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A fascinating study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Alan Hastings, Kevin McCann, and Gabriel Gellner reveals that a classic ecological concept—the competition-colonization trade-off—can explain virtually any pattern of species abundance observed in nature. While ecologists have long used this trade-off to explain how species coexist, testing it in the wild has been notoriously difficult because animal movement and fighting hierarchies are h

Dr. Kevin S. McCann has been invited to a special Santa Fe Institute Colloquium Series in October 2027 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he will provide a talk entitled, "On the Noisy Balance of Nature in a Changing World." Read the below excerpt from Dr. McCann where he summarizes key arguments he will be covering in his upcoming presentation. In this talk I examine the dynamics and stability (broadly defined) of ecological systems from both a theoretical and empirical perspec

In a recent Nature Ecology & Evolution (2026) article, the McCann Lab at the University of Guelph, introduces "trophic hotspots" as a dynamic framework for understanding ecosystem function, driven by spatiotemporal heterogeneity and consumer movements. This study argues that these localized, energetic hubs are crucial for managing ecosystem resilience against perturbations. Read more about this work, including key concepts like biodiversity hotspots and foraging theory, in th