Academic and Professional Background

• Background:

  Lecturer/Senior lecturer, ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand, 2003-present

  PhD Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, 2000

  Weed ecologist, Landcare Research, Auckland, New Zealand, 2000-2003

  BSc.(hons. first class) Botany, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1994

• Publications:
  1. Kelly, D., and Sullivan, J. J. 2010. Life histories, dispersal, invasions, and global change: progress and prospects in New Zealand ecology, 1989–2029. New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 34:207–217.
  2. Diez, J. M., WIlliams, P. A., Randall, R. P., Sullivan, J. J., Hulme, P. E., and Duncan, R. P. 2009. Learning from failures: testing broad taxonomic hypotheses about plant naturalization. Ecology Letters 12:1174–1183.
  3. Sullivan, J. J., and Williams, P. A., Timmins, S. M., and Smale, M. 2009. Distribution and spread of environmental weeds along New Zealand roadsides. New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 33:190–204.
  4. Duncan, R. P., Diez, J. M., Sullivan, J. J., Wangen, S., and Miller, A. L. 2009. Safe sites, seed supply and the recruitment function in plant populations. Ecology, 90(8):2129–2138.
  5. Sullivan, J. J., Meurk, C., Whaley, K. J., and Simcock, R. 2009. Towards the restoration of native ecosystems in urban Auckland: urban soils, isolation, and weeds as impediments to forest establishment. New Zealand Journal of Ecology,33:60–71.
  6. Gravuer, K., Sullivan, J. J., Williams, P. A., and Duncan, R. P. 2008. Stage-specific analysis of Trifolium introductions to New Zealand shows strong human association with plant invasion success. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 105:6344–6349.
  7. Diez, J. M., Sullivan, J. J., Hulme, P. E., Edwards, G., and Duncan, R. P., 2008. Darwin's naturalisation conundrum: dissecting phylogenetic patterns of species invasion. Ecology Letters, 11:674–681.
  8. Sullivan, J. J., Williams, P., and Timmins, S. M. 2007. Secondary forest succession differs through exotic Ulex europaeus (gorse) and native Kunzea ericoides (kanuka) near Wellington and Nelson. New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 31:22–38.
  9. Sullivan, J. J., Mather, J., and Stahel, W. 2007. Control of wild kiwifruit (Actinidia species) in Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Acta Horticulturae, 753:583–590.
  10. Sullivan, J. J., Timmins, S. M., and Williams, P. 2005. Movement of exotic plants into coastal native forests from gardens in northern New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 29:1–10
• Personal Resume:

  Jon Sullivan is a plant ecologist at Lincoln University with a strong research interest in the invasion of New Zealand by exotic plants, particularly those plants that become weeds of conservation lands. Much of his current research focuses on how native and naturalised insect herbivores affect plant invasions and the impacts of weeds on native plants.

  Jon grew up in Christchurch, received his B.Sc.(hons.) degree in Botany from the University of Canterbury in 1994, and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (USA) in 2000. Before joining Lincoln University, Jon was a weed ecologist at Landcare Research in Auckland. He now works closely with collaborators at regional and city councils, the Department of Conservation (DOC), and Landcare Research, to better understand the threats weeds pose to native plants and animals.

  Weeds are a growing concern, with regional councils and DOC controlling about 400 weed species nationwide. The number of weeds is on the rise. More garden plants are found wild New Zealand each year, and the naturalised flora is already now larger than the native flora. New Zealand isn’t alone in its weed problems: 36 of the 100 worst invasive alien species listed internationally by the IUCN are weeds.

  An example of the often unexpected and subtle impacts of weeds on native biodiversity is a recent study by Jon with Peter Williams (Landcare Research) and Susan Timmins (DOC). They compared native forest succession through the exotic weed gorse and through the native shrub, kanuka. Gorse is widely regarded as an effective nurse crop for native forest regeneration and is often managed by "benign neglect" on conservation land. Jon and collaborators described how the kind of native forest that emerges through gorse is often quite different from the forest that emerges through kanuka. Several key native plant species were either absent or rare in gorse successions, including native orchids.

  It is acknowledged world-wide that the most cost-effective means of controlling weeds is preemptive action before a weed has fully established. Much of Jon's work, together with Richard Duncan and Phil Hulme also at Lincoln University, and their postgraduate students, is the historical reconstruction of the invasion of New Zealand by weeds and other naturalised plants. If ecologists can understand exactly which plants became weeds, when, and why, then they will be able to improve their predictions of which current cultivated plants will be the next weeds. Without preemptive action, most of our grandchildren's worst weeds will be among the plants currently in cultivation in New Zealand gardens.

  Jon also has a strong interest in facilitating the collation of community observations of nature to create better knowledge of the distributions and phenology of naturalised and native species. He is one of the founders of the New Zealand Biodiversity Recording Network (http://www.nzbrn.og.nz), a website tool designed to allow people to record their natural history observations.