Current Research
Climbing plant ecology
My PhD research centers around the functional traits of climbing plants. I am interested in the process of trait-based community assembly in this functional group, as well as how carbon capture and regenerative traits vary along latitudinal gradients in Australia and across the globe. I also spend a lot of time investigating the potential responses of climbers to anthropogenically induced climate change.
Some of the specific topics addressed in my thesis are:
- The potential for future climate change to alter trait composition in climbing plant communities
- A global synthesis of climbing plant traits and strategies
- Trait variation in temperate and tropical climbing plants in Australia
- Exotic climbers and their response to future climate change [read the paper]
I have been investigating these questions in the littoral rainforests of eastern Australia. Littoral, or coastal, rainforests are under pressure from weed invasion and development and are protected as an endangered ecological community under state and federal environmental legislation. This research is being supported by a grant from the Paddy Pallin Science Foundation.
Invasive species and climate change
I am also interested in the potential interactions between invasive plants and climate change. Work on this topic has been part of a three year ARC Linkage project with the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change & Water.
Some specific topics we have addressed are:
- Climatic niche shifts in exotic species [read the paper]
- Exotic species in protected areas under future climate change [read the paper]
- Best practice approaches for modeling exotic invasions [read the paper]
- The use of Maxent in species distribution modeling [read the paper]