Interests
My main research focus is plant community ecology. I interested in how and why plant species are so different , and what the 
consequences of these differences are for ecosystems. For example, plants produce seeds of many different sizes: the seed of the coco de Mer (a palm tree native to the Seychelles) can kill you – if it falls on your head, while orchids seeds are so small and poorly provisioned that they can’t even germinate without the help of mycorrhizal fungi. Why this diversity exists and how it persists are the key questions that drive my research.
Contact details
lindsay.turnbull(a)plants.ox.ac.uk
Education and professional positions
| From September 2013 | Associate Professor at Department of Plant Sciences, Oxford University, UK
Tutorial Fellow at Queen’s College, Oxford |
| 2003 – 2013 | Research associate, Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Group leader since 2010 Habilitation (2010) Seed size, growth rates and community structure |
| 2001 – 2002 | Teacher of Science: Graveney School, London |
| 2000 | Postgraduate Certificate in Secondary Education: University of Surrey, Roehampton |
| 1997 – 1999 | Post-doc: Imperial College, London: with Dr. M. Rees and Prof. P.J. Grubb |
| 1994 – 1996 | PhD: Imperial College, London: (supervised by Prof. M.J. Crawley) |
| 1992 | BA Hons. (Cantab.) First Class Natural Sciences (Zoology)
Drewett’s prize for ecology Elected scholar of King’s College, Cambridge |
Other roles
Board of Trustees: Seychelles Islands Foundation
Ordinary Member of Council: British Ecological Society