Research

Macroecology

Where does biodiversity concentrate, and how are those patterns shifting as the world changes?

Biodiversity is distributed unevenly across the planet. Some regions hold a remarkable concentration of species, while others are comparatively sparse — and these patterns are not static.

We work at large spatial and taxonomic scales to describe where species occur, how populations perform within their distributions, and how assemblages may be reshaped by climate and land-use change.

Drawing on global occurrence, trait and (phylo-)genetic data, remote sensing, and species distribution models, we investigate the patterns and processes shaping biodiversity, from historical biogeography to contemporary and future pressures.

The aim is a clearer, data-grounded picture of how the living world is organised — a foundation the lab's other threads build on when asking what biodiversity means for people.

Agrobiodiversity

Food systems depend on far more species than today's major crops. Which ones, where, and what could they offer more resilient agriculture?

Food systems depend on far more species than those found in today's major crops. Understanding and documenting this diversity is key to designing food systems that are more nutritious, resilient and sustainable.

This theme combines species-use data, biodiversity information and predictive modelling to identify opportunities for food diversification. We develop the evidence needed to support the use of neglected and underutilised species, wild food species and crop wild relatives, informing breeding, neo-domestication and other strategies to build climate-resilient agriculture.

Alongside this, we investigate how agrobiodiversity is distributed and threatened across the globe. By developing new datasets and analytical frameworks, we help identify priorities for conserving the diversity that underpins future food systems.

Biodiversity and Health

From traditional remedies to modern drug discovery, biodiversity has long been a source of medicine. We study where those contributions come from.

A large share of medicines trace, directly or indirectly, to natural products — and many communities still rely on plants and other organisms for primary healthcare.

We investigate how biodiversity contributes to human health: the species used in traditional medicine, the chemistry behind their effects, and the potential they may hold for discovery.

By linking species-use data with chemical and ecological information, we look at which organisms are used medicinally, where, and what this could imply for both health and conservation.

The thread sits at the intersection of ecology, chemistry and health, exploring how the environments in which species grow may shape the chemistry that underlies their medicinal properties and uses.

People–Biodiversity Interactions

Biodiversity underpins the contributions people depend on. We study how providing and supporting services are linked across landscapes.

Human lives exist within the larger, cradling ecosystem which provides the constant reproduction of clean water, soils, food, timber, health, and wellbeing that we need to live. But how will our ecological cradle fare under so much pressure?

We combine ecological and species-use data from across the globe to investigate how Nature's Contributions to People arise from biodiversity and flow to society, by cascading through multiple species and interactions. As well as how this flow will be interrupted by biodiversity loss, and what interventions might be warranted to maintain it.

The thread zooms out to connect food, medicine, materials, and more — along with the biodiversity that provides them — into one whole. Weaving across disciplines, and across the perceived human-nature divide, in order to research our 'socio-ecological system' as a single fabric of life.

Species Use Data

Every use of biodiversity leaves a trace of knowledge — much of it scattered, inaccessible or at risk of being lost. We build the infrastructure to connect and preserve it.

Every use of biodiversity leaves a trace of knowledge, yet much of that knowledge remains scattered, inaccessible or at risk of being lost.

Building the evidence base for sustainable use begins with documenting how people use species across cultures, places and time, while recognising and respecting traditional knowledge holders.

This theme develops the data infrastructure needed to connect, standardise and preserve species use information.

Our work includes the World Checklist of Useful Plants, co-developed with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the IUCN Species Use Database, helping provide the evidence needed to advance biodiversity research, conservation and more sustainable use.

Species Use and Conservation

Of all the species people rely on — which ones, in which places, in what ways, and what does that mean for their conservation?

Only a fraction of biodiversity is documented to be used by people, yet these species underpin many of nature's direct and indirect contributions to livelihoods and culture.

This thread maps which species are used, where, and how — from food and medicine to materials and beyond — and explores when use threatens species, supports conservation, or offers solutions to global challenges.

Combining species-use records with distribution and conservation data, we develop tools to assess the sustainability of species use and understand how conserving species can help sustain the contributions they provide to people.

The aim is to connect the ways people use and value species with the conservation of both biodiversity and the contributions it provides.