|
|
Plants are dominant structural and functional components of terrestrial ecosystems, defining habitat structure and forming the base of terrestrial food chains. An understanding of plant ecology is therefore central to the management and conservation of ecosystems. Our research in Plant Ecology includes aspects of conservation, biodiversity, biotic interactions, biogeography, climatology, mathematical and statistical modelling, population biology, restoration ecology and economic and social issues.
Our current research foci include:
- Integrating field-based and theoretical studies of the spatial and temporal dynamics of plant communities
- Use of modelling and molecular techniques to understand population processes, and to project future changes
- The roles of seed dispersal and pollination in generating the spatial structure of plant populations (geographic and genetic)
- Inter- and intra-specific competition and the maintenance of plant diversity
- Response of vegetation to disturbance, in terms of structure, function and composition
- Modelling invasive plant population dynamics, spread and management
- Trait evolution in invasive plants
|
| People |
Yvonne Buckley, Gunnar Keppel, Hugh Possingham, Nikki Sims, Jessie Wells |
| Links and Downloads |
Jessie Wells, Spatial ecology of secondary rainforests. |
| Key references |
Buckley, Y. M. and J. Metcalf (2005) Density dependence in invasive plants: demography, herbivory, spread and evolution. Pages 109-123 in M. W. Cadotte, S. M. McMahon and T. Fukami, editors. Conceptual ecology and invasions biology. Springer
Etter, A., C. A. McAlpine, D. Pullar and H. P. Possingham ( 2005) Modeling the age of tropical moist forest fragments in heavily-cleared lowland landscapes of Colombia. Forest Ecology and Management 208:249-260 pdfBuckley, Y. M. and C. K. Kelly ( 2003) Comparison of population structures and ecology of a congeneric pair of common and rare neotropical tree species. Plant Ecology 167:45-56 pdfMcCarthy, M. A., H. P. Possingham and A. M. Gill ( 2001) Using stochastic dynamic programming to determine optimal fire management of Banksia ornate. Journal of Applied Ecology 38:585-592 pdfBall, I. R., D. B. Lindenmayer and H. P. Possingham ( 1999) A tree hollow dynamics simulation model. Forest Ecology and Management 123:179-194 pdfRichards, S. A., H. P. Possingham and J. Tizard ( 1999) Optimal fire management for maintaining community diversity. Ecological Applications 8:156 pdfPossingham, H. P., H. N. Comins and I. R. Noble ( 1995) The fire and flammability niches in plant communities. Journal of Theoretical Biology 174:97-108 pdf |
|