Kevin J. Gaston

118.8k total citations · 35 hit papers
745 papers, 85.1k citations indexed

About

Kevin J. Gaston is a scholar working on Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation and Global and Planetary Change. According to data from OpenAlex, Kevin J. Gaston has authored 745 papers receiving a total of 85.1k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 337 papers in Ecology, 320 papers in Nature and Landscape Conservation and 223 papers in Global and Planetary Change. Recurrent topics in Kevin J. Gaston's work include Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies (304 papers), Species Distribution and Climate Change (216 papers) and Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (183 papers). Kevin J. Gaston is often cited by papers focused on Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies (304 papers), Species Distribution and Climate Change (216 papers) and Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (183 papers). Kevin J. Gaston collaborates with scholars based in United Kingdom, South Africa and United States. Kevin J. Gaston's co-authors include Tim M. Blackburn, Steven L. Chown, Richard A. Fuller, Owen L. Petchey, Philip H. Warren, Masashi Soga, Karl L. Evans, Jonathan Bennie, Jack J. Lennon and Thomas W. Davies and has published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In The Last Decade

Kevin J. Gaston

732 papers receiving 80.6k citations

Hit Papers

Global patterns in biodiversity 1997 2026 2006 2016 2000 2006 2003 2002 2003 500 1000 1.5k 2.0k
What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

  1. Global patterns in biodiversity
    2000 2.4k citations Kevin J. Gaston profile →
  2. Functional diversity: back to basics and looking forward
    2006 1.8k citations Owen L. Petchey, Kevin J. Gaston Ecology Letters profile →
  3. The Structure and Dynamics of Geographic Ranges
    2003 1.6k citations Kevin J. Gaston profile →
  4. Functional diversity (FD), species richness and community composition
    2002 1.4k citations Owen L. Petchey, Kevin J. Gaston Ecology Letters profile →
  5. Measuring beta diversity for presence–absence data
    2003 1.3k citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. Journal of Animal Ecology profile →
  6. Extinction of experience: the loss of human–nature interactions
    2016 1.1k citations Masashi Soga, Kevin J. Gaston profile →
  7. Psychological benefits of greenspace increase with biodiversity
    2007 1.1k citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. Biology Letters profile →
  8. Lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles will revolutionize spatial ecology
    2013 1.0k citations Karen Anderson, Kevin J. Gaston profile →
  9. Quantification of Extinction Risk: IUCN's System for Classifying Threatened Species
    2008 983 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  10. Global hotspots of species richness are not congruent with endemism or threat
    2005 919 citations Felix Eigenbrod, Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  11. Thermal tolerance, climatic variability and latitude
    2000 889 citations Steven L. Chown, Kevin J. Gaston et al. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences profile →
  12. What are the Benefits of Interacting with Nature?
    2013 838 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  13. The ecological impacts of nighttime light pollution: a mechanistic appraisal
    2013 776 citations Kevin J. Gaston, Jonathan Bennie et al. profile →
  14. Geographic gradients in body size: a clarification of Bergmann's rule
    1999 703 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  15. Avian Extinction and Mammalian Introductions on Oceanic Islands
    2004 674 citations Karl L. Evans, Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  16. Abundance–occupancy relationships
    2000 672 citations Kevin J. Gaston, Richard D. Gregory et al. Journal of Applied Ecology profile →
  17. Artificially lit surface of Earth at night increasing in radiance and extent
    2017 660 citations Jonathan Bennie, Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  18. The Influence of Late Quaternary Climate-Change Velocity on Species Endemism
    2011 659 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  19. Species–energy relationships at the macroecological scale: a review of the mechanisms
    2005 595 citations Karl L. Evans, Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  20. Biodiversity and the Feel-Good Factor: Understanding Associations between Self-Reported Human Well-being and Species Richness
    2012 571 citations Martin Dallimer, Paul R. Armsworth et al. profile →
  21. Body size variation in insects: a macroecological perspective
    2009 563 citations Steven L. Chown, Kevin J. Gaston profile →
  22. Health Benefits from Nature Experiences Depend on Dose
    2016 540 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  23. The geographical structure of British bird distributions: diversity, spatial turnover and scale
    2001 522 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. Journal of Animal Ecology profile →
  24. The Ecological Performance of Protected Areas
    2008 515 citations Kevin J. Gaston, Sarah F. Jackson et al. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics profile →
  25. Interspecific Abundance-Range Size Relationships: An Appraisal of Mechanisms
    1997 504 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. Journal of Animal Ecology profile →
  26. Urban form, biodiversity potential and ecosystem services
    2007 501 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. Landscape and Urban Planning profile →
  27. Gardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysis
    2016 431 citations Masashi Soga, Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  28. Mapping an urban ecosystem service: quantifying above‐ground carbon storage at a city‐wide scale
    2011 406 citations Andreas Heinemeyer, Kevin J. Gaston et al. Journal of Applied Ecology profile →
  29. Reframing landscape fragmentation's effects on ecosystem services
    2015 396 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  30. Shifting baseline syndrome: causes, consequences, and implications
    2018 383 citations Masashi Soga, Kevin J. Gaston profile →
  31. Common European birds are declining rapidly while less abundant species' numbers are rising
    2014 371 citations Richard Inger, Richard D. Gregory et al. Ecology Letters profile →
  32. The biological impacts of artificial light at night: the research challenge
    2015 359 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  33. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Artificial Intelligence Revolutionizing Wildlife Monitoring and Conservation
    2016 334 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  34. Opportunity or Orientation? Who Uses Urban Parks and Why
    2014 311 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →
  35. A meta-analysis of biological impacts of artificial light at night
    2020 310 citations Kevin J. Gaston et al. profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name h Career Trend Papers Cites
Kevin J. Gaston United Kingdom 150 36.5k 29.6k 27.8k 20.7k 20.6k 745 85.1k
Kenneth P. Burnham United States 56 50.9k 1.4× 26.5k 0.9× 18.3k 0.7× 10.4k 0.5× 14.8k 0.7× 136 86.4k
David Tilman United States 149 45.5k 1.2× 49.1k 1.7× 27.8k 1.0× 9.1k 0.4× 29.4k 1.4× 306 125.0k
David B. Lindenmayer Australia 114 29.1k 0.8× 25.7k 0.9× 24.6k 0.9× 11.1k 0.5× 8.0k 0.4× 943 55.2k
Pierre Legendre Canada 92 32.8k 0.9× 29.7k 1.0× 15.0k 0.5× 9.0k 0.4× 15.0k 0.7× 411 71.4k
Benjamin M. Bolker United States 55 21.5k 0.6× 16.2k 0.5× 11.6k 0.4× 4.2k 0.2× 18.1k 0.9× 154 83.4k
F. Stuart Chapin United States 137 33.8k 0.9× 30.1k 1.0× 36.2k 1.3× 6.3k 0.3× 16.1k 0.8× 509 101.2k
James H. Brown United States 114 34.5k 0.9× 22.7k 0.8× 12.9k 0.5× 9.4k 0.5× 16.0k 0.8× 394 62.7k
David M. Richardson South Africa 115 19.1k 0.5× 29.4k 1.0× 12.0k 0.4× 8.7k 0.4× 18.0k 0.9× 509 52.4k
Gretchen C. Daily United States 91 14.8k 0.4× 11.4k 0.4× 26.9k 1.0× 4.4k 0.2× 6.9k 0.3× 232 52.4k
Stephen R. Carpenter United States 119 31.4k 0.9× 20.5k 0.7× 38.2k 1.4× 3.0k 0.1× 6.8k 0.3× 398 96.7k

Countries citing papers authored by Kevin J. Gaston

Since Specialization
Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Kevin J. Gaston's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Kevin J. Gaston with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Kevin J. Gaston more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Kevin J. Gaston

Since Specialization
Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Kevin J. Gaston. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Kevin J. Gaston. The network helps show where Kevin J. Gaston may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Kevin J. Gaston

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Kevin J. Gaston. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Kevin J. Gaston based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Kevin J. Gaston. Kevin J. Gaston is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

20 of 20 papers shown
1.
Gaston, Kevin J., Michael T. Anderson, Kai M. A. Chan, et al.. (2025). Navigating the editorial and publishing process at People and Nature: Advice for (and requests to) authors and reviewers. People and Nature. 7(7). 1480–1482.
2.
Smith, Michael T., et al.. (2024). Bumblebee nest departures under low light conditions at sunrise and sunset. Biology Letters. 20(4). 20230518–20230518. 1 indexed citations
3.
Gaston, Kevin J., et al.. (2023). Artificial light at night causes conflicting behavioural and morphological defence responses in a marine isopod. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences. 290(2000). 20230725–20230725. 6 indexed citations
4.
Coetzee, Bernard W. T., et al.. (2023). The impacts of artificial light at night in Africa: Prospects for a research agenda. South African Journal of Science. 119(3/4). 1 indexed citations
5.
Phillips, Benjamin B., Katherine B. Burgess, Cheryl Willis, & Kevin J. Gaston. (2022). Monitoring public engagement with nature using Google Trends. People and Nature. 4(5). 1216–1232. 13 indexed citations
6.
Soga, Masashi, Maldwyn J. Evans, Daniel T. C. Cox, & Kevin J. Gaston. (2021). Impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on human–nature interactions: Pathways, evidence and implications. People and Nature. 3(3). 518–527. 119 indexed citations
7.
Cox, Daniel T. C., et al.. (2019). Skewed contributions of individual trees to indirect nature experiences. Landscape and Urban Planning. 185. 28–34. 21 indexed citations
8.
Garrett, Joanne K., Paul F. Donald, & Kevin J. Gaston. (2019). Skyglow extends into the world's Key Biodiversity Areas. Animal Conservation. 23(2). 153–159. 52 indexed citations
9.
Bennie, Jonathan, James P. Duffy, Richard Inger, & Kevin J. Gaston. (2014). Biogeography of time partitioning in mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111(38). 13727–13732. 240 indexed citations
10.
Inger, Richard, Richard D. Gregory, James P. Duffy, et al.. (2014). Common European birds are declining rapidly while less abundant species' numbers are rising. Ecology Letters. 18(1). 28–36. 371 indexed citations breakdown →
11.
Thomas, Chris D., Barbara J. Anderson, Atte Moilanen, et al.. (2012). Reconciling biodiversity and carbon conservation. Ecology Letters. 16(s1). 39–47. 103 indexed citations
12.
Evans, Karl L., Jason Newton, Kevin J. Gaston, et al.. (2011). Colonisation of urban environments is associated with reduced migratory behaviour, facilitating divergence from ancestral populations. Oikos. 121(4). 634–640. 63 indexed citations
13.
Tinch, Dugald, Nick Hanley, Martin Dallimer, et al.. (2009). Historical Perspectives on the Development of Multifunctional Landscapes: A Case study from the UK Uplands. Figshare. 277–294. 1 indexed citations
14.
Anderson, Barbara J., Paul R. Armsworth, Felix Eigenbrod, et al.. (2009). Spatial covariance between biodiversity and other ecosystem service priorities. Journal of Applied Ecology. 46(4). 888–896. 252 indexed citations
15.
Eigenbrod, Felix, Barbara J. Anderson, Paul R. Armsworth, et al.. (2009). Ecosystem service benefits of contrasting conservation strategies in a human-dominated region. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences. 276(1669). 2903–2911. 100 indexed citations
16.
Gaston, Kevin J., Sarah F. Jackson, Lisette Cantú‐Salazar, & Gabriela Cruz-Piñón. (2008). The Ecological Performance of Protected Areas. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics. 39(1). 93–113. 515 indexed citations breakdown →
17.
Petchey, Owen L. & Kevin J. Gaston. (2006). Functional diversity: back to basics and looking forward. Ecology Letters. 9(6). 741–758. 1836 indexed citations breakdown →
18.
Williamson, Mark & Kevin J. Gaston. (2005). The lognormal distribution is not an appropriate null hypothesis for the species–abundance distribution. Journal of Animal Ecology. 74(3). 409–422. 118 indexed citations
19.
Rensburg, Berndt J. van, Barend Erasmus, Albert S. van Jaarsveld, Kevin J. Gaston, & Steven L. Chown. (2004). Conservation during times of change: correlations between birds, climate and people in South Africa. South African Journal of Science. 100. 266–272. 24 indexed citations
20.
Chown, Steven L., et al.. (2002). Terrestrial invertebrates of Gough Island : an assemblage under threat?. African Entomology. 10(1). 83–91. 12 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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