Pre-prints (unpublished, not peer-reviewed yet)
Spake, R., McElreath, R., Evans, L.C. Deterministic by design: causal inference challenges for ‘biodiversity change’ syntheses. EcoEvoRxiv [Preprint]. https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/13267/
Gresham, A., Grainger, M., Guy, M., Bellamy, C., Rattey, A., Shannon, G., St John, F. A. V., Ward, A. I., Cini, E., Eigenbrod, F., Barton, O., Gill, R., Hirst, C., Hooton, D., Jam, D., Langbein, J., Lawrence, P. J., Logan, T. W., McHenry, E., Nichols, C., Orsi, P., Putman, R., Siddiqui, A., Smith, E. M. W., & Spake, R. (2024). iDeer: A decision-support tool for managing deer alongside woodland creation (Version 1) [Preprint]. EcoEvoRxiv. https://doi.org/10.32942/X28H3D
Jackson, E.E., Snäll, T., Gardner, E., Bullock, J.M. & Spake, R. (2026) Towards causal predictions of site-level treatment effects for applied ecology. EcoEvoRxiv [Preprint]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.32942/X2KK95
2026
Collins, R. M., Brown, K. A., Ogutu, B. O., Smith, D., Eigenbrod, F., & Spake, R. (2026). Greenspace quality and proximity are stronger predictors of mental health than quantity or access. Landscape and Urban Planning, 273, 105660. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2026.105660
Ash, A.K., Spake, R., Zhao, Y., Piña‑Covarrubias, E., Gill, R.M.A., Nichols, C.P. and Doncaster, C.P., (2026). Understanding why grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) bark strip in British woodlands: A systematic map. Mammal Review, 56(1), e70027
https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.70027
2025
Cini, E., Spake, R., McMillan, L., Gresham, A., Shannon, G., Eigenbrod, F., Nichols, C. P., Orsi, P., Ward, A. I., & St John, F. A. V. (2025). Broad support for lethal control of wild deer among subscribers of nature organisations in England and Wales. People and Nature. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70193
Theodorou, A., Gresham, A., Bellamy, C., Pickles, B., Hoodless, A. and Spake, R. (2025) Natural Methods to Protect Trees Against Large Herbivores: A Systematic Mapping Protocol. SSRN Working Paper. Available at SSRN: SSRN Abstract 5936874. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5936874
D'Adamo, F., Spake, R., Bullock, J.M., Ogutu, B., Dash, J. & Eigenbrod, F. (2025) Precipitation and temperature drive woody vegetation dynamics in the grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 11, e70018. https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.70018
Callaghan, C.T., Venegas-Li, R., Mason, B.M., Fuller, R.A., Spake, R. & Watson, J.E.M. (2025) High-integrity forests are critical for forest specialist birds. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 34, e70118. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70118
Cini, E., Spake, R., McMillan, L. et al. (7 more authors) (Accepted: 2025) Broad support for lethal control of wild deer among subscribers of nature organisations in England and Wales. People and Nature. ISSN: 2575-8314 (In Press)
Spake, R., Gresham, A., Jam, D. iDeer: A tool to support woodland creation alongside deer populations, Impact and Insights Note. Future of UK Treescapes, available at: www.uktreescapes.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/iDeer.pdf
Spake, R., Jackson, E.E., Bullock, J.M., Gardner, E., Tipton, E., Grainger, M. & Doncaster, C.P. (2025) Precision ecology for targeted conservation action', Nature Ecology and Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02733-4. Shareable link: rdcu.be/eoaR4
Mori, A.S., Suzuki, K.F., Soga, M., Ota, T., Hisano, M., Arata, Y., Tochigi, K., Kawamura, K., Ehara, M., Hotta, W., Nakama, K., Aikawa, T., Shibata, R., Nakao, F., Kuramoto, Y., Hirose, M., Sano, K., Spake, R. & Mizoue, N. (2025) Assessing the priorities of stakeholders regarding forest ecosystem services in Japan, Journal of Applied Ecology. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.70008.
2024
Millard, J., Christie, A.P., Dicks, L.V., Isip, J.E., Johnson, T.F., Skinner, G., Spake, R., (2024) ChatGPT is likely reducing opportunity for support, friendship and learned kindness in research. Methods in Ecology and Evolution [Forum], 15, 10, 1764-1766. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14395
Martin, P., Fisher, L., Pérez-Izquierdo, L., Biryol, C., Guenet, B., Luyssaert, S., Manzoni, S., Menival, C., Santonja, M., Spake, R., Axmacher, J.C., Yuste, J.C., (2024). Meta-analysis reveals that the effects of precipitation change on soil and litter fauna in forests depend on body size. Global Change Biology. 30(5): e17305. DOI 10.1111/gcb.17305
Hohlenwerger, C., Spake, R., Tambosi, L.R., Aristizábal, N., González-Chaves, A., Librán-Embid, F., Saturni, Eigenbrod, F., and Metzger, J.P. Coffee pollination and pest control are affected by edge diversity at local scales but multiscalar approaches and disservices can not be ignored. Landscape Ecology, 39, 75 DOI: 10.1007/s10980-024-01869-1.
Callaghan, C., Santini, L., Spake. R., Bowler, D. Population abundance estimates in conservation and biodiversity research. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2024.01.012.
Roilo, S., Spake, R., Bullock, JM., Cord, A.F. (2024) A cross-regional analysis of red-backed shrike responses to Agri-Environmental Schemes in Europe. Environmental Research Letters. Accepted. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ad264a
2023
Tew, E., et al.... and others including Spake, R.,... Sutherland, W.J. (2023), A horizon scan of issues affecting UK forest management within 50 years. Forestry, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpad047
Collins, R., Smith, D., Brown, K., Ogutu, B., Eigenbrod, F., Spake, R. (2023) The relative effects of access to public greenspace and private gardens on mental health. Landscape & Urban Planning. 240, 104902. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104902
Nakagawa, S., Yang, Y., Macartney, E., Spake, R., Lagisz, M. (2023) Quantitative evidence synthesis: a practical guide on meta-analysis, meta-regression, and publication bias tests for environmental sciences. Environmental Evidence. Accepted.
Nakagawa, S., Noble, D., Lagisz, M., Spake, R., Viechtbauer, W., Senior, A.M., A robust and readily implementable method for the meta-analysis of response ratios with and without missing standard deviations. Ecology Letters, DOI: 10.1111/ele.14144
Spake, R., Bowler, D., Callaghan, CT., Blowes, SA., Doncaster, CP., Antão, LH., Nakagawa, S., McElreath, R., Chase, JM. Understanding ‘it depends’ in ecology: a guide to hypothesising, visualising and interpreting statistical interactions. Biological Reviews, Early View: DOI: 10.1111/brv.12939
2022
Ridding, L.E., Spake, R., Newton, A.C., Keith, S.A., Walls, R.M. Diaz, A., Eigenbrod, F., Bullock, J.M. (2022) Historical data reveal contrasting habitat amount relationships with plant biodiversity. Ecography, e06301. DOI: 10.1111/ecog.06301
Spake, R., O’dea, R.E., Nakagawa, S., Doncaster, C.P., Ryo, M., Callaghan, C.T. & Bullock, J.M. (2022) Improving quantitative synthesis to achieve generality in ecology. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 6, 1818-1828. rdcu.be/cYUbk
Spake, R., Barajas-Barbosa, M.P., Blowes, S.A., Bowler, D.E., Callaghan, C.T., Garbowski, M., Jurburg, S.D., Klink, R. van, Korell, L., Ladouceur, E., Rozzi, R., Viana, D.S., Xu, W. & Chase, J.M. (2022) Detecting Thresholds of Ecological Change in the Anthropocene. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 47: 797-821 : https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-112420-015910
2021
Barnsley, I., Spake, R., Sheffield, J., Leyland, J., Sykes, T., Sear, D. (2021) Exploring the capability of Natural Flood Management approaches in groundwater-dominated chalk streams. Water, 13(16), 2212; DOI: 10.3390/w13162212
Spake, R., Soga, M., Catford, J.A., Eigenbrod, F. (2021) Applying the stress gradient hypothesis to curb the spread of invasive bamboo. Journal of Applied Ecology, early view. Video summary here.
McKnight, E., Spake, R., Bates, A.E., Smale, D.A., Rius, M. (2021) Non‐native species outperform natives in coastal marine ecosystems subjected to warming and freshening events. Global Ecology and Biogeography, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13318
Kawamura, K., Yamaura, Y., Soga, M., Spake, R., Nakamura, F. (2021) Effects of planted tree species on biodiversity of conifer plantations in Japan: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Forest Research, DOI: 10.1080/13416979.2021.1891625.
Spake, R., Mori, A.S, Beckmann, M., Martin, P.A., Christie, A.P., Duguid, M., Doncaster, C.P. (2021) Implications of scale dependence for cross-study syntheses of biodiversity differences. Ecology Letters, 24, 2, 374-390. DOI: 10.1111/ele.13641
2020
Eigenbrod, F., Beckmann, M., Dunnett, S,., Graham, L.J., Holland, R.A., Meyfroidt, P., Seppelt, R., Song, XP, Spake, R., Václavík, T., Verburg, PH. (2020) Identifying agricultural frontiers for modelling global cropland expansion. One Earth, 3,4, 504-514. DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2020.09.006
Spake, R., Bellamy, C., Gill, R., Watts, K., Wilson, T., Ditchburn, B., Eigenbrod, F. (2020) Forest damage by deer depends on cross-scale interactions between climate, deer density and landscape structure. Journal of Applied Ecology. 57:1376-1390. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13622
Konno, K., Akasaka, M.., Koshida, C., Katayama, N., Osada, N., Spake, R., Amano, T. (2020) Ignoring non-English-language literature may bias ecological meta-analyses. Ecology and Evolution. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6368.
Spake, R., Soga, M., Kawamura, K., Cooke, R.S., Yamaura, Y., Eigenbrod, F. (2020) Regional variability in landscape effects on forest bird communities in Japan. Landscape Ecology. 35, 1055–1071. DOI: 10.1007/s10980-020-01005-9
Bellamy, C. Boughey, K., Hawkins, C, Reveley, Spake, R., Altringham, J. (2020) A sequential multi-level framework to improve habitat suitability modelling Landscape Ecology, 35, 1001–1020. DOI: 10.1007/s10980-020-00987-w
Collins, R., Spake, R., Brown, K., Ogutu, B., Smith, D., Eigenbrod, F. (2020) A systematic map of research exploring the effect of greenspace on mental health. Landscape and Urban Planning. 201:103823. DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103823
Jeliazkov, A., Mijatovic, D., Andrew, N., Arlettaz, R., Barbaro, L., Barsoum, N., Bartonova, A., Belskaya, E., … Spake, R., Staniaszek-Kik, M., Stanko, M., … Chase, J. (2020) CESTES – A global database for metaCommunity Ecology: Species, Traits, Environment and Space, Nature Scientific Data, 7, 6. DOI: 10.1038/s41597-019-0344-7
2019
Spake, R., Bellamy, C., Graham, L.J., Watts, K., Wood, C., Norton, L., Bullock, J.M., Eigenbrod, F. (2019). An analytical framework for spatially targeted management of natural capital. Nature Sustainability, 2, 90-97. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-019-0223-4.
Graham, L.J., Spake, R.,Gillings, S., Eigenbrod, F. (2019). Incorporating fine-scale environmental heterogeneity into broad-extent models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 10(6), 767-778. DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.13177
Spake, R., Yanou, S., Yamaura, Y., Kawamura, K., Kitayama, K., & Doncaster, C. P. (2019). Meta-analysis of management effects on biodiversity in plantation and secondary forests of Japan. Conservation Science and Practice, 1(3), e14. DOI: 10.1002/csp2.14
2018
Ratto, F., Simmons, B. I., Spake, R., Zamora-Gutierrez, V., MacDonald, M. A., Merriman, J. C., … Dicks, L. V. (2018). Global importance of vertebrate pollinators for plant reproductive success: a meta-analysis. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 16(2), 82-90. DOI: 10.1002/fee.1763
2017
Doncaster, C. P., & Spake, R. (2017). Correction for bias in meta-analysis of little-replicated studies. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.12927
Spake, R., Lasseur, R., Crouzat, E., Bullock, J. M., Lavorel, S., Parks, K. E., … Eigenbrod, F. (2017). Unpacking ecosystem service bundles: towards predictive mapping of synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services. Global Environmental Change, 47, 37-50. DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.08.004
Spake, R., & Doncaster, C. P. (2017). Use of meta-analysis in forest biodiversity research: key challenges and considerations. Forest Ecology and Management, 400, 429-437. DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2017.05.059
2016
Spake, R., Barsoum, N., Newton, A. C., & Doncaster, C. P. (2016). Drivers of the composition and diversity of carabid functional traits in UK coniferous plantations. Forest Ecology and Management, 359, 300-308. DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2015.10.008
Spake, R., van der Linde, S., Newton, A. C., Suz, L. M., Bidartondo, M. I., & Doncaster, C. P. (2016). Similar biodiversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi in set-aside plantations and ancient old-growth broadleaved forests. Biological Conservation, 194, 71-79. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2015.12.003
2015
Spake, R., Ezard, T. H. G., Martin, P. A., Newton, A. C., & Doncaster, C. P. (2015). A meta-analysis of functional group responses to forest recovery outside of the tropics. Conservation Biology, 1-9. DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12548
Harris, Z. M., Spake, R., & Taylor, G. (2015). Land use change to bioenergy: A meta-analysis of soil carbon and GHG emissions. Biomass and Bioenergy, 82, 27-39. DOI: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2015.05.008