My main research interests are to understand why species occur where they do, and what makes them vulnerable to global environmental changes. Specifically, my research combines ecological and evolutionary theory to study the processes shaping species niches and the fluctuations in geographical range limits through space and time. I am also interested in applying this knowledge to inform conservation and management. Although I consider myself a freshwater ecologist, my research interests are diverse and span well beyond streams and rivers.

In the Ruhi Lab, I led analysis of flow regime alteration in the time and frequency domains – and I linked these flow alteration patterns to non-native fish invasions.
 

Main publications:

Tu, T., Comte, L. and Ruhi, A., 2023. The color of environmental noise in river networks. Nature Communications, 14(1), p.1728.

Comte, L., Grantham, T. and Ruhi, A., 2021. Human stabilization of river flows is linked with fish invasions across the USA. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 30(3), pp.725-737.

Comte, L., Olden, J.D., Tedesco, P.A., Ruhi, A. and Giam, X., 2021. Climate and land-use changes interact to drive long-term reorganization of riverine fish communities globally. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(27), p.e2011639118.

Comte, L., Carvajal‐Quintero, J., Tedesco, P.A., Giam, X., Brose, U., Erős, T., Filipe, A.F., Fortin, M.J., Irving, K., Jacquet, C. and Larsen, S., 2021. RivFishTIME: A global database of fish time‐series to study global change ecology in riverine systems. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 30(1), pp.38-50.

Current position: Lead Scientist at Conservation Science Partners.