J. D. Yeakel bio photo

J. D. Yeakel

Associate professor at UC-Merced;
Former Omidyar Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute

Email Github Twitter
An Indricothere or Paracerathere by J.D. Yeakel (June 2023).

I thought it would be fun to flex a different muscle, and will be contributing some research-inspired artwork, for better or for worse. This one is inspired by the largest terrestrial mammal known to live, at about 2 to 2.5 times the size of contemporary elephants. In some recent papers, we use relatively minimal ecological models to predict the largest size these organisms can obtain based on energetic constraints on populations (see here) and further show how predator and harvest mortality might tip the scales and destabilize populations for such megaherbivores (see here). We are working on some other related ideas that we hope to get out soon.