I am a quantitative ecologist with an interest in modelling biogeographic patterns of species and communities across space and time. I often use hierarchical Bayesian models and mechanistic simulations, with a particular interest in addressing the role that stochasticity and uncertainty play in our ability to predict community dynamics and responses to anthropogenic influences. My past work has included insects, mammals, and invasive plants, often in montane environments.
At SAMS, my research includes modelling sea lice dispersal dynamics using biophysical models to evaluate the potential impact of off-shore aquaculture sites, incorporating biological dynamics into short-term forecasts of harmful algal bloom risk, and building models of kelp population dynamics to identify promising areas for kelp aquaculture and to evaluate the sustainability of different harvesting regimes in the UK and South America.
Current projects
Off Aqua: Sea lice disperal modelling and HAB forecasting. Funded by BBSRC and NERC. Oct 2021 - Oct 2022
Kelper: Population modelling for sustainable kelp harvesting in the UK, Chile and Peru. Funded by NERC. Oct 2021 - May 2022
Szewczyk TM, Morro B, Díaz-Gil C, Gillibrand PA, Hardwick JP, Davidson K, Aleynik D, Rey Planellas S (2023) Interactive effects of multiple stressors with significant wave height exposure on farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) welfare along an inshore-offshore gradient. Aquaculture 579: 740184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2023.740184
Szewczyk TM, MJ Ducey, V Pasquarella, JM Allen. 2021. Extending coverage and thematic resolution of compositional land cover maps in a hierarchical Bayesian framework. Ecological Applications. Link, GitHub repo.
McCain, CM, S King, TM Szewczyk. 2021. Unusually large upward shifts in cold-adapted, montane mammals as temperature warms. Ecology. Link, GitHub repo.
Szewczyk TM, T Lee, MJ Ducey, ME Aiello-Lammens, H Bibaud, JM Allen. 2019. Local management in a regional context: Simulations with process-based species distribution models. Ecological Modelling. Link, GitHub repo.
Szewczyk TM & CM McCain. 2019. Disentangling elevational richness: A multi-scale hierarchical Bayesian occupancy model of Colorado ant communities. Ecography 42(5): 977–988. Link.
McCain CM, S King, TM Szewczyk, J Beck. 2018. Small mammal species richness is directly linked to regional productivity, but decoupled from food resources, abundance, or habitat complexity. Journal of Biogeography 45(11): 2533-2545. Link.
Lydakis A, JM Allen, M Petrik, TM Szewczyk. 2018. Computing robust strategies for managing invasive plants. International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence and the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Link.
McCain CM, TM Szewczyk, K Bracy Knight. 2016. Population variability complicates the accurate detection of climate change responses. Global Change Biology 22(6): 2081-2093. Link.
Szewczyk TM & CM McCain. 2016. A systematic review of global drivers of ant elevational diversity. PLOS One 11(5): e0155404. Link.
Employment history
Since Oct 2021 Ecological Modeller, SAMS
2019-2021 Postdoctoral Researcher. University of Lausanne
2017-2019 Postdoctoral Researcher. University of New Hampshire
Qualifications
2017 PhD Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. University of Colorado, Boulder
2009 BS Biological Sciences. University of Notre Dames