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Doctor Amy Gilpin

Doctor Amy-Marie Gilpin was awarded a Research Support Program Fellowship in 2021. Her research centres on the effect of fire on plant s and pollinators.

Amy-Marie is interested in the ecology of pollinators and the pollination function they provide both within agricultural and native ecosystems. Her research to date has largely focussed on identifying the pollinators of agriculturally important crops within both temperate and tropical regions of Australia and the floral resources that support healthy pollinator populations within agro-ecosystems. Amy-Marie employs a variety of methods from multiple disciplines including large-scale manipulative field and glasshouse experiments to determine the effects of climate change on floral resources and pollinators. She uses an integrative approach to understand firstly who are the pollinators and then what is there effect on surrounding plants, ecosystems, plant mating systems, seed fitness as well as fruit quality and yield.

My website is http://www.amy-mariegilpin.com (opens in a new window)

Current research projects

Understanding pollinator networks and dynamics within agroecosystems- Investigating pollinator networks within key growing regions of NSW and determining the quality and quantity of floral resources available to pollinators.

Determining how fire affects plant-pollinator networks within agroecosystems as well as the flowering phenology of key floral resources for pollinators.

Determining the interaction between introduced honeybees and native bees in a range of native and agricultural systems within Australia.

EucFACE (Eucalyptus Free Air Carbon Exchange) - Determining how predicted increases in CO2 will affect floral resource quality, quantity and pollinators of one of Australia’s most abundant and important floral resources, Eucalypts. Funded by Horticulture Innovation Australia. https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/hie/EucFACE


DriGRASS (Drought and Root Herbivore Impacts on GRASSlands) – Investigating the effect of drought on key floral resources within grasslands for wild pollinators. Funded by the Early Career Researcher Fellowship WSU, 2018. In collaboration with Dr Amy Churchill and Mr Jinyan Yang. https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/hie/EucFACE/small_rainout_shelters

Areas of research and teaching

Ecology, Conservation biology, Pollination, Animal behaviour, Ecological responses to climate change.

Awards and recognition

  • HIE Research Symposium “Best speaker” award, WSU 2022
  • Vice Chancellors Professional Development Award
  • Research Support Program Fellow (Level A) - Bushfire & Pollination (2 yrs), 2021
  • Nominated for the Research Impact Competition, Western Sydney University, 2019
  • Deans Merit List 2011

Professional Service

Communications correspondent for Birds In Backyards, Birdlife Australia, 2022.

Chair, Ecological Society of Australia, Early Career Working Group, 2017-2018.

  • Organising committee, Job application workshop for Higher Degree and Early Career Researchers at the Ecological Society of Australia Conference, Brisbane, 2018.
  • Conference organising committee, Early Career Researcher Twitter Conference supported by the Ecological Society of Australia and The International Network of Next Generation Ecologists, 2017

Grants

Early Career Researcher Fellowship WSU: Quantifying the effects of climate change on key floral resources for agriculturally important wild pollinators. ($18,174) 2018.

Lake Macquarie Environmental Research Grant: Determining seed viability of endangered coastal saltmarsh plants in Lake Macquarie under climate change. ($4,320) 2016.
Australian Postgraduate Scholarship 2012-2015.

Publications

Gilpin A-M, Brettell LE. Cook J, Power SA, (2022) 'The use of trap-nests to support crop pollinators in agricultural areas', Ecological Research, (in press).

Gilpin A-M, Brettell LE, O’Brien C, Cook JM, Power SA, (2022) 'Co-flowering species richness increases pollinator visitation to apple flowers', Agriculture, vol.12, no.8, Article no.1246

Gilpin A-M, O'Brien C, Kobel C, Brettell LE, Cook JM, Power SA, (2022) 'Co-flowering plants support diverse pollinator populations and facilitate pollinator visitation to sweet cherry crops', Basic and Applied Ecology, vol.63, pp 36-48

Ollerton J, Trunschke J, Havens K, Landaverde-González P, Keller A, Gilpin A-M, Rech AR, Baronio GJ, Phillips BJ, Mackin C, Stanley DA, Treanore E, Baker E, Rotheray EL, Erickson E, Fornoff F, Brearley FQ, Ballantyne G, Iossa G, Stone GN, Bartomeus I, Stockan JA, Leguizamón J, Prendergast K, Rowley L, Giovanetti M, de Oliveira Bueno R, Wesselingh RA, Mallinger R, Edmondson S, Howard SR, Leonhardt SD, Rojas-Nossa SV, Brett M, Joaqui T, Antoniazzi R, Burton VJ, Feng HH, Tian ZX, Xu Q, Zhang C, Shi CL, Huang SQ, Cole LJ, Bendifallah L, Ellis EE, Hegland SJ, Díaz SS, Lander T, Mayr AV, Katzer S, Dawson R, Eeraerts M, Armbruster WS, Walton B, Adjlane N, Falk S, Mata L, Geiger AG, Carvell C, Wallace C, Ratto F, Barberis M, Kahane F, Connop S, Stip A, Sigrist MR, Vereecken NJ, Klein AM, Baldock KCR, Arnold SEJ, (2022) 'Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020', Journal of Pollination Ecology, vol.32, no. pp 87-96

Schmidt LA, Gilpin A-M, Cook J, Rymer P, Gibson-Roy P, Craigie S, Power SA. (2020) ‘Restoration of native wildflower patched in agronomic settings for diverse and healthy pollinator populations.’ Australasian Plant Conservation: Journal of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation, vol 28. pp17-19

Gilpin AM, Denham AJ, Ayre DJ, (2019) 'Are there magnet plants in Australian ecosystems: Pollinator visits to neighbouring plants are not affected by proximity to mass flowering plants', Basic and Applied Ecology, vol.35, pp 34-44

Gilpin A-M, Denham AJ, Ayre DJ, (2019) 'Do mass flowering agricultural species affect the pollination of Australian native plants through localised depletion of pollinators or pollinator spillover effects?', Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, vol.277, pp 83-94

Gilpin A-M, (2017) 'Investigating the combined role of the introduced honeybee (Apis mellifera) and magnet plants on the pollination of both native and exotic plants in Australian ecosystems', PhD thesis. University of Wollongong.

Gilpin A-M, Denham AJ, Ayre DJ, (2017) 'The use of Digital Video Recorders in pollination biology', Ecological Entomology, vol.42, pp 383-388

Gilpin A-M, Collette J, Ooi M, Denham AJ, Ayre DJ, (2017) 'Do introduced honeybees effect seed set and seed quality in a plant adapted for bird pollination?' Journal of Plant Ecology, vol.10, no.4, pp 721–729

Gilpin A-M, Ayre DJ, Denham AJ, (2014) 'Can the pollination biology and floral ontogeny of the threatened Acacia carneorum explain its lack of reproductive success?' Ecological Research, vol.29, pp 225-235

Denham AJ, Auld T, Ayre DJ, Forrest C, Gilpin A-M, O'Brien E, Roberts D, (2013) 'Research and conservation initiatives for the vulnerable Purple-wood wattle: a model for plant species conservation in Australia?' Australasian Plant Conservation: Journal of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation, vol.21, pp  22-24

Selected Community Engagement

Television and other media Interviews

Radio Interviews

  • Stingless bees: latest weapon in arsenal to protect Aussie crops (ABC Central Coast). 2017
  • Pollinators of Ivy Citizen Science project. (ABC New England North West) 2017.