Biological Sciences

Biodiversity

This group takes a 'whole organism' perspective of biodiversity that ranges from anatomical studies to taxonomy in a context of biogeography and practical applications.

Special emphasis is laid on the prospecting for novel natural products and, with the Human Impact Group, on the use of organisms for monitoring environmental perturbations. The team has a particularly well-established reputation in fungal and marine macroalgal taxonomy.

Staff in the School are at the forefront of international research on a number of biodiversity topics from the molecular to the ecosystem/community level. Details of specific staff research interests are available on their personal page (see below) or you can contact them directly, but a selection of more detailed research areas are also listed below

Tropical Botany and Ecology

Plant Evolutionary Biology and Ecology

Summary Of Staff Research Interests

  • Professor Scott Armbruster
    • Evolution and ecology of plant-insect interactions
    • Quantitative genetics
    • Biogeography
    • Tropical conservation biology
    • Biological consequences of forest fragmentation>
  • Dr Simon Cragg, Principal Lecturer
    • Marine wood borers
    • Protection of wood in the sea
    • Impact of biocides used in wood protection on marine invertebrates
    • Bivalve larvae
    • Mangrove ecology in relation to the utilisation and the breakdown of wood  
  • Dr Bill Farnham, Part-time Lecturer
    • Phycology: invasive species, floristic of Azorean seaweeds
    • Changes in marine algae of the solent region
  • Dr. Paul Farrell, Research Fellow 
    • PhD research on the ecology and distribution of an alga (Undaria pinnatifida), first introduced into the UK via the Solent in 1994
    • Aquaculture
    • Surveys of marine flora and fauna
    • Environmental impact assessments
  • Dr Bob Fletcher, Reader in Marine Environmental Sciences
    • Taxonomy and systematics of the Brown Algae
    • Fouling / antifouling studies
    • Pollution studies
  • Dr Julian Mitchell, Senior Lecturer
    • Molecular systematics of marine fungi
    • Molecular systematics of fungi pathogenic on insects
    • Molecular studies on the marine protist Thraustochytrium roseum and polyunsaturated fatty acid production
    • Degradation of industrial toxic waste in gravel bed hydroponics systems
  • Dr Andrew Powling, Senior Lecturer
    • The botany and ethnobotany of South East Asia
    • Medicinal plants and palms
  • Dr Gordon Watson, Senior Lecturer
    • Environmental and endocrine control of reproduction in marine invertebrate
    • Ecotoxicology
    • Effects of pollutants and other human impacts (bate collection) on invertebrate reproduction
    • The role of chemical signalling in marine invertebrates