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New paper: The intermediate disturbance hypothesis and plant invasions: implications for species richness and management

Jan 2012 – Some colleagues and I have recently written a paper that examines the relationship between the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) and alien plant invasions.  Published in Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, the paper is structured around two questions: in accordance with IDH, 1) at what disturbance frequencies is alien plant colonisation most likely and why, and 2) where along the disturbance continuum (at which successional stage) are alien plants likely to reduce community diversity and why?  We use understanding of community and invasion ecology to answer these questions, drawing on empirical evidence from a variety of terrestrial ecosystems.  We conclude the paper by discussing implications and strategies for managing plant communities and how patterns of invasion might change in the future.

You can find a summary of the paper on our lab website.

If you’d like a copy, please shoot me an email.

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Newsletter article: Causes, impacts and ways to manage exotic plant invasion along the River Murray

Dec 2011 – Condensing a rather large topic down to a single page, I discuss some of the processes that lead to high levels of invasion in riparian zones in this article. I also present  information on why we should be concerned about riparian plant invasion, as well as some of the management approaches that are available. Published in the Inland Rivers Network News, you can find the article on page 9 of the Summer 2012 edition.

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ARC success!

Nov 2011 – I’ve just been awarded a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award from the Australian Research Council. Over the next three years (2012-2015), I will investigate the susceptibility of native vegetation edges to alien plant invasion using quantitative and experimental approaches.  I’ll specifically be looking at the combined (and interactive) effects of species traits, resource availability and propagule pressure on invasion success.  As such, it’ll effectively be an experiment in community assembly, but one with an invasion flavour. Working with David Tilman, I’ll be conducting the experiment at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve in Minnesota.

It is all incredibly exciting!

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New paper: Quantifying levels of biological invasion: towards the objective classification of invaded and invasible ecosystems

Oct 2011 – I recently published a paper in Global Change Biology with Peter Vesk, Dave Richardson and Petr Pyšek that identifies the best way to quantify the level of invasion by non-native animals and plants.

For a summary of the paper, check out this post on our lab website,

or to download a free copy of the paper, go here.

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