Latest Publication
Demographic Amplification is a Predictor of Invasiveness Among Plants
Breakthrough in the battle against invasive plants . New research by one of our ecologists, Dr Kim Jelbert (lead author) and a team of scientists across Europe.
“What we found was a real surprise’ says Professor Dave Hodgson (senior author). Invasive plant populations grow fast in their invaded range, but not in their native range. So you can’t use population growth to predict invasiveness. However, invasive plant species have an amazing ability to ‘bounce back’ from disturbances, and we can see this in both their native range and their invaded range”.
Dr Kim Jelbert, lead author of the paper, said: “The kinds of species that bounce back from disturbance tend to be species that produce lots of seeds from large flowers. This is a real problem, because large flowers are popular with gardeners all over the world. These species should not be traded internationally”.
“We also discovered patterns of ancestry. Close relatives of invasive plants are also likely to be invasive if they escape their native range.”
Demographic Amplification is a Predictor of Invasiveness Among Plants Jelbert, K., et al., (2019). Nature communications, 10(5602):.
Previous Publications
Defining conservation units with enhanced molecular tools to reveal fine scale structuring among Mediterranean green turtle rookeries. Bradshaw, P.J., Broderick, A.C., Carreras, C., Fuller, W., Snape, R.T.E., Wright, L.I., Godley, B.J. (2018). Biological conservation, 222: 253-260.
Mitochondrial DNA short tandem repeats unveil hidden population structuring and migration routes of an endangered marine turtle. Tikochinski, Y., Bradshaw, P.J., Mastrogiacomo, A., Broderick, A.C., Daya, A., Demetropoulos, A., Demetropoulos, S., Eliades, N.G., Fuller, W., Godley, B.J., Kaska, Y., Levy, Y., Snape, R.T.E., Wright, L.I., Carreras, C. (2018). Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 28 (4): 788-797.
Divergent demographic strategies of plants in variable environments. McDonald J.L., Franco, M., Townley, S., Ezard, T.H., Jelbert, K. and Hodgson, D.J. (2017). Nature ecology & evolution, 1(2):0029.7
Invasiveness of plants is predicted by size and fecundity in the native range. Jelbert et al., (2015). Ecology Evolution, 5(10):1933-1943.
No benefits of polyandry to female green turtles. Wright et al., (2013). Behavioral Ecology, 24(4):1022-1029
Reconstruction of paternal genotypes over multiple breeding seasons reveals male green turtles do not breed annually. Wright et al., (2012). Molecular Ecology, 21: 3625–3635.
Turtle mating patterns buffer against disruptive effects of climate change. Wright et al., (2012). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences, 279: 2122-2127.
Inbreeding, inbreeding depression and extinction. Wright, L. I., Tregenza, T., Hosken, D. J. (2008). Conservation Genetics, 9: 833-843.
Inbreeding and population dynamics; implications for conservation strategies. McGowan, A., Wright, L. I., Hunt, J. (2007). Animal Conservation, 10: 284-285.