Xaali O'Reilly Berkeley
PhD student and research assistant at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
Currently working on the genetics of plant-epibiont-invertebrate interactions. Specifically, I want to understand how genotypic diversity among habitat-forming plants influences their associated communities, starting with the microbes and invertebrates that live permanently or transiently on them.
The systems I am working with at the moment are epiphytic bromeliads and false-bird-of-paradise plants in the Amazon. Though very different, both types of plant provide sheltered habitats for a myriad of different organisms.