I am an ecologist with a strong interest in the field of Global Change Biology. In my research I ask: where and why is our world changing and what are the implications for living systems and human well-being? To answer those big questions, I take an empirical approach, using functional traits and biophysical principles to unravel the complexities of community structure and global biodiversity distribution in space and time.

My early research had a strong conservation focus. I investigated the interplay of feral cats and fire, twin threats to small mammals across the northern savannahs of Australia. I then worked in the conservation field for a few years on diverse projects. For example, I managed a project studying how life-history traits and human-wildlife conflict are driving the extinction of parrots in Caribbean islands.

In recent years my research focus has turned to climate change and thermal ecology; I have been climbing to the canopy of tropical rainforests to study the ant communities that live there. That research project - my PhD study, investigated how climatic variability at different spatial and temporal scales interacts to shape climate change vulnerability. I concluded the study by examining the implications for biodiversity management priorities.

My current post-doctoral research delves further into functional trait ecology, drawing on parallels between plants and ant colonies. I aim to move trait-based science further towards a general theory of ecological strategies. This would help unite theory across taxonomic kingdoms. In the ARC-funded research project where I am currently working as a post-doctoral fellow, our team is using the biophysical principles that unite all life on earth - metabolic processes that convert energy and resources from the environment into growth, survival, and reproduction - as a starting point to discover how we can add other functional traits to the picture. Our innovative take on the problem promises to provide the research community with better tools to predict community responses in the face of global climate change and its effects.