Research interests
- Game-theoretic models for vegetation structure
- SMA statistical software
- DNA repair genes and evolution of cancer
- Bioeconomics of cod fisheries
- Plant height strategies
- Plant architecture and light interception
Game-theoretic models for vegetation structure
This is the title of my PhD, which I started in March 06, supervised by Mark Westoby at Macquarie University. Some of my current projects include an "Evolutionary model for plant succession" in collaboration with Åke Brännström and Ulf Dieckmann from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Vienna), and "A general model for the scaling of offspring size and adult size" (with Anegla Moles, accepted at American Naturalist).
In addition to my PhD work I am involved in several other projects where I use modeling to understand plant growth strategies. These include studies on the coordination of xylem and wood properties (with Amy Zanne), coordination between leaf and stem properties (with Mark Westoby), and the effects of leaf ageing on photosynthetic budgets (with Peter Reich).
Together with David Warton (UNSW) and Ian Wright (Macquarie) I developed a program called SMATR, a freely-available program used for fitting bivariate lines to data and for making inferences about such lines. See our 2006 publication, or click Click here for more information about the program.
SMATR has been used in over 25 publications!
I have ongoing projects together with Jarle Breivik from the Medical Faculty at the University of Oslo (Norway) investigating the effect of DNA repair genes on the occurrence of simple sequence repeats in genomes of various organisms.
Bioeconomics of cod fisheries in Barents Sea
During 2004-5 I worked together with Nils Christian Stenseth and members of CEES on bioeconomic models of cod fisheries in the Barents Sea.
This work was completed during 2002-2003 as part of my MSc, supervised by Mark Westoby at Macquarie University. The focus of my thesis was the comparative ecology of plant height. Amongst coexisting species maximum height can range over 4 orders of magnitude. My research quantified the relationship between species maximum height and properties of the stem and leaves at three study sites.
Thesis abstract and corresponding publications.
The way in which plants arrange their leaves has important consequences for light interception, self-shading and carbon gain. During 2000-2001 I investigated inter-specific differences in light interception due to leaf angle and shading within branches. To do this I combined 3D-digitising technology with the simulation software Yplant developed by Bob Pearcy (UC Davis). Ongoing work aims to:
- quantify age-related declines in the carbon budgets of individual leaves among 10 woody species differing in leaf lifespan (collaborators: Peter Reich, David Ellsworth and others).
- compare size-related changes in light interception efficiency between gymnosperms and angiosperms (with Chris Lusk).
Falster, D.S. & Westoby, M. (2003) Leaf size and angle vary widely across species: what consequences for light interception? New Phytologist 158:, 509-525 [link]
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