Ian Donohue
Professor, Head of School of Natural Sciences
Email: ian.donohue[at]tcd.ie
Tel: + 353 1 896 1356
Ian on Twitter [@donohueian]
Editor for Ecology Letters
Member of the European Environment Agency Scientific Committee
Funded Investigator at the SFI Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water
Funded Investigator at CONNECT, the SFI Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications
Funded Investigator at MaREI, the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine Research and Innovation
Research Interests
I use theory and experiments to explore how biological networks respond to perturbations. The overarching aim of my research is to understand and predict how key elements of global change alter the functioning and stability of ecosystems.
An important goal of my research is to bridge the gaps between theoretical, empirical and applied ecology. My field research focuses mainly on aquatic ecosystems (both marine and freshwater), although more recently my approach to research combines theory, experimental and observational work in the field and laboratory experiments using multitrophic microbial communities.
Some recent publications
- Gutgesell et al. (2024) The productivity-stability trade-off in global food systems. Nature Ecology & Evolution. Online early. Full version available at https://rdcu.be/dSOQh.
- MacDougall et al. (2024) Widening global variability in grassland biomass since the 1980s. Nature Ecology & Evolution. Online early. Full version available at https://rdcu.be/dSOQh.
- Ross et al. (2024) Divergent ecological responses to typhoon disturbance revealed via landscape-scale acoustic monitoring. Global Change Biology 30: e17067.
- Chen et al. (2023) Multidimensional responses of grassland stability to eutrophication. Nature Communications 14: 6375.
- Keith et al. (2022) A function-based typology of Earth's ecosystems. Nature 610: 513-518.
- Ross et al. (2022) Predators mitigate the destabilising effects of heatwaves on multitrophic stream communities. Global Change Biology 28: 403-416.
- Ross, S.R.P-J., Arnoldi, J.F., Loreau, M., White, C.D., Stout, J.C., Jackson, A.L. & Donohue, I. (2021) Universal scaling of robustness of ecosystem services to species loss. Nature Communications 12: 5167.
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Borer et al. (2020) Nutrients cause grassland biomass to outpace herbivory. Nature Communications 11: 6036.
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White, L., O'Connor, N.E., Yang, Q., Emmerson, M.C. & Donohue, I. (2020) Individual species provide multifaceted contributions to the stability of ecosystems. Nature Ecology & Evolution 4: 1594–1601.
Full text available at https://rdcu.be/b8pp9
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Hillebrand et al. (2020) Thresholds for ecological responses to global change do not emerge from empirical data. Nature Ecology & Evolution 4: 1502–1509.
Full text available at rdcu.be/b6jI8
Covered by: The Irish Times, Irish Independent
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