Professor Emmerson's research combines theoretical and empirical approaches in the study of ecological systems. He is a broad based community ecologist studying the consequences of biodiversity loss for the provision of ecosystem services. He has worked in marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems with a unifying focus on food webs and biodiversity at multiple trophic levels.
His research aims to combine classic and novel food web theory with the study of diversity, stability and ecosystem functioning. His research ranges from the applied to the fundamental, from the role of farming in wildlife conservation through to the effects of species body size on food web structure and functioning.
Selected Publications
Donohue, I., Petchey, O. L., Montoya, J. M., Jackson, A. L., McNally, L., Viana, M., Healy, K., Lurgi, M., O'Connor, N. & Emmerson, M. (2013). On the dimensionality of ecological stability. Ecology Letters, 16(4): 421-429.
O'Connor, N., Emmerson, M., Crowe, T. P. & Donohue, I. (2013). Distinguishing between direct and indirect effects of predators in complex ecosystems. Journal of Animal Ecology, 82(2): p. 438-448. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.12001.
Barrios-O'Neill, D., Dick, J., Emmerson, M., Ricciardi, A., MacIsaac, H., Alexander, M. & Bovy, H. (2013). Fortune favours the bold: a higher predator reduces the impact of a native but not an invasive intermediate predator. Journal of Animal Ecology, doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.12155.
Vye, S., Emmerson, M., Arenas, F., Dick, J. & O'Connor, N. (2013). Interactions among invasion and other anthropogenic stressors are context dependent. Oikos. (IN FINAL PREP).