I am a passionate botanist and ecologist. I am interested in plant ecology, evolution, and conservation. At the minute I am particularly interested in plant-soil interactions, parasites of plants, evolutionary genetics, and adaptation to urban environments.
Skills
- I have a good knowledge of the Irish and British flora, with over five years experience of casual recording for the BSBI. In recent years I have recorded much more intensively and systematically, including taking on a project to record the flora of islands in Strangford Lough.
- I have experience with Stace and other keys.
- I am passionate about improving my skills and have recently been trying to learn and record sedges and eyebrights where I find them.
- A notable recent plant record was the first record of Spiranthes spiralis in Ulster, found by mum while out on a walk and identified by me. This received some minor press attention including being covered by BBC News.
- I also have developed an interest in plant-parasitic pathogens and galls and have been making an effort to record these, including the first record of Plasmopara euphrasiae in Ireland.
- I have some experience casually mentoring people in plant identification and also ran a New Year’s Plant Hunt in Belfast last year. I plan to run some days out next summer with Wild Belfast, a wildlife advocacy group I am involved in.
- I have a good knowledge of both R and python. I regularly use R for data analysis and visualisation. I have used python for climate modelling as part of a university course and have also constructed a dynamic spatial species competition model.
- I have a good knowledge of Microsoft Office, ImageJ, GNU Image Manipulation Program, and creating and editing websites with WordPress and HTML.
- I am passionate about science communication and run a blog where I write about my work.
Research Projects
2022 – : Plants of Strangford Islands (see poster summary here)
- I have been systematically recording the flora of islands in Strangford Lough. So far I have visited twelve islands.
- I have begun to analyse these data from an island biogeography perspective and hope to publish my preliminary work next year, as well as continuing with fieldwork.
2023: Dynamic spatial model of a hemiparasite and its hosts (see summary here)
- I replicated a paper from 2009 by Cameron et al., which modelled the population dynamics of Yellow Rattle, grasses, and forbs in a simulated grassland.
- I improved the visualisation of the model and the simulation of seed dispersal.
- I have begun to work on an accessible resource about the use of Yellow Rattle in species-rich grassland creation, including a figure explaining population dynamics based on the output of my model.
2023: Urban flora of Belfast
- I am particularly interested in recent non-native introductions. I have found several new species to County Down and rediscovered one not seen since pre-1930.
- So far I have just been casually recording but I plan to systematise this with transects.
- I am a member of Wild Belfast, a wildlife advocacy group. I plan to train and encourage others to record urban plants in Belfast by running field days with this group. I want to encourage people’s connection to nature in their area and improve our knowledge of the many non-native species being introduced.
[uni] November 2022 – March 2023: eDNA work with flora of Tristan da Cunha (vegetation history)
- I worked with an eDNA dataset from sediment cores from Tristan da Cunha. I worked on summarising the dataset taxonomically and improving methods for species identification.
[uni] March 2023: a three-day mini project comparing plant parasite and host physiology in a grassland in Portugal (see writeup here)
- We used apparatus including a Scholander pressure bomb and PAM fluorometer to measure and compare ecophysiological characteristics of two parasitic plant species and their host.
[uni] September 2023 – January 2024: The effect of disturbance along trails on the ground flora of Danum Valley Conservation Area, Sabah, Borneo
- Recording and identifying terrestrial ferns and lycophytes.
- Analysing the effect of disturbance along trails:
- Does species richness change?
- Does community composition change?
- What other environmental factors affect these?
Field Assistant Roles
July 2022: Stromatolites – EpStromNet
- I assisted with fieldwork investigating modern stromatolites on the coast of Sligo. I helped with the microbial ecology work, taking PAM photosynthesis measurements and taking samples for genetic analysis.
June 2023: Fen soil carbon flux – Centre for Landscape Regeneration
- I assisted with soil sample collection for a day in November 2022.
- For three weeks in June 2023 I designed an experiment to test the effect of plant-soil interactions on soil carbon cycling and helped with sample preparation for chemical analysis.
Education
Currently studying BA Natural Sciences 2021-2024 at Trinity Hall, Cambridge:
- high Second class in first year
- 2.i in second year
Secondary Education 2013-2021 at Grosvenor Grammar School, Belfast:
- A-levels: 3 A*s in Maths, Further Maths, Biology; A in Spanish
- GCSEs: (6 A*s, 4 As, 2 Bs)