Dr. Jill Thompson

Main research focus is plant community dynamics and factors that influence plant distribution and biodiversity particularly in tropical forest. I have broad interests covering many aspects of conservation and plant ecology, including ecophysiology, ecosystem processes, and the effect of human and natural disturbances, such as hurricanes and drought.

• I joined CEH in February 2009 as a plant ecologist after working for several years in Puerto Rico, Ghana and Brazil.
• My main research focus is on forest regeneration, plant community dynamics and factors that influence plant distribution and biodiversity in tropical forest. This includes plant ecophysiology, ecosystem processes and the effect of human and natural disturbances. In Puerto Rico I was Director of the 16 ha Luquillo Forests Dynamics Plot for the Luquillo LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) site, and still collaborate with the LTER and the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) network of large forest plots. I have broad interests covering many aspects of ecology and conservation. Prior to my tropical work I studied plant populations growing on heavy metal contaminated soil, and worked for an environmental consultancy company in the UK.
• Current projects - Developing a drought narrative resource in a multi-stakeholder decision-making utility for drought risk management. Involves rainfall manipulation experiments to investigate plant community resilience to drought, which will involve citizen scientists. Was Tree Health and Biosecurity Initiative (THAPBI) Coordinator 2014 to September 2017. I facilitated the activities and interactions among nine projects that are studying aspects of tree and plant health, and the organisms that cause plant damage and disease.
• Previous projects include: ROBIN - Role Of Biodiversity In climate change MitigatioN - an EU project looking at Biodiversity Ecosystem Services and Climate change mitigation in forests of South and Central America. DIAL-MGG Differential Absorption LIDAR for Measurement of Greenhouse Gases.