Research

Current research topics include:

The relative importance of natural selection, stochastic population dynamics and within-lake dispersal on the composition and diversity of phytoplankton communities. The development of individual trait-based approaches to biodiversity, using flow-cytometry derived morpho-physiological traits and ad-hoc statistical methods. The understanding of environmental drivers of phytoplankton biodiversity based on high-frequency and long-term monitoring.

• The investigation of drivers of cyanobacterial blooms and toxicity, and the possible physiological and ecological roles of cyanobacterial toxins in the producing organisms.
• The development of experimental approaches based on field mesocosms to increase ecological realism in environmental risk assessment of chemicals.
• The characterisation of short-term temporal individual / population responses, and trans-generational population / community effects to chemical mixtures.
• The study of interaction between (and relative importance of) pollution and natural environmental gradients on natural phytoplankton communities.
• Scaling / partition of effects and responses to stressors across levels of biological complexity, including the relative importance of physiological, evolutionary and ecological responses to micropollutants in natural phytoplankton communities.
• Effects of biodiversity on the environmental fate of chemical pollutants.