Contact Information
505 S. Goodwin Ave
Urbana, IL 61801
Research Areas
Research Description
We work with theoretical models and a broad range of data to understand patterns of biodiversity, from tropical forests to host-associated microbial systems like the human microbiome
Ecological systems are the archetypal complex systems. They are typically heterogeneous, display non-equilibrium phenomena, are strongly interacting, noisy, and adapt over time. I bring together theory, experiment, and empirical data to try to understand how ecological processes drive the patterns of species and organisms we see in nature.
Some phenomena are almost universal across widely differing systems, which aids the prediction of patterns of biodiversity with limited knowledge of the underlying processes. Other patterns are highly contigent, providing important signatures of the differences between ecological systems. My research explores this tension, with the ultimate goal of establishing what are the key forces driving biodiversity across the globe.
Education
Ph.D., University of Cambridge
M.A.St., University of Cambridge
M.Sci., University of Durham
Additional Campus Affiliations
Associate Head, Plant Biology
Associate Professor, Plant Biology
Associate Professor, Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment
Faculty Fellow, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
Affiliate, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
External Links
Recent Publications
George, A. B., & O'Dwyer, J. P. (2023). Universal abundance fluctuations across microbial communities, tropical forests, and urban populations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(44), Article e2215832120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2215832120
Jops, K., & O’Dwyer, J. P. (2023). Life history complementarity and the maintenance of biodiversity. Nature, 618(7967), 986-991. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06154-w
Fung, T., O'Dwyer, J. P., & Chisholm, R. A. (2022). Effects of temporal environmental stochasticity on species richness: a mechanistic unification spanning weak to strong temporal correlations. Oikos, 2022(3), Article e08667. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.08667
Gibbs, T., Zhang, Y., Miller, Z. R., & ODwyer, J. P. (2022). Stability criteria for the consumption and exchange of essential resources. PLoS computational biology, 18(9), Article e1010521. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010521
Andris, C., Liu, X., Mitchell, J., O’Dwyer, J., & Van Cleve, J. (2021). Threads across the urban fabric: Youth mentorship relationships as neighborhood bridges. Journal of Urban Affairs, 43(1), 77-92. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2019.1662726