Ecology Research Group
Who we are
Ecological research within IBERS spans terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems and undertakes research into water, soils, plants and animals (invertebrates and vertebrates) and their interactions. Our research group includes academic members of staff as well post-doctoral scientists and postgraduate students and together we engage in broad range of ecological topics.What we do
We employ a range of approaches across different scales (temporal and spatial) to address questions about how ecosystems work and how they operate. Whilst we are interested in the present our research extends into the future by looking at how a wide range of climate change variables (including increased warming, CO2, ocean acidification and Ultra violet radiation) will impact on ecosystems and their component parts.Current research foci include:
- Soil and its component parts (including fauna-flora and Carbon).
- Plant ecophysiology and how plants respond to abiotic and biotic stresses in semi-natural communities.
- The close relationship between plants and invertebrates (leaf herbivores and soil burrowers; marine alage/seagrass and herbivores).
- How grazing animals including livestock affect plant communities.
- The nature of competition and how plant and animal communities work
- Predator-prey dynamics
- Techniques for making space for nature within coastal engineered structures
Biological interactions are quantified using a range of approaches from the analysis of organism / substrate biochemical signatures (using metabolomic approaches), chemical, physical and biological measurements in the field to studying interactions using modelling and simulations.
Research links and interactions
We have strong links to other research groups within IBERS (Environmental Microbiology, Ecosystems Services, Public Good Plant Breeding, Energy Crop Biology, Plant Microbe Rumen Interations, Abiotic Stress Resistance and Nutrient-Use-Efficiency, Whole Organism Biology and Physiology). We also have a breadth of external collaborators including: Abisko Scientific Research Station, Sweden; Aarhus University, Denmark; ART Reckenholz, Switzerland; ALTERRA, The Netherlands; University of Extremadura, Spain; University of Vienna, Austria; Technical University of Munich, Germany; Norwegian Forest and Landscpe Institute, Norway; INRA, Toulouse, France; Padova University, Italy; University of York; Cardiff University; CEH, Lancaster University; RSPB Uplands Research, Edinburgh; British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford; Sheffield University along with CEH Lancaster and Bangor plus Bangor University (through Centre for Integrated Research in the Rural Environment (CIRRE) and BEA collaborations). ;Plymouth Marine Laboratory; Scottish Association for Marine Science, Edith Cowan University, Australia.Teaching
Our research is integrated with teaching and we see our laboratories and the field as our training ground.
Group Members
Dr Dylan Gwynn-Jones
Dr Peter Dennis
Dr John Warren
Dr John Scullion
Dr Pippa Moore
Dr John Gee
Mr David Powell
Dr Graham Harris
Researchers
Jenny Bussell (Ph.D. student)
David Comont (Ph.D. student)
Sara Mela (Ph.D. student)
Aitor Martinez (Ph.D. student)
Ben Harvey (Ph.D. student)
Salwan Al Maliki (Ph.D. student)
Rosie Shoosmith (Ph.D. Student)
Stephanie McGovern (CIRRE Ph.D. Student)
Matthew Carroll (external NERC-CASE Ph.D. Student)
Richard Mathews (PDRA)
Alan Jones (NERC funded PDRA)
Gergely Jerkovich (PGRA)
News
Projects that started in 2011
- The SEREN project - ERDF (coordinated by Cardiff University) sponsored project on soil carbon sequestration – AU award £390 K.
- NERC (standard grant with CEH Lancaster) on plant – soil carbon dynamics in the sub-arctic – AU award value £290 K.
- EU Sustainable Organic and Low-input Dairying (SOLID) project (co-ordinated by Prof. Nigel Scollan) Specifically Work Package 4. Environmental assessment: For improvements and communication in organic and low input dairy systems – small part of AU total partner allocation - value £607 K.