The Journal of Ecology has honoured Professor Mark Westoby by dedicating a special virtual issue in its Eminent Ecologist series to the Australian Laureate Professor, NSW Scientist of the year 2014, leader of Genes to Geoscience Research Centre at Macquarie University, and TERN board member.
“Mark is a hugely influential ecologist having published a substantial oeuvre of highly cited work covering a very wide range of subjects from self-thinning to traits shift along environmental gradients, and everything in between,” writes the journal’s editor Mark Rees.
“In recognition of his work we have selected 12 of his most influential papers published in the Journal of Ecology. To provide some context, Mark has written a number of fascinating posts for the Journal of Ecology blog, providing information on the background to the work and many people involved.”
TERN would like to extend its recognition of Mark’s significant contribution to Australian ecosystem studies. Mark’s research in the field of evolutionary ecology has played a vital role in understanding how ecosystems are influenced by the life histories and physiognomies and tissue traits of plants.
Mark has also made significant contributions to state-and-transition modelling for rangelands management, to diet selection by large herbivores, to the self-thinning rule in plant population dynamics, and to kinship coefficients and the triploid endosperm.
TERN has benefitted substantially from Prof Westoby’s expertise and input over the last 5 years and he has played an active role in shaping TERN’s future focus.
Core publications by Mark Westoby in Journal of Ecology:
Functional distinctiveness of major plant lineages
William K. Cornwell, Mark Westoby, Daniel S. Falster, Richard G. FitzJohn, Brian C. O’Meara, Matthew W. Pennell, Daniel J. McGlinn, Jonathan M. Eastman, Angela T. Moles, Peter B. Reich, David C. Tank, Ian J. Wright, Lonnie Aarssen, Jeremy M. Beaulieu, Robert M. Kooyman, Michelle R. Leishman, Eliot T. Miller, Ülo Niinemets, Jacek Oleksyn, Alejandro Ordonez, Dana L. Royer, Stephen A. Smith, Peter F. Stevens, Laura Warman, Peter Wilf and Amy E. Zanne
Alternative height strategies among 45 dicot rain forest species from tropical Queensland, Australia
Daniel S. Falster and Mark Westoby
Sprouting ability across diverse disturbances and vegetation types worldwide
Peter A. Vesk and Mark Westoby
Convergence towards higher leaf mass per area in dry and nutrient-poor habitats has different consequences for leaf lifespan
Ian J. Wright, Mark Westoby and Peter B. Reich
Shifts in trait-combinations along rainfall and phosphorus gradients
Carlos Roberto Fonseca, Jacob McC. Overton, Bronwyn Collins and Mark Westoby
Differences in seedling growth behaviour among species: trait correlations across species, and trait shifts along nutrient compared to rainfall gradients
Ian J. Wright and Mark Westoby
Continuous and episodic components of demographic change in arid zone shrubs: models of two eremophila species from Western Australia compared with published data on other species
Ian W. Watson, Mark Westoby and Alexander McR. Holm
On misinterpreting the “phylogenetic correction”
Mark Westoby, Michelle R. Leishman and Janice M. Lord
Correlates of seed size variation: a comparison among five temperate floras
Michelle R. Leishman, Mark Westoby and Enrique Jurad
Predicting dispersal spectra: a minimal set of hypotheses based on plant attributes
Lesley Hughes, Michael Dunlop, Kristine French, Michelle R. Leishman, Barbara Rice, Louise Rodgerson and Mark Westoby
Influence of population structure on self-thinning of plant populations
Mark Westoby and Jocelyn Howell
Self-thinning in trifolium subterraneum populations transferred between full daylight and shade
Mark Westoby and Jocelyn Howell
Image credit: Macquarie University
Published in TERN newsletter July 2016
