Professor David Ellsworth
View David's Researcher Profile
Professor Ellsworth is recognised as a "highly cited" researcher in the fields of ecology and environmental science, with a particular focus on the response of forests to climate change.
He served on the ARC "Excellence in Research for Australia" Biological Sciences committee (2010) as an expert in ecology and forestry. He is senior scientific advisor for the Eucalyptus Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (EucFACE) experiment.
He brings over 15 years experience in teaching and research at Western Sydney University and previously the University of Michigan, Duke University and Brookhaven National Laboratory in the USA. He has also been involved in many national and international conferences.
Communication of research on climate change to the wider community is one of Professor Ellsworth's passions. In addition to over 85 research articles in the international literature, he has written articles or been interviewed for Sydney's Sun-Herald, Reuters News Agency, the Washington Post, The New York Times and New York's Newsday, and National Geographic Magazine. He has appeared on news and science programs for Australian television.
David is currently principal supervisor of 2 PhD students; A Bourne and Varsha Pathare. He also supervises postdoctoral fellows.
Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise
Tree Nutrition and Physiology; Global Change Biology; Ecological Physiology; Plant Physiology; Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change; Ecosystem Adaptation in Australia; Ecosystem Adaptation in the World; Forest and Woodland Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity
Awards and Recognition
- Appointed to the Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts, reflecting his enormous contribution to the biological sciences and positioning him as a leading expert in science
- Appointed to the prestigious ARC Medical Research Advisory Group
Grants / Current Projects
Quantifying the recovery trajectory and aboveground productivity in rainforest species after fire on rich versus poor soils
Co-Researchers: Kristine Crous, Brendan Choat, Rachael Nolan, and Robert Kooyman (MQ)
Partner/Funding Body: Herman Slade
Period: 2022
Mechanistic responses of phosphorus-limited forests to CO2 enrichment
Co-Researchers: Ben Smith and Catriona Macdonald
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Discovery
Period: 2022-2025
Feast or famine: how Australian plants stay productive under low phosphorus
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Discovery
Period: 2021-2023
Curating museum collections for climate change mitigation
Co-Researcher: Fiona Cameron
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Linkage
Period: 2021-2023
Phosphorus cycle interactions with elevated carbon dioxide in mature forest ecosystems: stand to globe
Co-Researcher: Ben Smith, Catriona Macdonald
Partner/Funding Body: Swedish Research Council [via Lund University]
Period: 2020
Heat Testing: Anzac Parade Planter Bed for Hebe
Partner/Funding Body: National Capital Authority
Period: 2020
Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network (TERN) Co-Researcher: Matthias Boer, Elise Pendall and Brendan Choat
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment RAAP
Period: 2019
New paradigms for understanding ecosystem nutrient limitation
Partner/Funding Body: New Phytologist Trust
Period: 2019
Improvement and management of teak and sandalwood in PNG and Australia
Co-Researcher: Tony Page and Braden Jenkin
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
Period: 2019
Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network – Cumberland Plain Supersite.
Co-Researcher: Matthias Boer, Elise Pendall and Brendan Choat
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Government, Department of Industry, Research Attraction and Acceleration Program (RAAP)
Period: 2018-2022
Data-model integration for understanding nitrogen and phosphorus limitations to future forests
Co-Researchers: Mingkai Jiang
Partner/Funding Body: Australia-Germany Joint Research Co-operation (DAAD) [via the Australian Academy of Sciences]
Period: 2017-2018
Will trees get enough nitrogen to sustain productivity in elevated CO2?
Co-Researchers: Yolima Carrillo, Oula Ghannoum and Sönke Zaehle
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Discovery
Period: 2016-2018
Which plant where, when and why database for growing urban green space
Co-Researchers: Ian Anderson, Sally Power, Mark Tjoelker and Paul Rymer
Partner/funding body: Horticulture Australia Innovation and NSW Office of Environment and Heritage
Period: 2016-2021
Carbon Water Linkages for native trees under elevated CO2: A unique coupled sensor system for tree water-use efficiency
Co-Researcher: Brendan Choat
Partner/Funding Body: Campbell Scientific Australia Pty Ltd
Period: 2014
When fire and water mix: do carbon dioxide-related water savings drive woody plant thickening and fire dynamics in a grassy woodland? Co-Researchers: Matthias Boer, Victor Resco de Dios and Ross Bradstock
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Discovery
Period: 2013-2015
What will be the hydrological consequences of elevated CO2? An experimental test of the impacts of elevated CO2 on evapotranspiration in a mature Australian Woodland
Co-researcher: David Tissue
Partner/Funding Body: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Period: 2011-12
Woodland response to elevated CO2 in free air carbon dioxide enrichment: Does phosphorus limit the sink for Carbon? Co-researcher: David Tissue
Partners/Funding Body: Australian Research Council
Period: 2011-2015
Insect herbivore and plant responses in eucalypt forests under climate change at physiological, species and community scales
Co-Researcher: Markus Riegler
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Discovery
Period: 2010-2012
Forest ecosystem water use: Does species diversity matter?
Co-Researchers: Belinda Medlyn, Charles Morris and Danelia Drewry
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Linkage
Period: 2009-2011
Understanding the impact of climate change on carbon metabolism in Eucalyptus trees
Co-Researcher: David Tissue
Partner/Funding Body: University of Western Sydney
Period: 2009-2010
How will Eucalypt tree architecture and growth adapt to future atmospheric CO2 and drought? Co-Researchers: Belinda Medlyn, Gabriel Katul and Reinhardt Ceulemans
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Discovery
Period: 2008-2010
Tunable laser diode for laboratory and field measurements
Co-Researchers: Charles Warren, Mark Adams, Jann Conroy and David Tissue
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment & Facilities
Period: 2008
Trade Off between carbon sequestration in forests and water yields under rising CO2
Co-Researchers: Jann Conroy and David Tissue
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change
Period: 2007–2009
The Hawkesbury Forest Experiment: Impacts of Precipitation and CO2 on Trees
Co-Researchers: Jann Conroy, David Tissue, Ross McMurtrie, Derek Eamus, Anthony Haigh, Belinda Medlyn and Sune Linder
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Greenhouse Office
Period: 2005-2008
The Duke Forest FACE Experiment
Partner/Funding Body: U.S. DOE, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research
Period: 2001-2004 and 2004-2006
Biodiversity, carbon dioxide (CO2) and Nitrogen: Integration and interactions among plants, consumers, decomposers and mutualists
Co-Researchers: Peter Reich and D Zak
Partner/Funding Body: NSF Biocomplexity
Period: 2003-2007
Canopy conductance and CO2 uptake in response to trace gases CO2 and ozone in aspen and aspen-birch forests
Co-Researchers: M Kubiske and E MacDonald
Partner/Funding Body: U.S. DOE, National Institute for Global Environmental Change, Midwestern Regional Center
Period: 2003-2005
Plant species economics and strategy-dimensions of plant ecology
Co-Researcher: Mark Westoby
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Discovery
Period: 2003-2005
Northern Michigan forest productivity across a complex landscape
Co-Researcher: K Bergen
Partner/Funding Body: U.S.D.A. McIntire-Stennis Research Program
Period: 2002-2004
People
- Professor Matthias Boer
- Associate Professor Yolima Carrillo
- Associate Professor Chris Cazzonelli
- Professor Brendan Choat
- Professor James Cook (Theme Leader - Plants Animals and Interactions)
- Doctor Eleonora Egidi
- Professor David Ellsworth
- Doctor Manuel Esperon
- Doctor Adam Frew
- Associate Professor Rachael Gallagher
- Professor Oula Ghannoum
- Doctor Christopher Gordon
- Professor Scott Johnson
- Associate Professor Catriona Macdonald
- Doctor James Makinson
- Doctor Jessica Meade
- Distinguished Professor Belinda Medlyn (Theme Leader - Ecosystem Function and Integration)
- Associate Professor Ben Moore
- Professor Uffe Nielsen (Theme Leader - Soil Biology and Genomics)
- Associate Professor Rachael Nolan
- Associate Professor Alexie Papanicolaou
- Professor Elise Pendall
- Associate Professor Jonathan Plett
- Professor Jeff Powell
- Professor Sally Power
- Doctor Renée Marchin Prokopavicius
- Professor Markus Riegler
- Associate Professor Paul Rymer
- Doctor Demi Sargent
- Associate Professor Robert Sharwood
- Distinguished Professor Brajesh Singh
- Professor Ben Smith (Director of Research)
- Distinguished Professor David Tissue
- Professor Mark Tjoelker (Interim Director)
- Doctor Bin Wang
- Doctor Jun-Tao Wang
- Professor Justin Welbergen
- Distinguished Professor Ian Wright (Chief Scientist)
Honorary and Adjunct Appointments
