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Department
of Zoology, Ecology and Plant Sciences
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Research Teaching Lab Group Community
To address the consequences of species loss there is a desperate need for well resolved data from a range of real systems, ideally detailing the abundances, body size and biomass of the species present in such systems. When such data is in place, then I believe it will be possible to identify consistent patterns in community structure, and we can begin to ask questions experimentally of those systems. Contemporary ecologists do not typically have access to such quality data. Here at UCC we are attempting to address this problem by resolving food web structure in a range of marine (Lough Hyne), freshwater (Natterjack Ponds) and terrestrial (Gearagh) systems.
The lack of well resolved food web data is a reflection of how difficult it is to investigate the complexity of natural systems. This really points to the need for coordinated research on several well-defined systems that can then be used collaboratively to investigate pertinent questions.
Body size
I am currently collaborating with José Montoya, previously at the ICREA-Complex Systems Lab, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain now working in the UK at QMUL in collaboration with Guy Woodward. Between us we have been working on the Ythan Estuary and the Broadstone Stream (two particularly well studied food webs in the UK). Our aim has been to explore these two empirical webs, using topological information regarding food web structure and body size based allometric information to parameterise Lotka-Volterra models for the webs. We have used these parameterisations to carry out sensitivity analyses on the webs and gain insights into indirect effects and species loss from food webs.
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning
I am particularly interested in the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. To date this work has focused on the consequences of biodiversity loss within trophic levels. I am particularly interested in trying to develop theoretical approaches that permit the exploration of biodiversity loss scenarios in a food web context. Understanding and mitigating against the loss of biodiversity is another conservation orientated research goal.
In this context my research group (BRG) forms the core of the biodiversity group within one of five thematic research areas - the "Biodiversity and Ecotoxicology" thematic within the Environmental Research Institute (ERI). The Biodiversity component of this thematic research area is structured to reflect the fact that biodiversity loss occurs in a range of different ecosystems including marine, freshwater and terrestrial realms (at a hierarchy of scales including genetic, species and ecosystem levels). Within each of these different ecosystem types there are various drivers of biodiversity change and the BRG draws on expertise from environmental law and geography to inform our understanding of how ecological, social and legal systems interact.
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InterACT
Over the last four years I have been collaborating with researchers through the European Science Foundation Research Network 'InterACT'. InterACT has been a huge success, providing an informal forum for the integration of empirical and theoretical researchers. I am particularly interested in bringing both approaches to bear on questions concerned with biodiversity change in natural systems.
I contribute to teaching within the department predominantly in third and fourth years, and currently coordinate and teach four undergraduate modules: