Professor Jennifer Firn
From grasslands to tropical forests: understanding the implications of pervasive environmental change on plant populations, plant communities and local people. I am a restoration ecologist who specializes in studying ecological theory and then linking these theoretical constructs to the practical management of grasslands and tropical forests. The driving motivation in my Academic career is to find smarter, cheaper and more sustainable ways of restoring degraded plant communities, whether that be grasslands or forests. Globally, unsustainable land use has led to the degradation of many valuable ecosystems and the loss of irreplaceable biodiversity. My research and the research of my HDR students focuses on developing a better understanding of how the loss of native biodiversity impacts on ecosystems and subsequently finding better ways to bring it back.