Professor Jane Catford

Professor Jane Catford is a plant community ecologist with an interest in community assembly, biological invasions, environmental change and biodiversity. She has worked in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems across the world, and uses theoretical, quantitative and empirical approaches in her work. She has established and maintains long-term field experiments in the US, UK and Australia, and collaborates widely.

She joined the Department of Geography in September 2018. Before moving to King’s, she was a Lecturer in Community Ecology at the University of Southampton. From 2012-2016, she held a research fellowship with the Australian Research Council and worked at The University of Melbourne, University of Minnesota and Australian National University.

She has worked as a consultant on projects involving: the prediction and management of exotic plant invasion; river health and environmental flow assessments; river restoration and rehabilitation; water sensitive urban design and the design of constructed wetlands.

She is an Editor for the journals Conservation Letters, Journal of Ecology and Neobiota, and is a member of the British Ecological Society's Publications Committee.

Qualifications

• BA/BSc (Honours), Monash University, Australia
• PGCAP, University of Southampton, UK
• PhD, University of Melbourne, Australia

See her full profile on janecatford.com. 

Research

• Causes and consequences of biological invasions
• Using plant functional traits to understand responses to, and impacts of, global environmental change
• Prediction and management of novel ecosystems
• Community assembly, species coexistence and biodiversity
• Ecosystem restoration and management
• Ecosystem services (especially in rivers, wetlands, riparian zones and grasslands)
• Ecological impacts of global environmental change, including climate change, river regulation and nitrogen deposition

Teaching

PhD supervision

Jane welcomes interested students to contact her about potential projects. 

Principal supervisor

• Angela Bartlett
• Abigail Mabey
• Junru Shen

Second supervisor

• Stefanie Kaupa
• Luis Moliner Cachazo
• Harry Shepherd
• Sarah Fischer

Further details

See Jane's research profile