, Televantos C, Vizentin-Bugoni J, Dalsgaard B (In Press). Niche and neutral processes leave distinct structural imprints on indirect interactions in mutualistic networks. Functional Ecology
Christie AP, Amano T, Martin PA, Petrovan SO, Shackelford GE, Simmons B, Smith RK, Williams DR, Wordley CFR, Sutherland WJ, et al (In Press). Poor availability of context-specific evidence hampers decision-making in conservation. Biological Conservation
Christie AP, Amano T, Martin PA, Petrovan SO, Shackelford GE, Simmons BI, Smith RK, Williams DR, Wordley CFR, Sutherland WJ, et al (In Press). The challenge of biased evidence in conservation. Conservation Biology
Simmons B (In Press). The influence of biogeographical and evolutionary histories on morphological trait-matching and resource specialization in mutualistic hummingbird-plant networks. Functional Ecology
Hoeppke C, Simmons BI (In Press). maxnodf: an R package for fair and fast comparisons of nestedness between networks. Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Risely A, Newbury A, Stalder T, Simmons BI, Top EM, Buckling A, Sanders D (2024). Host- plasmid network structure in wastewater is linked to antimicrobial resistance genes. Nat Commun, 15(1). Abstract.  Author URL.
Lonergan RM, Curry J, Dhas K, Simmons B (2024). O87: Stratified Evaluation of Large Language Model GPT-4’s Question-Answering in Surgery reveals AI Knowledge Gaps. British Journal of Surgery, 111(Supplement_2).
Giménez-García A, Allen-Perkins A, Bartomeus I, Balbi S, Knapp JL, Hevia V, Woodcock BA, Smagghe G, Miñarro M, Eeraerts M, et al (2023). Pollination supply models from a local to global scale. Web Ecology, 23(2), 99-129.
Song C, Simmons BI, Fortin M-J, Gonzalez A, Kaiser-Bunbury CN, Saavedra S (2023). Rapid monitoring of ecological persistence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(20). Abstract.
Lonergan RM, Curry J, Dhas K, Simmons BI (2023). Stratified Evaluation of GPT’s Question Answering in Surgery Reveals Artificial Intelligence (AI) Knowledge Gaps. Cureus, 15(11).
Allen-Perkins A, Magrach A, Dainese M, Garibaldi LA, Kleijn D, Rader R, Reilly JR, Winfree R, Lundin O, McGrady CM, et al (2022). CropPol: a dynamic, open and global database on crop pollination. Ecology, 103(3). Abstract.  Author URL.
Song C, Simmons BI, Fortin M-J, Gonzalez A (2022). Generalism drives abundance: a computational causal discovery approach. PLOS Computational Biology, 18(9), e1010302-e1010302. Abstract.
Christie AP, Amano T, Martin PA, Shackelford GE, Simmons BI, Sutherland WJ (2022). Innovation and forward-thinking are needed to improve traditional synthesis methods: a response to Pescott and Stewart. JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, 59(5), 1191-1197.  Author URL.
Vollstädt MGR, Galetti M, Kaiser-Bunbury CN, Simmons BI, Gonçalves F, Morales-Pérez AL, Navarro L, Tarazona-Tubens FL, Schubert S, Carlo T, et al (2022). Plant–frugivore interactions across the Caribbean islands: Modularity, invader complexes and the importance of generalist species. Diversity and Distributions, 28(11), 2361-2374. Abstract.
Wauchope HS, Jones JPG, Geldmann J, Simmons BI, Amano T, Blanco DE, Fuller RA, Johnston A, Langendoen T, Mundkur T, et al (2022). Protected areas have a mixed impact on waterbirds, but management helps. Nature, 605(7908), 103-107. Abstract.  Author URL.
Chrysafi A, Virkki V, Jalava M, Sandstrom V, Piipponen J, Porkka M, Lade SJ, La Mere K, Wang-Erlandsson L, Scherer L, et al (2022). Quantifying Earth system interactions for sustainable food production via expert elicitation. NATURE SUSTAINABILITY, 5(10), 830-842.  Author URL.
Wauchope HS, Simmons BI (2022). The impact of protected areas on waterbird populations worldwide. NATURE  Author URL.
González-Varo JP, Rumeu B, Albrecht J, Arroyo JM, Bueno RS, Burgos T, da Silva LP, Escribano-Ávila G, Farwig N, García D, et al (2021). Limited potential for bird migration to disperse plants to cooler latitudes. Nature, 595(7865), 75-79. Abstract.  Author URL.
Simmons BI, Blyth PSA, Blanchard JL, Clegg T, Delmas E, Garnier A, Griffiths CA, Jacob U, Pennekamp F, Petchey OL, et al (2021). Refocusing multiple stressor research around the targets and scales of ecological impacts. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5(11), 1478-1489.
Jucker T, Amano T, Bell A, Garnett EE, Geffert JL, Guth MK, Hacket‐Pain A, Luke SH, Mumby HS, Nunes M, et al (2021). Steps to diversify priority‐setting research in conservation: Reflections on de Gracia 2021. Conservation Biology
Sonne J, Vizentin-Bugoni J, Maruyama PK, Araujo AC, Chávez-González E, Coelho AG, Cotton PA, Marín-Gómez OH, Lara C, Lasprilla LR, et al (2020). Ecological mechanisms explaining interactions within plant-hummingbird networks: Morphological matching increases towards lower latitudes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1922). Abstract.
Simmons BI, Wauchope HS, Amano T, Dicks LV, Sutherland WJ, Dakos V (2020). Estimating the risk of species interaction loss in mutualistic communities. PLOS Biology, 18(8), e3000843-e3000843.
Geldmann J, Alves-Pinto H, Amano T, Bartlett H, Christie AP, Collas L, Cooke SC, Correa R, Cripps I, Doherty A, et al (2020). Insights from two decades of the Student Conference on Conservation Science. Biological Conservation, 243 Abstract.
Hansen K, Sritongchuay T, Bumrungsri S, Simmons BI, Strange N, Dalsgaard B (2020). Landscape-Level Effects of Forest on Pollinators and Fruit Set of Guava (Psidium guajava L.) in Orchards across Southern Thailand. Diversity, 12(6), 259-259. Abstract.
Simmons BI, Beckerman AP, Hansen K, Maruyama PK, Televantos C, Vizentin-Bugoni J, Dalsgaard B (2020). Niche and neutral processes leave distinct structural imprints on indirect interactions in mutualistic networks. Abstract.
Rose DC, Mukherjee N, Simmons BI, Tew ER, Robertson RJ, Vadrot ABM, Doubleday R, Sutherland WJ (2020). Policy windows for the environment: Tips for improving the uptake of scientific knowledge. Environmental Science and Policy, 113, 47-54. Abstract.
Christie AP, Amano T, Martin PA, Petrovan SO, Shackelford GE, Simmons BI, Smith RK, Williams DR, Wordley CFR, Sutherland WJ, et al (2020). Poor availability of context-specific evidence hampers decision-making in conservation. Abstract.
Hoeppke C, Simmons BI (2020). maxnodf: an R package for fair and fast comparisons of nestedness between networks. Abstract.
Simmons BI, Sweering MJM, Schillinger M, Dicks LV, Sutherland WJ, Di Clemente R (2019). <scp>bmotif</scp>: a package for motif analyses of bipartite networks. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 10(5), 695-701. Abstract.
Simmons BI, Vizentin-Bugoni J, Maruyama PK, Cotton PA, Marín-Gómez OH, Lara C, Rosero-Lasprilla L, Maglianesi MA, Ortiz-Pulido R, Rocca MA, et al (2019). Abundance drives broad patterns of generalisation in plant–hummingbird pollination networks. Oikos, 128(9), 1287-1295. Abstract.
Balmford A, Amano T, Bartlett H, Chadwick D, Collins A, Edwards D, Field R, Garnsworthy P, Green R, Smith P, et al (2019). Author Correction: the environmental costs and benefits of high-yield farming (Nature Sustainability, (2018), 1, 9, (477-485), 10.1038/s41893-018-0138-5). Nature Sustainability, 2(4), 339-341. Abstract.
Simmons BI, Hoeppke C, Sutherland WJ (2019). Beware greedy algorithms. Journal of Animal Ecology, 88(5), 804-807.
Rose DC, Amano T, González-Varo JP, Mukherjee N, Robertson RJ, Simmons BI, Wauchope HS, Sutherland WJ (2019). Calling for a new agenda for conservation science to create evidence-informed policy. Biological Conservation, 238 Abstract.
Dalsgaard B, Kennedy JD, Simmons BI, Baquero AC, González AMM, Timmermann A, Maruyama PK, McGuire JA, Ollerton J, Sutherland WJ, et al (2019). Correction: Trait evolution, resource specialization and vulnerability to plant extinctions among Antillean hummingbirds (Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2018) 285 (20172754) DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2754). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1916). Abstract.
Poisot T, LaBrie R, Larson E, Rahlin A, Simmons BI (2019). Data-based, synthesis-driven: Setting the agenda for computational ecology. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution, 12 Abstract.
Tew ER, Simmons BI, Sutherland WJ (2019). Quantifying cultural ecosystem services: Disentangling the effects of management from landscape features. People and Nature, 1(1), 70-86. Abstract.
Wauchope HS, Jones JPG, Amano T, Geldmann J, Blanco D, Fuller RA, Langendoen T, Mundkur T, Simmons BI, Nagy S, et al (2019). Quantifying the impact of protected areas on near-global waterbird population trends, a pre-analysis plan. Abstract.
Wauchope HS, Jones JPG, Amano T, Geldmann J, Blanco D, Fuller RA, Langendoen T, Mundkur T, Simmons BI, Nagy S, et al (2019). Quantifying the impact of protected areas on near-global waterbird population trends, a pre-analysis plan. Abstract.
Christie AP, Amano T, Martin PA, Shackelford GE, Simmons BI, Sutherland WJ (2019). Simple study designs in ecology produce inaccurate estimates of biodiversity responses. Abstract.
Christie AP, Amano T, Martin PA, Shackelford GE, Simmons BI, Sutherland WJ (2019). Simple study designs in ecology produce inaccurate estimates of biodiversity responses. Journal of Applied Ecology, 56(12), 2742-2754. Abstract.
Christie AP, Amano T, Martin PA, Petrovan SO, Shackelford GE, Simmons BI, Smith RK, Williams DR, Wordley CFR, Sutherland WJ, et al (2019). The challenge of heterogeneous evidence in conservation. Abstract.
Simmons BI, Wauchope HS, Amano T, Dicks LV, Sutherland WJ, Dakos V (2019). Vulnerable species interactions are important for the stability of mutualistic networks. Abstract.
Simmons BI, Balmford A, Bladon AJ, Christie AP, De Palma A, Dicks LV, Gallego‐Zamorano J, Johnston A, Martin PA, Purvis A, et al (2019). Worldwide insect declines: an important message, but interpret with caution. Ecology and Evolution, 9(7), 3678-3680.
Simmons BI, Vizentin-Bugoni J, Maruyama PK, Cotton PA, Marín-Gómez OH, Lara C, Rosero-Lasprilla L, Maglianesi MA, Ortiz-Pulido R, Rocca MA, et al (2018). Abundance drives broad patterns of generalisation in plant-hummingbird pollination networks. Abstract.
Ratto F, Simmons BI, Spake R, Zamora‐Gutierrez V, MacDonald MA, Merriman JC, Tremlett CJ, Poppy GM, Peh KS, Dicks LV, et al (2018). Global importance of vertebrate pollinators for plant reproductive success: a meta‐analysis. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 16(2), 82-90. Abstract.
Simmons BI, Cirtwill AR, Baker NJ, Wauchope HS, Dicks LV, Stouffer DB, Sutherland WJ (2018). Motifs in bipartite ecological networks: uncovering indirect interactions. Oikos, 128(2), 154-170. Abstract.
Simmons BI, Sutherland WJ, Dicks LV, Albrecht J, Farwig N, García D, Jordano P, González‐Varo JP (2018). Moving from frugivory to seed dispersal: Incorporating the functional outcomes of interactions in plant–frugivore networks. Journal of Animal Ecology, 87(4), 995-1007. Abstract.
Jucker T, Wintle B, Shackelford G, Bocquillon P, Geffert JL, Kasoar T, Kovacs E, Mumby HS, Orland C, Schleicher J, et al (2018). Ten-year assessment of the 100 priority questions for global biodiversity conservation. Conserv Biol, 32(6), 1457-1463. Abstract.  Author URL.
Balmford A, Amano T, Bartlett H, Chadwick D, Collins A, Edwards D, Field R, Garnsworthy P, Green R, Smith P, et al (2018). The environmental costs and benefits of high-yield farming. Nature Sustainability, 1(9), 477-485.
Rose DC, Sutherland WJ, Amano T, González-Varo JP, Robertson RJ, Simmons BI, Wauchope HS, Kovacs E, Durán AP, Vadrot ABM, et al (2018). The major barriers to evidence-informed conservation policy and possible solutions. Conservation Letters, 11(5). Abstract.
Dalsgaard B, Kennedy JD, Simmons BI, Baquero AC, Martín González AM, Timmermann A, Maruyama PK, McGuire JA, Ollerton J, Sutherland WJ, et al (2018). Trait evolution, resource specialization and vulnerability to plant extinctions among antillean hummingbirds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285(1875). Abstract.
Simmons BI, Cirtwill AR, Baker NJ, Dicks LV, Stouffer DB, Sutherland WJ (2018). Uncovering indirect interactions in bipartite ecological networks. Abstract.
Simmons BI, Sweering MJM, Schillinger M, Dicks LV, Sutherland WJ, Clemente RD (2018). bmotif: a package for motif analyses of bipartite networks. Abstract.
Hudson LN, Newbold T, Contu S, Hill SLL, Lysenko I, De Palma A, Phillips HRP, Alhusseini TI, Bedford FE, Bennett DJ, et al (2017). The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity in Changing Terrestrial Systems) project. Ecol Evol, 7(1), 145-188. Abstract.  Author URL.
Gray CL, Simmons BI, Fayle TM, Mann DJ, Slade EM (2016). Are riparian forest reserves sources of invertebrate biodiversity spillover and associated ecosystem functions in oil palm landscapes?. Biological Conservation, 194, 176-183.
Newbold T, Hudson LN, Arnell AP, Contu S, De Palma A, Ferrier S, Hill SLL, Hoskins AJ, Lysenko I, Phillips HRP, et al (2016). Has land use pushed terrestrial biodiversity beyond the planetary boundary? a global assessment. Science, 353(6296), 288-291. Abstract.

Chapters

Kaiser-Bunbury CN, Simmons BI (2020). Restoration of pollination interactions in communities invaded by non-native plants. In  (Ed) Plant invasions: the role of biotic interactions, CABI Publishing, 377-390.
Kaiser-Bunbury CN, Simmons BI (2020). Restoration of pollination interactions in communities invaded by non-native plants. In  (Ed) Plant invasions: the role of biotic interactions, CABI Publishing, 377-390.

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Supervision / Group

Postgraduate researchers

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