Biography

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Scott is a terrestrial ecologist interested in applying concepts of community ecology to issues of restoration ecology and landscape management. He is currently employed as a postdoctoral researcher at UCC investigating multi-taxa functional responses to land use changes through afforestation of non-native plantation forest. Scott graduated with a PhD in ecology from the University of East Anglia in 2013. His thesis involved large-scale field experiments designed to test biological responses to management techniques in a plantation landscape. Through extensive field surveys, he amassed detailed ecological and physiological data on hundreds of invertebrate and vascular plant species in order to understand community patterns and responses to habitat manipulations. During this project the connectivity potential of ephemeral open habitat, linear corridors and remnant habitat patches was also investigated to support the restoration of disconnected heathland biodiversity. During his research Scott has worked across diverse taxonomic groups (beetles, spiders, ants, birds and vascular plant) using assemblage composition and life history traits to enable detailed interpretation of response patterns. The goal of his current work with species traits is to achieve generalised predictive statements of biological response to answer questions related to landscape connectivity, landscape management and habitat restoration.

Publications:

Pedley, S. M., Franco, A. M. A., Dolman, P. M. 2013. Physical disturbance enhances ecological networks for heathland biota: a multiple taxa experiment. Biological Conservation 160: 173-182.

Pedley, S. M., Bertoncelj, I., Dolman, P. M. 2013. The value of the trackway system within a lowland plantation forest for ground-active spiders. Journal of Insect Conservation 17:127-137.

Ji, Y., Ashton, L., Pedley, S. M. et al. 2013. Reliable, comprehensive, and efficient monitoring of biodiversity via metabarcoding. Ecology Letters. In press