Plant Ecology, Climate Change Biology, Community Ecology, Biological Invasions

Prof. Peter le Roux, Professor at the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Pretoria

I am an ecologist with experience working in the sub-Antarctic, the sub-Arctic and montane grasslands.

My broad research interest is community ecology, with particular attention to interspecific interactions, the impacts of global environmental change, and how the former mediates the impacts of the latter. My research goal is to improve our understanding of what determines species fine- and coarse-scale distributions and the composition of communities, with the aim of applying this knowledge to understanding the ecological impacts of changes in environmental conditions.

Some recent projects are focused on examining the ecological impacts of wind (which is poorly studied component of climate change) and forecasting how climate change will affect grazing potential (and the associated pastoral livelihoods) in the Drakensberg grasslands.