Staff Profile

My research uses existing data, and observational and experimental studies in the field, coupled with statistical modelling to address questions in two main fields:

Invasion Ecology

• I aim to understand the processes by which some species are introduced, establish and become widespread invaders in new locations. This involves theoretical work on the processes of transport, establishment and spread, compilation and analysis of historical introduction data, and field surveys and experiments to understand the invasion process in a variety of taxa. Our current work focuses on weed invasions.

Forest Ecology

• Forests are dynamic systems and my research aims to understand how disturbances, such as floods, earthquakes and windstorms drive patterns of forest regeneration, can explain variation in the structure and composition of forests across the landscape, and act to maintain the diversity of forest canopy trees. Recent research in our group has focused on the importance of large, infrequent earthquakes in driving forest dynamics. Current work, in collaboration with Landcare Research, uses long-term demographic data to understand tree growth and mortality processes and how these are influenced by introduced herbivores and climate change.