Biography

‌

Lauren graduated from the University of Brighton in 2008 with a BSc in Biological Sciences and it was during her time as an undergraduate student that she developed an interest in invertebrate ecology. This led her to an MSc in Entomology at Imperial College London, which she completed during 2009. Her MSc thesis used a gap analysis to determine how effectively the Protected Areas Network in New Zealand protects the habitat of threatened Carabid beetle species there. In 2010 Lauren joined the BIOPLAN research project at University College Cork as a PhD researcher. Her PhD thesis “Invertebrate diversity in a range of Irish forest types”, which she completed in 2013, investigated the diversity of ground-dwelling spiders and hoverflies in semi-natural and plantation forests in Ireland and Britain and examined the value of plantation forests for the conservation and diversity of spider and hoverfly species in a predominantly agricultural landscape.

Her research addressed a number of topics pertinent to the forest types present in the contemporary Irish landscape and aimed to investigate the invertebrate diversity of these forests and provide evidence-based recommendations for forest policy and management to protect and enhance invertebrate biodiversity. Topics included rare native woodlands, impacts of afforestation and forest management practices such as preceding land use, choice of tree species, open space and grazing on invertebrate diversity, as well as the use of indicators for biodiversity assessment. Her PhD also involved working in partnership with Forest Research UK to identify stand-level biodiversity indicators for spiders and ground vegetation in plantation forests. Particular areas of interest and experience include forest ecology, sustainable forest management, and the identification and ecology of spiders and carabid beetles.

ThesEs:

• Fuller, L. 2013. Invertebrate diversity in Irish and British forests. PhD thesis. University College Cork. 263pp.
• Fuller, L. 2009. A gap analysis to assess how effectively the Protected Areas Network of New Zealand protects threatened carabid beetle species. MSc thesis. Imperial College London. 46pp.

Publications:

• Fuller, L., Newman, M., Irwin, S., Kelly, & O'Halloran. 2014. Ground-dwelling spider diversity in rare European oak and yew woodlands and the impact of grazing. Biodiversity and Conservation, X: X-X. PDF
• Fuller, L., Oxbrough, A., Gittings, T., Irwin, S., Kelly, T.C. & O'Halloran, J. 2013. The response of ground-dwelling spiders (Aranae) and hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) to afforestation assessed using within-site tracking. Forestry, X:X-X. PDF
• Barsoum, N., Fuller, L., Reed, K., Bonnet-Lebrun, A.-S. & Leung, F. 2013. Ground-dwelling spider (Aranae) and carabid beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) community assemblages in mixed and monoculture stands of oak (Quercus robur L./Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). Forest Ecology and Management, X: X-X.
• Fuller, L., Oxbrough, A., Irwin, S., Kelly, T.C. & O'Halloran, J. 2013. The importance of young plantation forest habitat and forest road-verges for ground-dwelling spider diversity. Biology & Environment, 259-271. Fuller2013a
• Coote, L., Dietzsch, A., Wilson, M.W., Graham, C.T., Fuller, L., Walsh, A.T., Irwin, S., Kelly, D.L., Mitchell, F.J.G., Kelly, T.C. and O’Halloran, J. 2013. Testing indicators of biodiversity for plantation forests. Ecological Indicators, 32, 107-115. PDFPDF
• Fuller, L., Ewers, R. and Johns, P. 2013. Assessment of protected area coverage of threatened ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae): a new analysis for New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 37:2.

Presentations:

• Fuller, L. 2012. Biodiversity in Ireland’s native woodlands: BIOPLAN grazing experiment. Second international conference on biodiversity in forest ecosystems and landscapes, August 2012, Cork, Ireland. Poster presentation.
• Fuller, L., Oxbrough, A., Irwin, S., T. C. Kelly and O’Halloran, J. 2012. Impact of experimental road-verge management on ground-dwelling spider diversity in young Sitka spruce plantation forests. International conference on managing forests for ecosystem services: Can spruce forests show the way? October 2012, Edinburgh, Scotland. Poster presentation.
• Fuller, L., Irwin, S., Deady. R., Kelly, T.C. and O'Halloran, J. 2011. Can roads be used to enhance forest biodiversity? BES Annual Symposium, 2011, Forests and Global Change, University of Cambridge, March 2011.
• Fuller, L., Irwin, S., Deady. R., Kelly, T.C. and O'Halloran, J. 2011. Can roads be used to enhance forest biodiversity? Environ 2011, University College Cork, April 2011.