Ecological patterns are not solely based upon the local, contemporaneous environment. Due to the lags inherent in complex systems, these patterns are also often impacted by drivers separated by distance in either space or time. As a result, simply knowing local conditions is often not enough to accurately predict what patterns will develop. Understanding how ecological systems change over space and time, and how spatial and temporal contingencies effect current patterns has been a long-standing focus of my research efforts. These investigations help determine the nature of spatial and temporal heterogeneities in ecological systems, and the extent to which these systems are in equilibrium with the local environment. Additionally, there is no better way to determine the potential impacts of global environmental change than to empirically study how past changes have impacted ecological systems. My paleoecology work not only documents such changes, but also has developed new methods for accurately dating fossil assemblages using isotopic ratios of land snail shell carbon.

Chytrý, M., M. Horsák, V. Syrovátka, J. Danihelka, N. Ermakov, D.A. German, M. Hájek, O. Hájek, P. Hájková, V. Horsáková, M. Kocí, S. Kubešová, P. Lustyk, J.C. Nekola, Z. Preislerová, P. Resl & M. Valachovi. 2017. Refugial ecosystems in central Asia as indicators of biodiversity change during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Ecological Indicators 76:357-367.

Bajc, A.F., P.F. Karrow, C.H. Yansa, B.B. Curry, J.C. Nekola, K. Seymour & G.L. Mackie. 2015. Geology and paleoecology of a Middle Wisconsin fossil occurrence in Zorra Township, southwestern Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 52:386-404.

Horsák, M., M. Chytrý, P. Hájková, M. Hájek, J. Danihelka, V. Horsáková, N. Ermakov, D.A. German, M. Kocí, P. Lustyk, J.C. Nekola, Z. Preislerová & M. Valachovic. 2015. European glacial relict snails and plants: environmental context of their modern refugial occurrence in southern Siberia. Boreas 44:638-657.

Pigati, J.S., J.P. McGeehin, D.R. Muhs, D.C. Grimley & J.C. Nekola. 2015. Radiocarbon dating loess deposits in the Mississippi Valley using terrestrial gastropod shells (Polygyridae, Helicinidae, Discidae). Aeolian Research 16:25-33.

Nekola, J.C. 2014. North American terrestrial gastropods through either end of a spyglass. Journal of Molluscan Studies 80:238-248.

Nekola, J.C. 2013. Biodiversity refuges. Pages 141-148 in: MacLeod, N., D.J. Archibald & P. Levin (eds.), Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Extinction. Gale Publishing, Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Rakovan, M.T., J.A. Rech, J.S. Pigati, J.C. Nekola & G.C. Wiles. 2013. An evaluation of Mesodon and other large terrestrial gastropod shells for dating late Holocene and historic alluvium in the midwestern USA. Geomorphology 193:47-56.

Horsák, M., M. Hájek, D. Spitale, P. Hájková, D. Díte & J.C. Nekola. 2012. The age of island-like habitats impacts habitat specialist species richness. Ecology 93:1106-1114.

Rech, J.A., J.C. Nekola & J.S. Pigati. 2012. Radiocarbon ages of terrestrial gastropods extend duration of ice-free conditions at the Two Creeks forest bed, Wisconsin, USA. Quaternary Research 77:289-292.

Pigati, J.S., D.M. Miller, S.A. Mahan, J.A. Bright, J.C. Nekola & J.B. Paces. 2011. Chronology, sedimentology, and microfauna of ground-water discharge deposits in the central Mojave Desert, Valley Wells, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 123:2224-2239.

Rech, J.A., J.S. Pigati, S.B. Lehmann, C.N. McGimpsey, D.A. Grimley & J.C. Nekola. 2011. Assessing open-system behavior of ¹⁴-C in terrestrial gastropod shells. Radiocarbon 53:325-335.

Pigati, J.S., J.A. Rech & J.C. Nekola. 2010. Radiocarbon dating of small terrestrial gastropod shells in North America. Quaternary Geochronology 5:519-532.

Nekola, J.C., B.F. Coles & U. Bergthorsson. 2009. Evolutionary pattern and process in the Vertigo gouldii (Mollusca: Pulmonata, Pupillidae) group of minute North American land snails. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 53:1010-1024.

McClain, C. & J.C. Nekola. 2008. The role of local-scale on terrestrial and deep-sea Gastropod body size distributions across multiple scales. Evolutionary Ecology Research 10:129-146.

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. & M. Barthel. 2002. Morphometric analysis of the genus Carychium in the Great Lakes region of North America. Journal of Conchology 37(5):515-531.

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

Kraft, C.E., P.J. Sullivan, A.Y. Karatayev, L.E. Burlakova, J.C. Nekola, L.E. Johnson & D.K. Padilla. 2002. Landscape patterns of an aquatic invader: assessing dispersal extent from spatial distributions. Ecological Applications 12:749-759.

Bossenbroek, J.M., C.E. Kraft & J.C. Nekola. 2001. Prediction of long-distance dispersal using gravity models: Zebra Mussel invasion of inland lakes. Ecological Applications 11:1178-1788.

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.

Carter, J.G. & J.C. Nekola. 1992. Molluscan fauna of the Pungo River Formation, Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina. Pages 131-144 in: J.G. Carter and L.W. Ward (eds), Cenozoic molluscan biostratigraphy of the North Carolina Coastal Plain. Geologic Field Guides to North Carolina and Vicinity, Field trip #8, Southeastern Section, Paleontological Society. Department of Geology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Geologic Guidebook #1.