Theo Gibbs
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theogibbs.bsky.social
Theo Gibbs
@theogibbs.bsky.social
460 followers 420 following 11 posts
Schmidt Science Fellow and Postdoctoral Researcher at NYU. PhD from Princeton.

I’m interested in species coexistence, higher-order interactions, theoretical ecology and the plant microbiome.

https://theogibbs.github.io
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theogibbs.bsky.social
We hypothesized that a competitive hierarchy might underlie these changes in fecundity. To test this, we came up with a metric that quantifies the difference in competitive effect for each background species. Background species that are more imbalanced produce larger higher-order interactions.
The relationship between the absolute value of the difference in competitive effect (a measure of the imbalance between competitors) on the x axis and the difference in focal species fecundity due to the spatial arrangement on the y axis.
July 21, 2025 at 1:51 PM
theogibbs.bsky.social
These observed higher-order interactions are correlated with changes in the traits of background competitors due to their spatial arrangement, suggesting a possible mechanistic underpinning for the shifts in interaction strength.
Correlation between changes in the traits of background competitors on the x axis (quantified by the difference in the first axis of a PCA) and changes in fecundity of focal individuals on the y axis. Differences in both axes come about from the spatial arrangement.
July 21, 2025 at 1:51 PM
theogibbs.bsky.social
Differences in the fecundity of focal individuals therefore reveal the relative strength of intra to interspecific higher-order interactions.

Focal species fecundity changes as a result of the arrangement of competitors... in other words, we have found higher-order interactions!
The difference in fecundity between clustered and mixed treatments aggregated across focal species and plotted for each combination of background competitor species.
July 21, 2025 at 1:51 PM
theogibbs.bsky.social
Happy to share a new preprint! W/ @zachgold.bsky.social, Haylee Oyler, Jonathan Levine and @nathanjbkraft.bsky.social. We use a spatially explicit experimental design to ask:

do higher-order interactions structure the dynamics of annual plant communities?

Link: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧵
(A) A conceptual diagram of interspecific and intraspecific higher-order interactions among annual plants. (B) Conceptual diagrams (along with pictures of actual annual plants) of two different spatial arrangements of competitors to manipulate the relative frequecy of inter to intraspecific higher-order interactions.
July 21, 2025 at 1:51 PM
theogibbs.bsky.social
New paper w/ Jonathan Levine and @exp-evoeco.bsky.social! We induced plastic responses in annual plants through early-life competition. These responses tended to make subsequent species interactions stronger and coexistence less likely.
Link: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
(A) Conceptual diagram of how early-season competition induces plastic responses in focal plants. (B) Species interactions are measured across a density gradient of resident competitors with no induction, with induction from individuals of the focal species or from the resident species.
May 12, 2025 at 5:26 PM
theogibbs.bsky.social
If you’re a prospective graduate student interested in quantitative or computational biology, consider applying to the QCB Scholars program at Princeton!

More info here: lsi.princeton.edu/education/qc...

Please share widely!
April 23, 2025 at 10:40 PM