Plant Ecology

• Trait-based functional ecology – How plant functional traits drive ecosystem processes, productivity, and resilience across both natural and managed systems.
• Plant–animal interactions – From native bee and vertebrate pollination networks to the effects of herbivory and pathogens to harnessing ecological processes to protect crops, pastures, and native plant communities from pest and pathogen pressure by encouraging predators.
• Plant demography – dispersal, population structure, and phenology – Tracking plant populations through time – seed dispersal, germination, flowering, and mortality – and interactions with pollination, biological control and animal seed vectors.
• Aquatic–terrestrial ecotones – Critical transition zones where hydrology, nutrient cycling, and disturbance shape plant communities, functional traits, and ecosystem resilience. Key questions include how plant traits mediate nutrient retention and carbon storage in ecotonal environments, and how climate-driven hydrological change will alter riparian and wetland plant communities.

We welcome students with a curiosity about Australian plants and the ecological forces that shape them. Whether your interest is in fieldwork, functional ecology, conservation, or plant-animal interactions — get in touch and let's talk about what's possible.

Dr David Perović – pollination ecology, plant–animal interactions, and community ecology

Dr Adrienne Burns – environmental monitoring, ecosystem function, aquatic–terrestrial ecotones, and microbial community dynamics

Dr Sapphire McMullan-Fisher –fungal and cryptogam ecology, and interactions, conservation, and invasive species

Assocate Professor Rose Andrew – plant demography in threatened species and ecological communities