Senior Research Fellow - Centre for Ecosystem Science
School of Biological Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of New South Wales (UNSW)
UNSW, Sydney NSW 2052
Australia
Email: mark.ooi@unsw.edu.au
University website link here
I am a plant ecologist and enjoy getting out in the field to study population and community dynamics. Much of my work encompasses the broad themes of seed ecology, disturbance ecology and global change biology, and particularly how changes to environmental factors can impact upon life-history traits and populations. This work is often applied to understanding related key ecological issues, including maintaining biodiversity and the impacts of climate change. I have conducted my research in several systems including fire-prone heath and forests, arid ephemeral plant communities, cloud forest on oceanic islands and, most recently, in fixed dune annual plant communities.
Latest News
Ian Last, Justin Collette (UNSW) Mark Ooi (UNSW) and Peter Leeson (QPW) at the recent burn
May 2018 - PhD student Justin Collette gets his work underway in Queensland with a nice ecological burn. Link here to a story from our funders at SE Qld Fire & Biodiversity Consortium.
May 2018 - Mark Ooi was interviewed by the ABC for a story about post-fire recovery of Royal National Park here
April 2018 - Honours student Jason Chan starts his studies with a bit of publicity, as the subject of a story on ABC Open here. This is part of a collaborative project with Australian National Botanic Gardens.
March 2018 - A great paper published in Plant Ecology here, from Harrison Palmer's Honours http://www.fireandbiodiversity.org.au/news/fire-research-in-australia-s-fire-prone-heathlandswork looking at fire severity and soil seed banks
Jan 2018 - A nice start to the year with a paper from new collaboration with Kings Park in Perth, led by Miriam Munoz-Rojas investigating cyanobacteria and seed germination here
Jul-Nov 2017 - Another bumper crop of publications from the lab including Ganesha Liyanage's Seed Science Research paper on dormancy and seed age here, seed size and dormancy thresholds in Biol J Linn Soc here. With Desiree Ramos and colleagues from UnB in Brazil, a nice paper in J Veg Sci here
June 2017 - Two book chapters published in the revamped 'Australian Vegetation (3rd Edn)' Ooi et al (2017) and Auld & Ooi (2017) (links here). Great effort by sole Editor Prof David Keith
May 2017 - Paper published from the collaboration with Remi Vergnon and Rob Freckleton at Sheffield Uni in American Naturalist (link here)
May 2017 - Another paper published from Desiree Ramos at UnB in Brazil - a great result now in Journal of Vegetation Science (link here)
April 2017 - Justin Collette has his first lead-authored paper published - a great start to his PhD in the Ooi Seed Ecology Lab at UNSW! A link to the paper is here
April 2017 - Alice Hudson has her PhD confirmed. Another BIG congratulations!!
February 2017 - Ganesha Liyanage has her PhD confirmed. A BIG congratulations!!
January 2017 - Invited by the Chinese Academy of Sciences to work and deliver seminar in Changchun. A new experience at -25°C!
December 2016 - Ganesha Liyanage and Alice Hudson both submit their PhD theses. Well done and great effort!
November 2016 - New paper here from collaboration with Desiree Ramos, Fabian Borghetti, Jose Valls (et al) from UnB, Brazil, in International Journal of Wildland Fire
September 2016 - Mark Ooi invited to the University of Queensland to give a seminar on seed ecology. Thanks for the invite John Dwyer!
August 2016 - Seed Ecology V held at Caete, Brazil. Nice presentations by all Seed Ecology Lab members who attended!
August 2016 - New paper by Ganesha Liyanage, David Ayre & Mark Ooi in the journal Ecology. Link here
June 2016 - New paper investigating seed quality after pollination by introduced honeybees. Led by Amy-Marie Gilpin, and part of a collaboration with Mark Ooi and Justin Collette from the Seed Ecology Lab.
June 2016 - Mark Ooi invited to talk at Talking Landcare on the subject of fire ecology. Organised by Landcare Illawarra and Conservation Volunteers Australia
May 2016 - New paper led by Berin Mackenzie with Mark Ooi as co-author published in PLoS One - link to paper is here. Congratulations to Berin - the first paper from his PhD!
March 2016 - Ganesha Liyanage (UOW) and Berin Mackenzie (UNSW) from the Ooi Seed Ecology Lab both win awards at the National Seed Science Forum, held at the Australian Botanic Gardens, Mt Annan NSW Australia
December 2015 - Mark Ooi starts a new position at the University of New South Wales in the Centre for Ecosystem Science
November 2015 - Mark Ooi invited talk at the 6th Fire Ecology and Management Congress. A great session organised by Mary Lata on the role of smoke as a germination cue.
Sept 2015 - A collaboration with Yongcui Wang from the Chinese Academy of Science results in a publication in Basic and Applied Ecology. Link here
May 2015 - Mark Ooi invited seminar at the Universidade de Brasilia. Thanks to Fabian Borghetti for being such a great host, and to Desiree Ramos and Pedro Diniz for looking after me!
May 2015 - Mark Ooi invited to talk at IV Symposium Climate Change & Desertification (Petrolina, Brazil). A big thank you to EMBRAPA Semiarido, especially Barabara Dantas and Francislene Angelotti for all their help!
May 2015 - New paper by Ganesha Liyanage & Mark Ooi published in Annals of Botany. Link here. Congratulations to Ganesha- her first publication from the PhD!
April 2015 - The first of two papers from Hongyuan Ma, a Visiting Fellow at our Seed Ecology Lab in PLoS One here and Plant and Soil here
January 2015 - New review paper by Alice Hudson, David Ayre & Mark Ooi published in Seed Science Research. Link here. Congratulations to Alice - her first publication from the PhD!
September 2014 - New article by Mark Tozer & Mark Ooi published in Annals of Botany. Link here
August 2014 - Finally! Alice Hudson's plants produce their first crop of seeds (left) - almost 3 years ater they were planted.
July 2014 - Suzanne Eacott joins the Lab as our very first Honours student!
July 2014 - Hongyuan Ma joins the Ooi Seed Ecology Lab at Wollongong as a Visiting Fellow from the Chinese Academy of Sciences
June 2014 - Mark Ooi interviewed for an interesting piece on gardening during the winter for ABC Science. Link here
June 2014 - New article published in Oxford Bibliographies in Ecology by Mark Ooi called Seed Ecology. Link here
February 2014 - New paper out in the journal Ecology & Evolution by Ooi, Denham, Santana and Auld. pdf here
February 2014 - Desiree Ramos joins the lab for 6 months, visiting from Universidade de Brasilia (Brazil)
May 2018 - Mark Ooi was interviewed by the ABC for a story about post-fire recovery of Royal National Park here
April 2018 - Honours student Jason Chan starts his studies with a bit of publicity, as the subject of a story on ABC Open here. This is part of a collaborative project with Australian National Botanic Gardens.
March 2018 - A great paper published in Plant Ecology here, from Harrison Palmer's Honours http://www.fireandbiodiversity.org.au/news/fire-research-in-australia-s-fire-prone-heathlandswork looking at fire severity and soil seed banks
Jan 2018 - A nice start to the year with a paper from new collaboration with Kings Park in Perth, led by Miriam Munoz-Rojas investigating cyanobacteria and seed germination here
Jul-Nov 2017 - Another bumper crop of publications from the lab including Ganesha Liyanage's Seed Science Research paper on dormancy and seed age here, seed size and dormancy thresholds in Biol J Linn Soc here. With Desiree Ramos and colleagues from UnB in Brazil, a nice paper in J Veg Sci here
June 2017 - Two book chapters published in the revamped 'Australian Vegetation (3rd Edn)' Ooi et al (2017) and Auld & Ooi (2017) (links here). Great effort by sole Editor Prof David Keith
May 2017 - Paper published from the collaboration with Remi Vergnon and Rob Freckleton at Sheffield Uni in American Naturalist (link here)
May 2017 - Another paper published from Desiree Ramos at UnB in Brazil - a great result now in Journal of Vegetation Science (link here)
April 2017 - Justin Collette has his first lead-authored paper published - a great start to his PhD in the Ooi Seed Ecology Lab at UNSW! A link to the paper is here
April 2017 - Alice Hudson has her PhD confirmed. Another BIG congratulations!!
February 2017 - Ganesha Liyanage has her PhD confirmed. A BIG congratulations!!
January 2017 - Invited by the Chinese Academy of Sciences to work and deliver seminar in Changchun. A new experience at -25°C!
December 2016 - Ganesha Liyanage and Alice Hudson both submit their PhD theses. Well done and great effort!
November 2016 - New paper here from collaboration with Desiree Ramos, Fabian Borghetti, Jose Valls (et al) from UnB, Brazil, in International Journal of Wildland Fire
September 2016 - Mark Ooi invited to the University of Queensland to give a seminar on seed ecology. Thanks for the invite John Dwyer!
August 2016 - Seed Ecology V held at Caete, Brazil. Nice presentations by all Seed Ecology Lab members who attended!
August 2016 - New paper by Ganesha Liyanage, David Ayre & Mark Ooi in the journal Ecology. Link here
June 2016 - New paper investigating seed quality after pollination by introduced honeybees. Led by Amy-Marie Gilpin, and part of a collaboration with Mark Ooi and Justin Collette from the Seed Ecology Lab.
June 2016 - Mark Ooi invited to talk at Talking Landcare on the subject of fire ecology. Organised by Landcare Illawarra and Conservation Volunteers Australia
May 2016 - New paper led by Berin Mackenzie with Mark Ooi as co-author published in PLoS One - link to paper is here. Congratulations to Berin - the first paper from his PhD!
March 2016 - Ganesha Liyanage (UOW) and Berin Mackenzie (UNSW) from the Ooi Seed Ecology Lab both win awards at the National Seed Science Forum, held at the Australian Botanic Gardens, Mt Annan NSW Australia
December 2015 - Mark Ooi starts a new position at the University of New South Wales in the Centre for Ecosystem Science
November 2015 - Mark Ooi invited talk at the 6th Fire Ecology and Management Congress. A great session organised by Mary Lata on the role of smoke as a germination cue.
Sept 2015 - A collaboration with Yongcui Wang from the Chinese Academy of Science results in a publication in Basic and Applied Ecology. Link here
May 2015 - Mark Ooi invited seminar at the Universidade de Brasilia. Thanks to Fabian Borghetti for being such a great host, and to Desiree Ramos and Pedro Diniz for looking after me!
May 2015 - Mark Ooi invited to talk at IV Symposium Climate Change & Desertification (Petrolina, Brazil). A big thank you to EMBRAPA Semiarido, especially Barabara Dantas and Francislene Angelotti for all their help!
May 2015 - New paper by Ganesha Liyanage & Mark Ooi published in Annals of Botany. Link here. Congratulations to Ganesha- her first publication from the PhD!
April 2015 - The first of two papers from Hongyuan Ma, a Visiting Fellow at our Seed Ecology Lab in PLoS One here and Plant and Soil here
January 2015 - New review paper by Alice Hudson, David Ayre & Mark Ooi published in Seed Science Research. Link here. Congratulations to Alice - her first publication from the PhD!
September 2014 - New article by Mark Tozer & Mark Ooi published in Annals of Botany. Link here
August 2014 - Finally! Alice Hudson's plants produce their first crop of seeds (left) - almost 3 years ater they were planted.
July 2014 - Suzanne Eacott joins the Lab as our very first Honours student!
July 2014 - Hongyuan Ma joins the Ooi Seed Ecology Lab at Wollongong as a Visiting Fellow from the Chinese Academy of Sciences
June 2014 - Mark Ooi interviewed for an interesting piece on gardening during the winter for ABC Science. Link here
June 2014 - New article published in Oxford Bibliographies in Ecology by Mark Ooi called Seed Ecology. Link here
February 2014 - New paper out in the journal Ecology & Evolution by Ooi, Denham, Santana and Auld. pdf here
February 2014 - Desiree Ramos joins the lab for 6 months, visiting from Universidade de Brasilia (Brazil)