Eleanor Slade

I obtained my DPhil in Zoology from the University of Oxford in 2008 on the ‘Effects of Tropical Forest Management on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning’. My DPhil research included the first experimental field manipulations to test the effects of functional diversity of a terrestrial animal group (dung beetles) on ecosystem functioning. From 2008-2011 I was a postdoc on a collaboration between theWildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford (WildCRU), Oxford University Centre for the Environment (OUCE), Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), Earthwatch, and HSBC bank, investigating the landscape-scale implications of fragmentation. involving 'citizen scientists' in data collection. In 2012 I joined the University of Helsinki as a postdoctoral researcher. I continued to use dung beetles as a model system to investigate how extinctions of species and functional groups can impact functioning of the ecosystem, but extending this to examine the role of diverse communities in ecosystem multi-functionality This work has shown that dung beetles play an important role in the ‘brown world’ interaction networks, altering soil microbial properties. Importantly, we also found that they may have a role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cattle farming with a potential impact for climate warming. In 2013 I was selected to join Professor Ilkka Hanski on his research expedition to Sarawak to investigate range shifts in dung beetle communities between 1978 and 2013. From 2015 I was a Researcher Co-Investigator and Project Co-ordinator for the Land-use Options for Maintaining BiOdiversity and eKosystem functions (LOMBOK) consortium of the NERC Human Modified Tropical Forests grant. This project investigated the links between biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles in tropical forests, at the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) Project in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. I was also PI on a UNDP-GEF funded project: Biodiversity Conservation in Multiple-Use Forest Landscapes in Sabah, Malaysia. In 2019 I joined ASE as an Assistant professor, and set up the Tropical Ecology and Entomology Lab (TEELab). The TEELab has four main research themes: Dung Beetles of SE Asia, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning, Species Interactions, and Habitat Fragmentation and Connectivity. I am also involved in the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Project in Sumatra, Indonesia. This project works alongside the oil palm industry to quantify the effect of habitat complexity within oil palm plantations on biodiversity, and to experimentally test the role of this biodiversity on ecosystem functioning and productivity. I am also involved in the Riparian Ecosystem Restoration in Tropical Agriculture (RERTA) Project which is experimentally testing different riparian buffer restoration methods within oil palm, helping to inform Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) guidelines on riparian management. I am a Co-I on two British Council Newton grants, in which I am working closely with local government bodies and stakeholders to assess the value of riparian reserves in oil palm plantations. A key objective of this work is to conduct science driven by stakeholder questions, and to make this evidence-base accessible to the policy makers.