Research interests
Research interests
The primary research focus is on aboveground and belowground ecology, linkages between aboveground and belowground communities, and the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. This research is focused on laboratory, glasshouse and field studies in both natural and managed ecosystems, and much of the field work is performed in New Zealand rainforests and in subarctic Swedish tundra and boreal forest communities.
Selected publications
Wardle, D.A., Walker, L.R. and Bardgett, R.D. (2004). Ecosystem properties and forest decline in contrasting long-term chronosequences. Science 305: 509-513.
Wardle, D.A., Bardgett, R.D., Klironomos, J.N., Setälä, H., Van der Putten, W.H. and Wall, D.H. (2004) Ecological linkages between aboveground and belowground biota. Science 304: 1629-1633.
Wardle, D.A. and Bardgett, R.D. (2004) Human-induced changes in densities of large herbivorous mammals: consequences for the decomposer subsystem. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2: 145-153.
Wardle, D.A., Yeates, G.W., Barker, G.M., Bellingham, P.J., Bonner, K.I. and Williamson, W. (2003) Island biology and ecosystem functioning in epiphytic soil communities. Science 301: 1717-1720.
Wardle, D.A., Hörnberg, G., Zackrisson, O., Kalela-Brundin, M., and Coomes, D.A., (2003) Long term effects of wildfire on ecosystem properties across an island area gradient. Science 300: 972-975.
Bardgett, R.D. and Wardle, D.A. (2003) Herbivore mediated linkages between aboveground and belowground communities. Ecology 84: 2258-2268.
Wardle, D.A., Bonner, K.I., and Barker, G.M. (2002). Linkages between plant litter decomposition, litter quality, and vegetation responses to herbivores. Functional Ecology 16: 585-595.
Ettema, C., and Wardle, D.A. (2002) Spatial soil ecology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17: 177-183.
Wardle, D.A., Barker, G.M., Yeates, G.W., Bonner, K.I., and Ghani, A. (2001). Introduced browsing mammals in natural New Zealand forests: aboveground and belowground consequences. Ecological Monographs 71: 587-614.
Loreau, M., Naeem, S., Inchausti, P., Bengtsson, J., Grime, J. P., Hector, A., Hooper, D.U., Huston, M.A., Raffaelli, D., Schmid, B., Tilman, D., and Wardle, D.A. (2001) Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: current knowledge and future challenges. Science 294: 804-808.
Wardle, D.A., Bonner, K.I., Barker, G.M., Yeates, G.W., Nicholson, K.S., Bardgett, R.D., Watson, R.N. and Ghani, A. (1999). Plant removals in perennial grassland: vegetation dynamics, decomposers, soil biodiversity and ecosystem properties. Ecological Monographs 69: 535-568.
Wardle, D.A., Zackrisson, O., Hörnberg, G. and Gallet, C. (1997). Influence of island area on ecosystem properties. Science 277: 1296-1299.
Wardle, D.A., Zackrisson, O., Hörnberg, G. and Gallet, C. (1997) Biodiversity and ecosystem properties. Science 278: 1867-1869.
Qualifications
Calgary
PhD Soil Ecology Biol Science
1990
Canterbury
BSc (Hons) Botany
1985
Publications
Wardle DA 2011. Belowground phenomena. In: Simberloff D, Rejmánek M ed. Encylclopedia of biological invasions. Encyclopedia of the natural world. 3. Berkeley, University of California Press. Pp. 54-57
Schmidt S, Mulder CP, Ellis J, Bellingham P, Cameron E, Croll D, Jones H, Kameda K, Kolb G, Kueffer C, Mittelhauser G, Orrock J, Palmborg C, Vidal E, Wait A, Wardle D, Yang L, Young H 2010. Global analysis of biogeochemistry and plant communities of seabird islands. Proceedings: 1st World Seabird Conference, Victoria, B.C., Canada, 7-11 September 2010.
Peltzer DA, Bellingham PJ, Fukami T, Kurokawa H, R. WL, Wardle DA, Yeates GW 2010. [Abstract] Biotic indirect effects of plant invaders : small things matter! Proceedings: Biodiversity : 2010 and beyond : programme and abstracts, University of Otago, Dunedin, 22-25 November 2010. Pp. 98.
Wardle DA, Karl BJ, Beggs JR, Yeates GW, Williamson WM, Bonner KI 2010. Determining the impact of scale insect honeydew, and invasive wasps and rodents, on the decomposer subsystem in a New Zealand beech forest. Biological invasions 12(8): 2619-2638. CCC:000279682800022
Bardgett RD, Wardle DA 2010. Aboveground-belowground linkages : biotic interactions, ecosystem processes, and global change. Oxford series in ecology and evolution. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 320 p
Memberships
- Editorial Board (and Chief editor until December 2003) New Zealand Journal of Ecology , New Zealand Journal of Ecology
- Adjunct Professorship, School of Biological Sciences, University of
Canterbury - Editorial Board of Pedobiologia
- Professor of Ecology (50% time), Department of Forest Vegetation Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences,Umea, Sweden , Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Reviewer for >60 journals including Science and Nature
- Board of Reviewing Editors (2009-), Science
- Board of Editors, Ecology
- Board of Editors, Ecological Monographs
- Editorial Board, Ideas in Ecology and Evolution