Lydia White

Research interests

I am interested in the community ecology of benthic systems, in particular understanding the abiotic and biotic drivers that underpin community dynamics of benthic invertebrates. I am interested in how organisms cope with their changing marine environment and understanding their responses to environmental drivers and biodiversity loss. Using intertidal rocky shore communities as a model system, my research will investigate the relationship between biodiversity and stability, as measured by resistance and resilience. I will use experimental manipulations of vertical diversity coupled with artificial disturbances to measure changes in community composition and recovery rates. I also aim to explore the relationship between diversity within and among trophic levels and how they affect different components of ecological stability. I also hope to explore how these relationships vary with environmental context.