YADVINDER MALHI
YADVINDER MALHI
The multi-trophic impact of ash dieback
This project examines the spread of the fungal pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, which is causing widespread mortality of European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and has become a major ecological concern. The NERC-funded Multi-Trophic Wytham project investigates the impacts of ash dieback in Wytham Woods, near Oxford, through an interdisciplinary collaboration across University of Oxford departments and partner institutions including CEH Wallingford and University College London. Focusing on biochemical cycling, vegetation structure and predation pressure, and woodland connectivity, the project combines long-term monitoring with experimental manipulation to better understand ecosystem responses to large-scale tree mortality and inform how such impacts can be managed.
Global Ecosystem Monitoring (GEM) Network
The Global Ecosystem Monitoring network (GEM) is an international effort to measure and understand forest ecosystem functions and traits, and how these will respond to climate change. The GEM network aims to capture both ecosystem-level properties and the functional composition of the community. It encompasses many separately-funded projects, including projects in the Amazon-Andes, West and Central Africa, and Malaysia. We are always looking to incorporate new partners and plots into the network.
NEO-FIRE: Understanding and scaling vulnerability of neotropical Amazon and transitional forests to altered fire regimes
The Amazon is increasingly threatened by hotter, drier conditions and altered fire regimes. These pressures are pushing forests, especially at the Amazon–Cerrado transition, toward ecological thresholds and large-scale tree mortality. Drought and fire are closely linked, yet the processes driving delayed tree mortality after fires remain poorly understood. This project investigates these mechanisms across scales to identify vulnerable areas and develop early-warning indicators to inform fire management and restoration strategies.​
This project is led by Dr Imma Oliveras Menor (U. Oxford, IRD), with Dr Manoela Machado as postdoctoral researcher (U. Oxford, Woods Hole Climatic Research Centre) , Prof Jos Barlow (U. Lancaster) and Prof Yadvinder Malhi (U. Oxford) as co-investigators, and eight other partner institutions from Brazil, US and UK.
HERO - Healthy Ecosystem Restoration in Oxfordshire
HERO explores how the University of Oxford can contribute to restoring healthy ecosystems in Oxfordshire by drawing on its academic expertise, research capacity, and convening power to support nature recovery efforts led by local partners and stakeholders. Working with organisations across the county, the initiative seeks to maximise opportunities for research and demonstration, positioning Oxfordshire as a model for testing and showcasing a diverse portfolio of ecosystem restoration strategies, while also serving as a resource for the University and its Colleges in advancing broader sustainability goals.
Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery
A hub for innovative thinking, discussion and analysis of nature recovery nationally and worldwide.
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The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, based at the University of Oxford tackles the challenge of halting and reversing this loss of biodiversity by addressing the ecological, social, cultural and economic dimensions of nature recovery in a single framework, harnessing state-of-the-art technologies and thereby developing and testing an innovative model to deliver nature recovery at scale.
Current Projects
Lewa & Ngare Ndare Restoration, Biodiversity and Development Project
Natural State has partnered with the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery at the University of Oxford to advance landscape-scale nature recovery in Kenya, combining research and innovative finance to support biodiversity restoration and sustainable development. The project includes two strands: an ecological focus, led by Professor Yadvinder Malhi, examining indicators of ecosystem degradation and recovery in savanna and rangeland systems, and a nature finance focus, led by Dr Nicola Ranger, developing financial mechanisms to support positive outcomes for nature, climate, and communities. Together, this work aims to generate practical solutions and help close the financing gap for nature-based solutions in Africa.
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This project is led by Dr Nicola Stevens and Prof. Yavinder Malhi, with Natural State, Prof. Kate Parr (U. Liverpool) and Matt Rogan (Natural State) as collaborators.
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Bertarelli Marine Science Project:
Implications of nutrient flow and feedbacks across the seabird-island-reef system
Seabirds act as important nutrient vectors on tropical islands, transporting marine-derived nutrients onto land and into surrounding reef systems, where they enhance productivity. However, introduced predators such as rats have severely reduced seabird populations on most islands, driving efforts to restore ecosystems through eradication programmes. This project, a collaboration between Oxford, Exeter, and Lancaster, examines the ecological benefits of seabird-derived nutrients across islands in the Chagos Archipelago, Seychelles, and French Polynesia. It combines field studies and remote sensing to understand impacts on island and reef ecosystems and to support conservation and restoration strategies.
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This project is led by Prof. Yadvinder Malhi and Dr Lisa Wedding, with Dr Eleanor Thomson as a postdoctoral research fellow.
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The climate mitigation potential of Arctic rewilding
This project is investigating the ability of animal activity to modulate the responses of vegetation to climate change and to engineer and modify habitats and niches, altering the properties of the Earth's surface and feeding back to climate.
The project focuses on the potential for large mammal herbivory to modulate the response of tundra vegetation in Greenland to climate change and encompasses present observational and palaeo-ecological data. This research line informs Nature-based solutions, rewilding, and the field of biodiversity conservation.
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This project is led by Prof. Marc Macias-Fauria (U. Cambridge), with Prof. Yadvinder Malhi as a collaborator.​
DIEBACK: Evaluating fire-induced impacts on tree dieback and carbon fluxes in human-modified Amazonian forests
Wildfires are becoming increasingly common in the Amazonian humid forest, an ecosystem that did not evolve with fire, putting vast areas of biodiverse rainforest at risk. Despite this growing threat, there is still limited understanding of why low-intensity understorey fires cause high tree mortality, which species are most vulnerable, and how fires affect carbon balance and recovery. This project addresses these gaps by investigating the mechanisms driving both immediate and long-term tree mortality. It combines experimental forest burns with long-term monitoring of burned and unburned plots, including sites affected by the 2015–16 El Niño fires, to improve understanding and inform strategies to reduce fire-induced forest loss.
Past Projects
GEM-TRAITS
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The GEM-TRAITS project (2013–2018) generated the first global, standardised dataset linking tropical tree diversity to ecosystem function. Field campaigns were conducted across multiple regions, including the Andes, Brazil, Ghana, Australia, and Borneo, combining intensive plot measurements with airborne remote sensing. This work provided new insights into how functional diversity scales across tropical landscapes.
GEM-TRAITS Ghana (KWAEEMMA)
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This project examined relationships between drought, biodiversity, and ecosystem function across a forest–savanna gradient in Ghana. Working in collaboration with the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana and international partners, the team conducted intensive field campaigns (2014–2015) spanning rainforest to savanna transition zones. The project also supported ongoing research on seasonal variation in plant traits and photosynthesis.
ECOLIMITS
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ECOLIMITS (2013–2017) investigated links between ecosystem services, environmental degradation, and poverty in tropical agricultural landscapes in Ghana and Ethiopia. Combining ecological and social science data, the project focused on cocoa and coffee systems around protected forests. Additional work examined the impacts of the 2015–2016 El Niño drought on these coupled social–ecological systems.
ECOFOR
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ECOFOR was a UK–Brazil collaboration exploring how biodiversity and ecosystem function respond to forest disturbance in the Atlantic and Amazon forests. The project established intensive monitoring plots and collected data on plant traits and bird communities across contrasting disturbance gradients, improving understanding of ecosystem resilience in human-modified tropical forests.
RAINFOR, AFRITRON, and T-FORCES
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These interconnected initiatives developed large-scale forest monitoring networks across the tropics. RAINFOR (Amazonia) and AFRITRON (Africa) generated key insights into carbon cycling, drought responses, and forest dynamics. T-FORCES expanded this work by integrating networks across continents and conducting elevation transects in Peru and Australia, advancing understanding of tropical forest function under environmental change.
SAFE and BALI
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The SAFE project is a long-term, large-scale experiment in Malaysian Borneo examining how biodiversity and ecosystem function respond to forest degradation and conversion to oil palm. Within this landscape, the BALI project (2013–2017) investigated links between biodiversity and biogeochemical processes across disturbance gradients. This work contributed to understanding how land-use change affects tropical ecosystem functioning.