Plants, Animals and Interactions
When environmental conditions change, there are normally significant changes in the way that plants, animals and other organisms respond. Our theme explores how these changes affect the ecology and physiology of plants and animals.
We also investigate how biotic interactions between species – plants, animals and microbes – underpin ecosystems and respond to environmental change.
Our team has particular expertise in the complementary areas of eco-physiology, evolutionary ecology and species interactions. We pursue laboratory and field-based research, using both our unique experimental facilities and natural environmental gradients.
We study systems from the genomic and biochemical levels through to ecosystem-level responses to develop integrated understanding of both patterns and the underlying processes. This helps to predict and manage ecosystem functions and services across different types of landscapes, including natural woodlands, forest plantations and agricultural systems.
Our mission is to advance integrated understanding of how environmental change influences the biology of individual species, key interactions between species, and overall biodiversity and ecosystem functions.
Plants, Animals and Interactions Theme Scientists
| Position | Name | Keywords |
| Theme Leader | Prof James Cook | Species interactions, evolution, molecular ecology |
| Distinguished Professor | Dist Prof David Tissue | Plant ecophysiology, photosynthesis, climate change |
| Distinguished Professor | Dist Prof Ian Wright | Global-scale analysis of plant traits, plant ecology and evolution |
| Professor | Prof Brendan Choat | Plant ecophysiology, water transport in plants |
| Professor | Prof Oula Ghannoum | Plant ecophysiology, photosynthesis, climate change |
| Professor | Prof Markus Riegler | Insect-microbe and insect-plant interactions, molecular ecology |
| Professor | Prof Justin Welbergen | Animal ecology, flying foxes, climate change biology, extreme weather effects |
| Theme Research Coordinator | A/Prof Scott Johnson | Multitrophic species interactions, insects and climate |
| Associate Professor | A/Prof Ben Moore | Plant-animal interactions, chemical ecology |
| Associate Professor | A/Prof Paul Rymer | Population genomics, evolutionary ecology |
| Associate Professor | A/Prof Robert Spooner-Hart | |
| Senior Lecturer | Dr Chris Cazzonelli | Molecular biology, genomics, epigenetics, RNA regulation, riboswitches, secondary metabolism, carotenoids |
| Senior Lecturer | Dr Robert Sharwood | |
| Lecturer | Dr Jessica Meade | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Sitaram Aryal | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Eli Bendall | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Travis Britton | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Hannah Carle | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Sachin Chavan | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Shubham Chhajed | |
| Research Fellow | Mr Jihong Han | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Vinod Jacob | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Alihan Katlav | |
| Research Fellow | Dr James Makinson | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Jennifer Morrow | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Jennifer Peters | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Demi Sargent | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Emma Sumner | |
| Research Fellow | Dr Nicholas Wu |