Richard D. Stevens

Curator of Mammals,
Natural Science Research Laboratory, 
Museum of TTU

Professor, Department of Natural
Resources Management, Texas Tech University

Ph.D., Texas Tech University, 2002
M.S., Texas Tech University, 1996
B.S., Texas Tech University, 1992

Dr. Stevens' Curriculum vitae

Research Interests:

My interests lie at the intersection of community ecology, macroecology, and biogeography but are grounded in collections-based research. Part of my work examines the basic community ecology of bats and rodents in Paraguay, California. Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas, in particular the effects of species environment interactions, dispersal, seasonality and competition on the structure of communities. I use morphometric approaches to characterize community structure, construct phenotypic measures of biodiversity and to better understand the relationship between form and function as it pertains to the ecology of organisms. I am also interested in the mechanistic bases of broad-scale patterns in the structure and diversity of communities and how to use this information to better conserve the world's biota.

Selected Publications:

Andersen, B. A., R. D. Stevens and L. M. McGuire.  2024.  Interspecific variation in lower temperature thresholds of an assemblage of wintering bats.  Journal of Mammalogy 105: 98-106.

Langlois, G. D., S. Fernandez, M. R. Wallace and R. D. Stevens.  2023.  Habitat differences and roost selection between two disparate landscapes by a neotropical bat (Artibeus lituratus) in the Atlantic Forest of Paraguay.  Forest Ecology and Management 544: 121154.

Stevens, R. D., 2023.  Wither the subspecies?:  an ecological perspective on taxonomic, environmental and sexual determinants of phenotypic variation in Big-eared wooly bats (Chrotopterus auritus).  Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 139: 203-213.

Garcia, C. J. D. A. Ray, R. W. Perry and R. D. Stevens. 2023.  Seasonal differences in day-roost selection of Northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis) in Louisiana and a meta-analytical comparison across North America.  Forest Ecology and Management 530: 120749.

Amarilla-Stevens, H. N., R. D. Stevens, C. D. Phillips, and R. D. Bradley.  2023.  Temporal rate of post-mortem DNA degradation in archived samples: evidence from liver and muscle tissues.  Journal of Mammalogy 104: 194-202.

Stevens, R. D., and E. E. Guest.  2022. Wings of fringed fruit-eating bats (Artibeus fimbriatus) from eastern Paraguay are highly integrated biological airfoils from perspectives of secondary sexual dimorphism, allometry and modularity.  Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 137: 711-719.

Stevens, R. D., and H. N. Amarilla Stevens.  2021.  Dietary patterns of phyllostomid bats in interior Atlantic Forest of eastern Paraguay.  Journal of Mammalogy 102: 685-694.

Stevens, R. D., and J. D. Stuhler and J. R. Grimshaw.  2020.  Chiropteran metacommunity structure in Atlantic Forest of South America.  Journal of Biogeography 47: 2141-2155.

Stevens, R. D.,de Moraes Weber, M. and Villalobos, F.  2020.  Contemporary Biogeography.  In: Phyllostomid bats:  A unique mammalian radiation (T. H. Fleming, L. Davalos and M. M. Mello eds.). University of Chicago Press.

Stevens, R. D.,and Estrada-Villegas, S.  2020.  Community Ecology.  In: Phyllostomid bats:  A unique mammalian radiation (T. H. Fleming, L. Davalos and M. M. Mello eds.).  University of Chicago Press.

Stevens, R. D.,R. J. Rowe, and C. Badgley.  2018.  Gradients of mammalian diversity through space and time.  Journal of Mammalogy 100: 1069-1086.

Stevens R. D., and J. Sebastian Tello. A latitudinal gradient in dimensionality of biodiversity. Ecography, In Press.

Stevens R. D., M. Johnson and E. S. McCulloch. 2016. Geographic variation of wing morphology of Artibeus lituratus: environmental, genetic and spatial correlates of phenotypic differences. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 118: 734-744.

Stevens R. D., and R. N. Platt. 2015. Patterns of secondary sexual size dimorphism in New World Myotis and a test of Rensch's Rule. Journal of Mammalogy 96: 1128-1134.

Stevens R. D., and M. M. Gavilanez. 2015. Dimensionality of community structure: phylogenetic, phenetic and functional perspectives along biodiversity and environmental gradients. Ecography 38: 861-865.

Stevens R. D., 2013. Gradients of bat diversity in Atlantic Forest of South America: effects of environmental seasonality, sampling effort and spatial autocorrelation. Biotropica 45: 764-770.

Stevens R. D., and J. S. Tello. 2012. Do desert rodents form metacommunities? Journal of Mammalogy 93: 1029-1041.

Stevens R. D., and H. N. Amarilla-Stevens. 2012. Seasonal environments, episodic density compensation and the dynamics of chiropteran frugivore guilds in Paraguayan Atlantic forest. Biodiversity and Conservation 21: 267-279.

Stevens R. D., M. M. Gavilanez, J. S. Tello and D. A. Ray. 2012. Phylogenetic structure illuminates mechanistic effect of environmental heterogeneity on community organization. Journal of Animal Ecology 81: 455-462

Stevens R. D., 2011. Relative effects of time for speciation and tropical niche conservatism on the latitudinal diversity gradient of phyllostomid bats. Proceedings of the Royal Society 278: 2528-2536.

Stevens R. D., and M. R. Willig. 2002. Geographical ecology at the community level: perspectives on the diversity of New World bats. Ecology 83: 545-560.