Publications
2021
Hi, I'm Richard ORorke!
I'm Richard O'Rorke, a food-web ecologist with a focus on tackling problems in conservation through understanding “multi-trophic” systems. This involves looking at diverse feeding interactions: from microbes (bacteria, phage, fungi, unicellular and colonial Eukaryotes) to multicellular plants and animals. I work across a diverse range of marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding the structure of food webs throws light on community succession (species replacing other species), helps us understand why species become invasive, helps us rescue endangered taxa, and potentially informs how macro-evolutionary processes occur (the evolution of species). I use a diverse array of tools such as genomics, genetics, microscopy, behavioural studies and the biochemical measurement of nutrients and energy and as they move through the food web.