I am a third year DPhil student supervised by Prof Andy Hector (Oxford), Dr Melanie Gibbs & Dr Karsten Schönrogge (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford) and Dr Nadia Barsoum (Forest Research). My research is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Forest Research (CASE partner) through the Oxford NERC Doctoral Training Partnership.

My research project utilises the TreeDivNet network of experimental forestry plantations to address the susceptibility of forests differing in tree diversity to pests and pathogens.

I am interested in why tree communities differ in their pest and pathogen loads, and how this can be translated into sustainable forestry policy & practice.

I previously worked with the Plant Ecology group for my undergraduate research project, which investigated stabilising mechanisms in the legume-rhizobia symbiosis.

Recent Activity

Summer 2018: Field work at the ORPHEE experiment, (INRA Bordeaux, France) evaluating the impacts of tree species diversity effects on oak insect herbivores and powdery mildew, and the interplay between trophic levels. Project description here.

2017-2018: In collaboration with colleagues from the PuRpOsE project (PRotect Oak Ecosystems), I have been studying the impacts of provenance identity and tree diversity on the foliar oak (Quercus robur) insect herbivore community, and oak powdery mildew. We have been using the Climate Match tree diversity experiment (Forest Research, UK). Official project website here.

Contact Details

Email: elsa.field@plants.ox.ac.uk

Twitter: @elsa_field

Publications

Bebber, D., Field, E., Mortimer, P., Heng, G., Holmes, T. & Gurr, S. (2019). Many unreported crop pests and pathogens are probably already present. Global Change Biology (In press).

Westhoek, A, Field, E., Rehling, F., Mulley, G., Webb, I., Poole, P. and Turnbull, L. (2017). Policing the Legume-Rhizobium Symbiosis: A Critical Test of Partner Choice. Nature Scientific Reports 7 (1): 1419. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-01634-2.

Other Articles

Field, E., Petrokofsky, G., Koricheva, J. (2018). What are the impacts of mixed forest stands on forest pathogens? A systematic review protocol. Read online here.

Field, E. (2017). “Oak powdery mildew – what’s all the fuss?” A blog for Observatree, the tree health citizen science project, on my study organisms: the oak powdery mildew – Quercus robur pathosystem.