Lab Members

Michelle Leishman-Distinguished Professor

Michelle works with plant functional traits and ecological strategies of plants to understand the success of invasive plants, predicting the success of invasive plants with climate change, sustainable vegetation restoration methods, and urban greening. She currently leads the Which Plant Where project which will facilitate climate-smart species selection for urban green spaces. [Michelle’s website]

Alexandra Carthey-Post doc

Alex is broadly interested in novel species interactions resulting from invasions. She is particularly interested in the role of chemical communication in these novel species interactions. She has been awarded a Macquarie University Research Fellowship to investigate how plant chemicals influence the use of native and exotic plants by vertebrate herbivores in Australia.

Anthony Manea-Post doc

Anthony is broadly interested in plant responses to climate change. He is currently a post-doc for the Which Plant Where project looking at the role of soil amendments in mediating the growth responses of popular horticultural plant species under drought conditions.

Samiya Tabassum-Post doc

Samiya has many broad interests including the evolution of invasive plants, dispersal strategies, plant physiology and competitive interactions. She is currently a post-doc for the Which Plant Where project looking at characterising drought strategies of plants using simple leaf-level traits and translating this into outcomes for the horticultural industry in terms of plant selection.

Alessandro Ossola-Post doc/Future Assistant Professor (UC Davis, USA)

Ale’s overarching research interests focus in unravelling the functional links between habitat, biodiversity, humans and eco-hydrological processes at multiple spatial and temporal scales. He is currently the research coordinator of the Which Plant Where project looking at how urban plantings can fail, survive or thrive in different climatic and edaphic conditions across Australian cities.

Ariningsun (Tya) Cinantya-PhD candidate

Tya is a PhD student on the Which Plant Where project. Her research aims to understand the effect of biostimulants on plant growth and survival, particularly for plants under environmental stress.