Christine Sheppard

Research Focus

I am broadly interested in the dynamics of plant diversity under global change, with a research focus on plant invasions and biotic interactions. Invasions by alien species are both fascinating and of great importance because they pose major threats to biodiversity, but also act as a natural experiment providing many insights about ecological and evolutionary processes. My main research objectives include: i) understanding biotic interactions between alien plants and native communities, including plants, pollinators, herbivores or soil organisms, as well as among multiple invaders; ii) predicting the long-term dynamics of plant invasions, such as changes in invasion success and biotic resistance by native communities; and iii) testing potential synergistic effects of plant invasions with various other factors of global change, such as climate change. To obtain generalisations on eco-evolutionary dynamics of alien and native plants, my research takes a functional trait approach and combines large comparative multi-species experiments with macroecological analyses.