ProfessorGuy Woodward
Professor of Ecology
Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park) - Faculty of Natural Sciences
Orcid identifier0000-0001-6158-2559 (opens in a new tab)
- Professor of EcologyDepartment of Life Sciences (Silwood Park) - Faculty of Natural Sciences
- Munro, Silwood Park, United Kingdom
RESEARCH
Research areas
My main research areas are focused on the impacts of environmental stressors - across scales in time and space and over the spectrum of organisational levels - from molecules to ecosystems. This is primarily centred upon aquatic systems, and freshwaters in particular, but it also covers the terrestrial realm and agro-ecosystems too.
The five major stressors I have focused on to date include:
1. Acidification
2. Climate change
3. Land-use and habitat loss and fragmentation
4. Chemical pollutants, including biocides (e.g., antimicrobials and pesticides)
5. Invasive species
Increasingly, I am also interested in not just how these operate in isolation, but how they interact with one another and how these pressures are also then mediated through species interactions in the food web - which can lead to outcomes that cannot be predicted from trasdtional lab-based ecotoxicoilogy or biomonotoring approaches. Examples of such "ecological surprises" include the unexpected boosting of freshwater fish production under warming; the depression of invertebrate abundance as systems recover from acidification; algal blooms triggered by pesticide spills; plus newly emerging evidence that biocide impacts are strongly contingent on the thermal regime within which they operate. These "surprises" and non-additive effects create huge challenges for both basic and applied science, and also for policy - where such synergies and indirect effects are effectively ignored, even though they may be the dominant ways by which stressors are manifested in the real world. Much of my work is now focused on trying to bridge the "reality gap" between traditional approaches and what is actually occurring in natural systems, with a view to developing a more predictive framework for anticipating and managing multiple stressors in a rapidly changing world. Part of that also underpins my interest in developing a more evidence-based and informed approach to conservation, rewilding and restoration ecology - most of which is still done with little to no consideration of the ecosystem-level consequences of such interventions - which can often lead to undesirable outcomes.
My main research areas are focused on the impacts of environmental stressors - across scales in time and space and over the spectrum of organisational levels - from molecules to ecosystems. This is primarily centred upon aquatic systems, and freshwaters in particular, but it also covers the terrestrial realm and agro-ecosystems too.
The five major stressors I have focused on to date include:
1. Acidification
2. Climate change
3. Land-use and habitat loss and fragmentation
4. Chemical pollutants, including biocides (e.g., antimicrobials and pesticides)
5. Invasive species
Increasingly, I am also interested in not just how these operate in isolation, but how they interact with one another and how these pressures are also then mediated through species interactions in the food web - which can lead to outcomes that cannot be predicted from trasdtional lab-based ecotoxicoilogy or biomonotoring approaches. Examples of such "ecological surprises" include the unexpected boosting of freshwater fish production under warming; the depression of invertebrate abundance as systems recover from acidification; algal blooms triggered by pesticide spills; plus newly emerging evidence that biocide impacts are strongly contingent on the thermal regime within which they operate. These "surprises" and non-additive effects create huge challenges for both basic and applied science, and also for policy - where such synergies and indirect effects are effectively ignored, even though they may be the dominant ways by which stressors are manifested in the real world. Much of my work is now focused on trying to bridge the "reality gap" between traditional approaches and what is actually occurring in natural systems, with a view to developing a more predictive framework for anticipating and managing multiple stressors in a rapidly changing world. Part of that also underpins my interest in developing a more evidence-based and informed approach to conservation, rewilding and restoration ecology - most of which is still done with little to no consideration of the ecosystem-level consequences of such interventions - which can often lead to undesirable outcomes.