Interactions between plants and animals are ubiquitous in ecosystems, and include seed dispersal, pollination, and cross-ecosystem nutrient fluxes. There is growing evidence that these critical functions may disappear before the species that depend on them do. We have unravelled the ecological consequences of changes in animal and plant populations in the context of seed dispersal and pollination, and quantified the loss of ocean-land nutrient flux due to seabird population declines in Aotearoa-New Zealand. To explore these issues, we use a combination of field-based data collection and computational ecology.
Representative recent publications
- Boast, A.P., Wood, J.R., Worthy, T.H., Perry, G.L.W. & Wilmshurst, J.M. 2025 Using New Zealand’s late-quaternary fossil record to estimate the past distribution and habitats of a relict species (kākāpō: Strigops habroptila). Quaternary Science Reviews 356: 109287. Journal.
- Tomlinson, S., Lomolino, M.V., Wood, J.R., Anderson, A., Perry, G.L.W., Wilmshurst, J.M., Austin, J.J., Fordham, D.A. 2025. Was extinction of New Zealand’s avian megafauna an unavoidable consequence of human arrival? Science of the Total Environment 964: 178471. Journal.
- Carpenter, J. K., Perry, G. L. W., & Wilmshurst, J. M. (2023). Palaeoecological and historical observations of an endemic New Zealand bird (Strigops habroptila, kākāpō) reveal shifting drivers of decline during 800 years of human settlement. Global Ecology and Conservation, 43, e02433. Open access.
- Perry, G.L.W. 2021. How far might plant-eating dinosaurs have moved seeds? Biology Letters 17: 20200689. Journal. See also this NY Times write-up!