Research

Overview:

While I mostly work with/on soil fauna, my interests include understanding invertebrate diversity and ecology as well as their responses to climate and anthropogenic change. Recently, I have also been working to understand the diversity, drivers, and distribution of invertebrates in Africa, especially in Nigeria (see my publications).

...but here are pictures of some of the 'field-based' things I have been up or 'down' to :)

2026: I am part of the CarbonWeb team, with Drs. Anton Potapov and Andrei Zuev. We are studying the translocation and stabilisation of carbon in soils. This will form part of my PhD research at the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz, Germany.

2024: I studied how boreal peatland mesofauna (Oribatida, Mesostigmata, Collembola, Prostigmata, and Astigmata) respond to a simulated growing-season temperature on peat soils in two distinct peatlands. Overall, warming increased the abundance of soil microarthropods; Oribatida increased more than other mesofauna, but this benefit was associated with reduced diversity and average body size. This was part of my MSc thesis at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

2023: I studied the effects of experimental warming on oribatid mite composition and body size in boreal peatlands. I found that the effect of warming on oribatid mites is mediated by its effect on soil moisture levels, and that warming in peatlands may favour certain asexual and drought-tolerant species, with an impact on average community body size. This was part of my MSc thesis at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. See the publication here

2020 to 2021: As part of my BSc thesis at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, I studied the effects of oil palm cultivation on soil microarthropod communities. I found a non-significant reduction in richness and abundance in the palm plantation compared to a secondary forest. This is where my interest in soil fauna began.