Professor Mark Westoby
Plant Ecologist
Department of Biological Sciences
Mark trained in Forestry and Natural Resources (Edinburgh University) and Wildlife Ecology (Utah State University). Since coming to Australia he has worked mainly on plant ecology, on the basis that plants are the most important influence on the structure of land ecosystems.
Through most of his time at Macquarie Mark has taught ecology and evolution at second and third years. He also established Macquarie’s Advanced Biology program. For a while he taught ecology in relation to genetic engineering, and served on the Commonwealth Genetic Manipulation Advisory Committee. Currently he serves on the Academy Committee on Plant and Animal Sciences and on the Board of Directors of iPlant, a US/NSF campaign towards integration across the plant sciences. He organises a yearly 1-day research course for postgrads Australia-wide, in association with Ecol Soc Aust and Aust Evol Soc.
From 2005-9 Mark’s undergraduate teaching role is replaced by a role as leader of the ARC Research Network for Vegetation Function. The other half of his time is spent with his own research group. The group works on ecological strategy variation across species at a world scale. A long-term project towards an Evolutionary Ecology Vegetation Model is beginning. Mark would like to start a project to catalogue and quantify the world’s entire potential niche space. Closer to home, Mark arranged for the Biology Courtyard to be fitted out with shades and seating and would like to arrange for a wood-fired oven in the Courtyard.
Mark’s main claim to fame is through the postgrads and postdocs who have emerged from his lab. Thirty-five of them have won continuing positions on university faculties or in CSIRO. Some are at Macquarie. Lesley Hughes leads the Climate Risk CORE. Michelle Leishman leads the Plant Invasion and Restoration Ecology Lab. Ian Wright (still a postdoc) was named in 2008 as one of the 10 leading scientists in all fields in Australia, based on citation impact.
Mark Westoby at a canopy walkway in Western Australia, with Barbara Rice
(Hon Assoc at Macquarie, married to Mark) and Anna Richards
(now at
CSIRO
in Darwin)