Because of the precarious status of biodiversity across the globe, it is important for ecologists to apply their pure research findings to the development of optimal conservation strategies. As suggested by Susan Bratton, the current state of conservation biology is not unlike that of the medical profession in 1700’s Vienna, when patients faced a lower chance of survival after treatment than if they had let the disease run its course. Because of the complex nature of ecological systems, we should not search for universally applicable and beneficial reserve design or management strategies or seek exact quantitative predictions regarding particular environmental perturbations. Rather, each reserve will face unique series of threats and will require artist-like managers who develop unique management protocols for each site.  Much of my conservation biology research has been focused on documenting the unintended negative impacts posed by fire management policies on biodiversity, especially in fragmented landscapes with low potential for recolonization. Total biodiversity maintenance in these situations requires reduced use of fire across both space and time, with sensitive application of large vertebrate grazing and use of more labor intensive techniques such as hand-removal of woody vegetation. I have also published on the importance of distance and colonization history in reserve design, have documented the negative impact of recreational rock climbing and soil disturbance on land snail diversity, and have investigated the impact of powerline corridors on biodiversity. 

1. Peer-reviewed Books:

Schlicht, D.W., J. C. Downey & J.C. Nekola. 2007. The Butterflies of Iowa. University of Iowa Press.

2. Peer-reviewed Articles:

Nekola, J.C. 2012. The impact of utility corridors on terrestrial gastropod biodiversity. Biodiversity and Conservation 21:781-795.

Ružicka, V., M. Zacharda, L. Nemcová, P. Šmilauer &. J.C. Nekola. 2012. Periglacial microclimate in low altitude scree slopes supports relict biodiversity. Journal of Natural History 46:2145-2157.

Nekola, J.C. 2010. Acidophilic terrestrial gastropod communities of North America. Journal of Molluscan Studies 76:144-156

Stanisic, J, R.A.D. Cameron, B.M. Pokryszko & J.C. Nekola. 2007. Forest snail faunas from S.E. Queensland and N.E. New South Wales (Australia): Patterns of local and regional richness and differentiation. Malacologia 49:445-462.

Nekola, J.C. 2004. Vascular plant composition gradients within and between Iowa fens. Journal of Vegetation Science 15:771-780.

Nekola, J.C. 2003. Large-scale terrestrial gastropod community composition patterns in the Great Lakes region of North America. Diversity and Distribution 9:55-71.

McMillan, M., J.C. Nekola & D.W. Larson. 2003. Impact of recreational rock climbing on land snail communities of the Niagara Escarpment, southern Ontario, Canada. Conservation Biology 17:616-621.

Nekola, J.C. 2002. Effects of fire management on the richness and abundance of central North American grassland land snail faunas. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation 25:53-66.

Nekola, J.C. & C.E. Kraft. 2002. Spatial constraint of peatland butterfly occurrences within a heterogeneous landscape. Oecologia 130:62-71.

Nekola, J.C. & P.S. White. 2002. Conservation, the two pillars of ecological explanation, and the paradigm of distance. Natural Areas Journal 22:305-310.

Nekola, J.C. & B.F. Coles. 2001. Systematics and ecology of Gastrocopta (Gastrocopta) rogersensis (Gastropoda: Pupillidae), a new species from the midwest of the United States of America. The Nautilus 115:105-114.

Nekola, J.C. 1999. Paleorefugia and neorefugia: the influence of colonization history on community pattern and process. Ecology 80: 2459-2473.

Nekola, J.C. & P.S. White. 1999. Distance decay of similarity in biogeography and ecology. Journal of Biogeography 26:867-878.

Smith, V.H., G.D. Tilman & J.C. Nekola. 1999. Eutrophication impacts of excess nutrient inputs on fresh water, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems. Environmental Pollution 100:179-196.

White, P.S. & J.C. Nekola. 1992. Biological diversity in an ecological context. Pages 10-29 in: Barker, J.R. and D.T. Tingey (eds.), Air Pollution and Biodiversity. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.