Staff profile

Bruce’s work focuses on the impacts of global environmental change on community ecology and the role of plant-ecosystem interactions in shaping community composition. He leads projects that translate novel research findings into improved management solutions to address the biggest challenges at the nexus of landscape change, species invasions and native species resilience. A common theme underpinning his current research is how plant fitness is influenced by abiotic, biotic and dispersal drivers, and how this fitness, in turn, impacts on population and community dynamics. Bruce’s research spans a variety of ecosystems, with a particular focus on the tropical regions of northern Australia and SE Asia. He complements this field-based research with controlled-condition experiments and modelling.

Research interests: community ecology, plant-animal interactions, invasion science, global change biology, conservation biology and biodiversity, population ecology, plant ecophysiology, photography.

Leadership

Bruce leads the CSIRO Ecosystem Change Ecology Team based in Perth, Western Australia. This multidisciplinary team generates knowledge on the mechanistic links and synergistic interactions between landscape change, species invasions and native species decline in terrestrial ecosystems. Working in both agricultural and natural ecosystems, the team undertakes research and develop theory to underpin more effective policy and management actions for conservation, invasion and production challenges in the face of rapid global change. The team delivers primarily to Land & Water and Health & Biosecurity in CSIRO, and has strong links with the University of Western Australia via collaborative research and student supervision.

Bruce is also a Program Director at the Western Australian Biodiversity Science Institute (WABSI) and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia.

Publications

For a full list of Bruce's publications, including links to PDF copies, please see his profiles at ResearchGate, Google Scholar or ResearcherID.

Five selected publications:

• Webber, BL, Raghu, S, Edwards, OR (2015). Is CRISPR-based gene drive a biocontrol silver bullet or global conservation threat? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112: 10565-10567. [View article]

• Webber, BL, van Klinken, RD, Scott, JK (2014). Invasive plants in a rapidly changing climate: an Australian perspective. In: Invasive species and climate change (ed. by L.H. Ziska and J.S. Dukes). CABI International, London. pp 169-197. [View article]

• Webber BL, Scott JK. (2012). Rapid global change: implications for defining natives and aliens. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 21: 305-311. (With cover image). [View article]

• Webber BL, Yates CJ, Le Maitre DC, Scott JK, Kriticos DJ, Ota N, McNeill A, Le Roux JJ, Midgley GF. (2011). Modelling horses for novel climate courses: insights from projecting potential distributions of native and alien Australian acacias with correlative and mechanistic models. Diversity and Distributions, 17: 978-1000. [View article]

• Webber BL, Woodrow IE. (2009). Chemical and physical plant defence across multiple ontogenetic stages in a tropical rain forest understorey tree. Journal of Ecology, 97: 761-771. [View article]