The Science Behind Mixing Apples and Oranges: Benefits of Research Synthesis in Ecology 

Julia Koricheva, Royal Holloway University of London

This lecture will explore how the use of a new generation of quantitative research synthesis methods in ecology for the last 2 decades has led to development of evidence-based conservation and management and improved the ability of ecologists to provide accurate quantitative assessments and predictions for pressing environmental issues such as biodiversity loss and global climate change.

Biography: Julia Koricheva is a Professor of Ecology at Royal Holloway University of London, UK. Her research focuses on four main topics: ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore interactions, relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, methods and applications of meta-analysis and research synthesis in ecology, and publication bias in ecology. Since 2006 she has co-led the international and interdisciplinary group of experts in meta-analysis whose work has recently (2013) resulted in publication of the first handbook of meta-analysis written specifically for ecologists and evolutionary biologists. Julia’s other research interests include interactions between plants and herbivores and relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Most of her field work is conducted in boreal forests of Finland where she has established in 1999-2000 two large-scale long-term forest diversity experiments which are used as an experimental platform for several collaborative EU-funded projects. Prof. Koricheva has authored and co-authored over 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals which have received over 3400 citations.