Organisms and Environment
The Organisms and Environment research division focuses on the biology of whole organisms and their roles and interactions in changing ecosystems, in infection and health and at the genetic level. Our aim is to understand the ecological, health and genetic consequences of environmental change on biological diversity. Our approach is to focus on processes and prediction, combining ecological, experimental and molecular approaches, in contrasting groups of organisms. All the major groups are studied, including animals, plants, and microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, protozoa, and fungi. Research areas are broadly divided into three areas:
- Genomes, Diversity and Adaptation
- Individuals, Ecosystems and Global Change
- Microbes, Infection and Communities
PhD projects tend to be multidisciplinary in nature, and range from field ecology to experimental microbiology to population genomics. The group has a field centre in Sabah, Malaysia and O&E faculty are also responsible for maintaining the School’s Molecular Biology and Analytical support facilities. In this large and lively research division, many projects are run in collaboration with Universities and Research Institutes elsewhere in the UK and abroad as well as with other departments (such as Earth and Ocean Sciences, Chemistry, Engineering, Social Sciences, City and Regional Planning) within the University.
Research Areas
- Microbial and soil ecology
- Microbial communities in sediments and the deep sub-seafloor
- Endangered species research
- Genomics, metagenomics, population and environmental genetics of plants, animals and microbes
- Ecotoxicology in aquatic and terrestrial environments
- Community ecology including pest management
- Interactions between organisms and their food resources
- Behavioural and evolutionary ecology
- Chemical ecology, waste management and bioremediation
- Population dynamics in freshwater and terrestrial systems
- Predator-prey and host-parasite interactions
- Epidemiology and pathogenesis, including medically important bacteria.
Professor Michael W. Bruford (Research Division Leader)
Molecular ecology, conservation biology, adaptation
Professor Andy Weightman (Deputy Research Division Leader)
Genetic adaptation of microbes to environmental challenges, sub-surface molecular microbiology, molecular systematics and metagenomics
Dr Gabrielle Archard
Behavioural ecology, particularly in fishes; links between behaviour, stress physiology and host-parasite dynamics
Dr Colin Berry
Enzyme targets for antiparasitic drugs. Insecticidal protein toxins from Bacillus species
Dr Kelly BéruBé
Toxicogenomics of airborne pollutants
Professor Lynne Boddy
Fungal community ecology, forest pathology, use of neural networks in species identification
Dr Jo Cable
Host-parasite interactions, molecular and behavioural ecology
Dr Elizabeth Chadwick
Cardiff University Otter Project
Dr Stuart Davies
Ecological genetics, physiological plant ecology
Dr Martin Day
Microbial genetics, horizontal gene transfer
Dr Isabelle Durance
Ecosystem ecology, landscape ecology, sustainability
Dr Peter Ferns
Evolutionary ecology, environmental ecology, conservation biology, avian biology
Dr Benoit Goossens
Molecular evolution, molecular ecology and behavioural ecology
Dr Sian Griffiths
Fish biology, behavioural ecology
Dr Mark Jervis
Insect ecology, evolution and diversity, life-history strategies
Dr Hefin Jones
Community ecology, climate change, entomology, microbial/soil ecology
Dr Rhys Jones
Herpetology
Dr Peter Kille
Heavy metal stress, metallobiology, eco-toxico-genomics
Dr Joanne Lello
Co-infection biology, host pathogen relationships, community ecology
Professor David Lloyd
Eukaryotic microbiology, control of energy metabolism; oscillations, rhythms and clocks
Professor Esh Mahenthiralingam (Divisional Postgraduate Tutor)
Infectious diseases epidemiology and molecular pathogenesis, ecology of opportunistic pathogens, genomics
Dr Julian Marchesi
Microbiology of the gut, bioactive agents from marine sponges
Dr Andy Morby
Microbes and metals, Cyclic di-GMP signalling and bacterial stress responses
Professor John Morgan
Toxicology, environmental ecology
Dr Carsten Müller
Chemical ecology, environmental chemistry, waste management
Professor Steve Ormerod
River catchment ecology and avian biology
Dr Sarah Perkins
Ecology of wildlife diseases, network science, real-time dynamics of infections using reporters, invasive species of ecology
Dr Peter Randerson
Landscape ecology
Dr Julia Sanchez Vilas
Ecology and evolution of plant sexual systems, sexual dimorphism, cost of reproduction, plant responses to stress, plant ecophysiology, plant population dynamics
Dr Fred Slater
Landscape ecology
Professor Bill Symondson
Community ecology, predator prey relationships, pest management
Dr Rob Thomas
Avian behaviour, ecosystems and climate
Dr Ian Vaughan
River catchment ecology, biostatistics