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Stefano Allesina

TitleProfessor
InstitutionUniversity of Chicago
DepartmentEcology and Evolution
AddressChicago IL 60637
Phone+1 (773) 702-7825
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    Collapse Overview 
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    I am a theoretical ecologist studying mostly ecological networks. I am interested in the dynamics of large ecological communities, models for network structure, and the response of ecological communities to extinctions. My laboratory develops mathematical, computational and statistical tools for the analysis of ecological systems.
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    Collapse Biography 
    Collapse education and training
    Università di Parma, Parma, ItalyPhD02/2005Ecology
    Università di Parma, Parma, ItalyLaurea04/2001Environmental Sciences
    Collapse awards and honors
    2018BSD Distinguished Investigator, University of Chicago
    2012CAREER Award, National Science Foundation

    Collapse Bibliographic 
    Collapse selected publications
    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
    Newest   |   Oldest   |   Most Cited   |   Most Discussed   |   Timeline   |   Field Summary   |   Plain Text
    PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
    1. Lemos-Costa P, Miller ZR, Allesina S. Phylogeny structures species' interactions in experimental ecological communities. Ecol Lett. 2024 Aug; 27(8):e14490. PMID: 39152685.
      Citations:    Fields:    Translation:Animals
    2. Miller ZR, Clenet M, Della Libera K, Massol F, Allesina S. Coexistence of many species under a random competition-colonization trade-off. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Jan 30; 121(5):e2314215121. PMID: 38261621; PMCID: PMC10835059.
      Citations: 1     Fields:    
    3. Miller ZR, Allesina S. Habitat Heterogeneity, Environmental Feedbacks, and Species Coexistence across Timescales. Am Nat. 2023 08; 202(2):E53-E64. PMID: 37531282.
      Citations:    Fields:    
    4. Medeiros LP, Allesina S, Sugihara G, Saavedra S, Dakos V. Ranking species based on sensitivity to perturbations under non-equilibrium community dynamics. Ecol Lett. 2023 Jan; 26(1):170-183. PMID: 36318189; PMCID: PMC10092288.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    
    5. Miller ZR, Allesina S, Lechón-Alonso P. No robust multispecies coexistence in a canonical model of plant-soil feedbacks. Ecol Lett. 2022 Jul; 25(7):1690-1698. PMID: 35635769; PMCID: PMC9327519.
      Citations: 1     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    6. Miller ZR, Allesina S. Metapopulations with habitat modification. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 12 07; 118(49). PMID: 34857638; PMCID: PMC8670473.
      Citations: 8     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsPHPublic Health
    7. de Castro F, Adl SM, Allesina S, Bardgett RD, Bolger T, Dalzell JJ, Emmerson M, Fleming T, Garlaschelli D, Grilli J, Hannula SE, de Vries F, Maule AG, Wall DH, Caruso T, Lindo Z, Öpik M, Rillig MC, Veresoglou SD. Local stability properties of complex, species-rich soil food webs with functional block structure. Ecol Evol. 2021 Nov; 11(22):16070-16081. PMID: 34824812; PMCID: PMC8601897.
      Citations: 2     
    8. Allesina S, Serván CA. Tractable models of ecological assembly. Ecol Lett. 2021 May; 24(5):1029-1037. PMID: 33773006.
      Citations: 13     Fields:    
    9. Miller ZR, Allesina S, Maynard DS. Publisher Correction: Predicting coexistence in experimental ecological communities. Nat Ecol Evol. 2020 Feb; 4(2):281. PMID: 31919464.
      Citations:    Fields:    
    10. Miller ZR, Allesina S, Maynard DS. Predicting coexistence in experimental ecological communities. Nat Ecol Evol. 2020 01; 4(1):91-100. PMID: 31844191.
      Citations: 10     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    11. Jovic K, Grilli J, Sterken MG, Snoek BL, Riksen JAG, Allesina S, Kammenga JE. Transcriptome resilience predicts thermotolerance in Caenorhabditis elegans. BMC Biol. 2019 12 10; 17(1):102. PMID: 31822273; PMCID: PMC6905072.
      Citations: 8     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    12. Costa A, Allesina S, Martín González AM, Guizien K, Doglioli AM, Gómez JM, Petrenko AA. Ecological networks: Pursuing the shortest path, however narrow and crooked. Sci Rep. 2019 11 28; 9(1):17826. PMID: 31780703; PMCID: PMC6883044.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    
    13. Maynard DS, Allesina S, Serván CA, Capitán JA. Phenotypic variability promotes diversity and stability in competitive communities. Ecol Lett. 2019 Nov; 22(11):1776-1786. PMID: 31373160.
      Citations: 7     Fields:    
    14. Chen Y, Shen Y, Lin P, Tong D, Zhao Y, Allesina S, Shen X, Wu CI. Gene regulatory network stabilized by pervasive weak repressions: microRNA functions revealed by the May-Wigner theory. Natl Sci Rev. 2019 Nov; 6(6):1176-1188. PMID: 34691996; PMCID: PMC8291590.
      Citations: 15     
    15. Michalska-Smith MJ, Allesina S. Telling ecological networks apart by their structure: A computational challenge. PLoS Comput Biol. 2019 06; 15(6):e1007076. PMID: 31246974; PMCID: PMC6597030.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    
    16. Maynard DS, Wootton JT, Allesina S, Serván CA. Reconciling empirical interactions and species coexistence. Ecol Lett. 2019 Jun; 22(6):1028-1037. PMID: 30900803.
      Citations: 1     Fields:    
    17. Gibbs T, Grilli J, Rogers T, Allesina S. Effect of population abundances on the stability of large random ecosystems. Phys Rev E. 2018 Aug; 98(2-1):022410. PMID: 30253626.
      Citations: 17     Fields:    
    18. Grilli J, Allesina S, Serván CA, Capitán JA, Morrison KE. Coexistence of many species in random ecosystems. Nat Ecol Evol. 2018 08; 2(8):1237-1242. PMID: 29988167.
      Citations: 30     Fields:    
    19. Maynard DS, Allesina S, Serván CA. Network spandrels reflect ecological assembly. Ecol Lett. 2018 03; 21(3):324-334. PMID: 29377488.
      Citations: 11     Fields:    
    20. Michalska-Smith MJ, Sander EL, Pascual M, Allesina S. Understanding the role of parasites in food webs using the group model. J Anim Ecol. 2018 05; 87(3):790-800. PMID: 29119557.
      Citations: 2     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    21. Jovic K, Sterken MG, Grilli J, Bevers RPJ, Rodriguez M, Riksen JAG, Allesina S, Kammenga JE, Snoek LB. Temporal dynamics of gene expression in heat-stressed Caenorhabditis elegans. PLoS One. 2017; 12(12):e0189445. PMID: 29228038; PMCID: PMC5724892.
      Citations: 23     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    22. Michalska-Smith MJ, Allesina S, Barabás G. Self-regulation and the stability of large ecological networks. Nat Ecol Evol. 2017 Dec; 1(12):1870-1875. PMID: 29062124.
      Citations: 21     Fields:    
    23. Sander EL, Wootton JT, Allesina S. Ecological Network Inference From Long-Term Presence-Absence Data. Sci Rep. 2017 08 02; 7(1):7154. PMID: 28769079; PMCID: PMC5541006.
      Citations: 10     Fields:    
    24. Grilli J, Michalska-Smith MJ, Allesina S, Barabás G. Higher-order interactions stabilize dynamics in competitive network models. Nature. 2017 08 10; 548(7666):210-213. PMID: 28746307.
      Citations: 114     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    25. Grilli J, Allesina S. Last name analysis of mobility, gender imbalance, and nepotism across academic systems. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 07 18; 114(29):7600-7605. PMID: 28673985; PMCID: PMC5530677.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    26. Michalska-Smith MJ, Allesina S. And, not or: Quality, quantity in scientific publishing. PLoS One. 2017; 12(6):e0178074. PMID: 28570567; PMCID: PMC5453441.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    
    27. Bascompte J, Adler PB, Allesina S, Levine JM. Beyond pairwise mechanisms of species coexistence in complex communities. Nature. 2017 05 31; 546(7656):56-64. PMID: 28569813.
      Citations: 135     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    28. Grilli J, Adorisio M, Banavar JR, Allesina S, Suweis S, Barabás G, Maritan A. Feasibility and coexistence of large ecological communities. Nat Commun. 2017 02 24; 8. PMID: 28233768; PMCID: PMC5333123.
      Citations: 39     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    29. Dee LE, Allesina S, Bonn A, Gaines SD, Hines J, Jacob U, McDonald-Madden E, Possingham H, Thompson RM, Eklöf A, Schröter M. Operationalizing Network Theory for Ecosystem Service Assessments. Trends Ecol Evol. 2017 02; 32(2):118-130. PMID: 27856059.
      Citations: 17     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    30. Grilli J, Rogers T, Allesina S. Modularity and stability in ecological communities. Nat Commun. 2016 06 23; 7:12031. PMID: 27337386; PMCID: PMC4931019.
      Citations: 59     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    31. J Michalska-Smith M, Allesina S, Barabás G. The Effect of Intra- and Interspecific Competition on Coexistence in Multispecies Communities. Am Nat. 2016 07; 188(1):E1-E12. PMID: 27322128.
      Citations: 28     Fields:    
    32. McCoy SJ, Allesina S, Pfister CA. Ocean acidification affects competition for space: projections of community structure using cellular automata. Proc Biol Sci. 2016 Mar 16; 283(1826):20152561. PMID: 26936244; PMCID: PMC4810847.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    33. Suweis S, Grilli J, Banavar JR, Allesina S, Maritan A. Effect of localization on the stability of mutualistic ecological networks. Nat Commun. 2015 Dec 17; 6:10179. PMID: 26674106; PMCID: PMC4703855.
      Citations: 22     Fields:    
    34. Allesina S, Barabás G. Predicting global community properties from uncertain estimates of interaction strengths. J R Soc Interface. 2015 Aug 06; 12(109):20150218. PMID: 26246417; PMCID: PMC4535399.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    
    35. Allesina S, Tang S, Aljadeff J, Grilli J, Barabás G, Maritan A. Predicting the stability of large structured food webs. Nat Commun. 2015 Jul 22; 6:7842. PMID: 26198207; PMCID: PMC4525179.
      Citations: 35     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    36. Sander EL, Wootton JT, Allesina S. What Can Interaction Webs Tell Us About Species Roles? PLoS Comput Biol. 2015 Jul; 11(7):e1004330. PMID: 26197151; PMCID: PMC4511233.
      Citations: 7     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    37. Borrelli JJ, Allesina S, Amarasekare P, Arditi R, Chase I, Damuth J, Holt RD, Logofet DO, Novak M, Rohr RP, Rossberg AG, Spencer M, Tran JK, Ginzburg LR. Selection on stability across ecological scales. Trends Ecol Evol. 2015 Jul; 30(7):417-25. PMID: 26067808.
      Citations: 14     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    38. Allesina S, Grilli J, Barabás G. Metapopulation persistence in random fragmented landscapes. PLoS Comput Biol. 2015 May; 11(5):e1004251. PMID: 25993004; PMCID: PMC4439033.
      Citations: 10     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    39. Weinberger CJ, Evans JA, Allesina S. Ten simple (empirical) rules for writing science. PLoS Comput Biol. 2015 Apr; 11(4):e1004205. PMID: 25928031; PMCID: PMC4415812.
      Citations: 14     Fields:    
    40. Smith MJ, Sander E, Allesina S, Barabás G. Stability and feedback levels in food web models. Ecol Lett. 2015 Jun; 18(6):593-5. PMID: 25847355.
      Citations: 1     Fields:    
    41. Smith MJ, Weinberger C, Bruna EM, Allesina S. The scientific impact of nations: journal placement and citation performance. PLoS One. 2014; 9(10):e109195. PMID: 25296039; PMCID: PMC4189927.
      Citations: 18     Fields:    
    42. Tang S, Pawar S, Allesina S. Correlation between interaction strengths drives stability in large ecological networks. Ecol Lett. 2014 Sep; 17(9):1094-100. PMID: 24946877.
      Citations: 33     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    43. Lortie CJ, Allesina S, Aarssen L, Grod O, Budden AE. With great power comes great responsibility: the importance of rejection, power, and editors in the practice of scientific publishing. PLoS One. 2013; 8(12):e85382. PMID: 24386471; PMCID: PMC3875543.
      Citations: 2     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    44. Jacob U, Kopp J, Bosch J, Chacoff NP, Dalsgaard B, de Sassi C, Galetti M, Pizo MA, Rader R, Rodrigo A, Tylianakis JM, Allesina S, Eklöf A, Castro-Urgal R, Guimarães PR, Lomáscolo SB, Martín González AM, Vázquez DP. The dimensionality of ecological networks. Ecol Lett. 2013 May; 16(5):577-83. PMID: 23438174.
      Citations: 41     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    45. Staniczenko PP, Kopp JC, Allesina S. The ghost of nestedness in ecological networks. Nat Commun. 2013; 4:1391. PMID: 23340431.
      Citations: 80     Fields:    
    46. Acuna DE, Allesina S, Kording KP. Future impact: Predicting scientific success. Nature. 2012 Sep 13; 489(7415):201-2. PMID: 22972278; PMCID: PMC3770471.
      Citations: 41     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    47. Allesina S. Ecology: The more the merrier. Nature. 2012 Jul 11; 487(7406):175-6. PMID: 22785307.
      Citations: 4     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    48. Alonso D, Allesina S, Condit RS, Etienne RS, Melián CJ. Does sex speed up evolutionary rate and increase biodiversity? PLoS Comput Biol. 2012; 8(3):e1002414. PMID: 22412362; PMCID: PMC3297559.
      Citations: 4     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    49. Allesina S, Tang S. Stability criteria for complex ecosystems. Nature. 2012 Feb 19; 483(7388):205-8. PMID: 22343894.
      Citations: 272     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    50. Baskerville EB, Dobson AP, Bedford T, Allesina S, Anderson TM, Pascual M. Spatial guilds in the Serengeti food web revealed by a Bayesian group model. PLoS Comput Biol. 2011 Dec; 7(12):e1002321. PMID: 22219719; PMCID: PMC3248389.
      Citations: 16     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    51. Helmus MR, Moore M, Allesina S, Eklöf A. Relevance of evolutionary history for food web structure. Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Apr 22; 279(1733):1588-96. PMID: 22090387; PMCID: PMC3282352.
      Citations: 13     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    52. Allesina S. Measuring nepotism through shared last names: the case of Italian Academia. PLoS One. 2011; 6(8):e21160. PMID: 21826195; PMCID: PMC3149595.
      Citations: 9     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    53. Allesina S, Rojas-Echenique J. Interaction rules affect species coexistence in intransitive networks. Ecology. 2011 May; 92(5):1174-80. PMID: 21661578.
      Citations: 8     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    54. Allesina S, Levine JM. A competitive network theory of species diversity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Apr 05; 108(14):5638-42. PMID: 21415368; PMCID: PMC3078357.
      Citations: 68     Fields:    
    55. Zook AE, Eklof A, Jacob U, Allesina S. Food webs: ordering species according to body size yields high degree of intervality. J Theor Biol. 2011 Feb 21; 271(1):106-13. PMID: 21144853.
      Citations: 10     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    56. Alonso D, Regetz J, Allesina S, Melián CJ, Vázquez DP. Frequency-dependent selection predicts patterns of radiations and biodiversity. PLoS Comput Biol. 2010 Aug 26; 6(8). PMID: 20865126; PMCID: PMC2928887.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    57. Allesina S. Predicting trophic relations in ecological networks: a test of the Allometric Diet Breadth Model. J Theor Biol. 2011 Jun 21; 279(1):161-8. PMID: 20633565.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    58. Parker JN, Lortie C, Allesina S. Characterizing a scientific elite: the social characteristics of the most highly cited scientists in environmental science and ecology. Scientometrics. 2010 Oct; 85(1):129-143. PMID: 20927183; PMCID: PMC2940434.
      Citations: 13     
    59. Allesina S, Pascual M. Googling food webs: can an eigenvector measure species' importance for coextinctions? PLoS Comput Biol. 2009 Sep; 5(9):e1000494. PMID: 19730676; PMCID: PMC2725316.
      Citations: 40     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    60. Dobson A, Allesina S, Lafferty K, Pascual M. The assembly, collapse and restoration of food webs. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 Jun 27; 364(1524):1803-6. PMID: 19451129; PMCID: PMC2685433.
      Citations: 4     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    61. Allesina S, Bodini A, Pascual M. Functional links and robustness in food webs. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 Jun 27; 364(1524):1701-9. PMID: 19451121; PMCID: PMC2685419.
      Citations: 14     Fields:    
    62. Bodini A, Bellingeri M, Allesina S, Bondavalli C. Using food web dominator trees to catch secondary extinctions in action. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 Jun 27; 364(1524):1725-31. PMID: 19451123; PMCID: PMC2685427.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    63. Allesina S, Pascual M. Food web models: a plea for groups. Ecol Lett. 2009 Jul; 12(7):652-62. PMID: 19453619.
      Citations: 28     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    64. Lafferty KD, Allesina S, Arim M, Briggs CJ, De Leo G, Dobson AP, Dunne JA, Johnson PT, Kuris AM, Marcogliese DJ, Martinez ND, Memmott J, Marquet PA, McLaughlin JP, Mordecai EA, Pascual M, Poulin R, Thieltges DW. Parasites in food webs: the ultimate missing links. Ecol Lett. 2008 Jun; 11(6):533-46. PMID: 18462196; PMCID: PMC2408649.
      Citations: 214     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsPHPublic Health
    65. Allesina S, Alonso D, Pascual M. A general model for food web structure. Science. 2008 May 02; 320(5876):658-61. PMID: 18451301.
      Citations: 61     Fields:    
    66. Peacor SD, Allesina S, Riolo RL, Pascual M. Phenotypic plasticity opposes species invasions by altering fitness surface. PLoS Biol. 2006 Oct; 4(11):e372. PMID: 17076585; PMCID: PMC1629039.
      Citations: 8     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    67. Allesina S, Bodini A. Who dominates whom in the ecosystem? Energy flow bottlenecks and cascading extinctions. J Theor Biol. 2004 Oct 07; 230(3):351-8. PMID: 15302545.
      Citations: 19     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    68. Allesina S, Ulanowicz RE. Cycling in ecological networks: Finn's index revisited. Comput Biol Chem. 2004 Jul; 28(3):227-33. PMID: 15261153.
      Citations: 8     Fields:    
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