Dr Darragh Woodford

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My research interests lie in the landscape ecology of freshwater species, including both native and alien invasive fishes.

I strive to understand how aquatic habitat, interspecific interactions and dispersal mechanisms interact at multiple spatial scales to drive fish population dynamics in streams.

My current research focuses on the local- and landscape-scale factors that drive the successful arrival, establishment and spread of alien fishes in aquatic environments. A significant driver of alien fish dispersal is through inter-basin water transfer (IBWT) schemes, which provide a corridor through which invasive species continually enter into a receiving catchment from the donor catchment. The continual supply of invasive propagules has been recognised by invasion biologists as a significant enabler of invasion, but its effect has not been quantified.  I am using an artificial irrigation network fed by an IBWT as a natural experiment to quantify the role of propagule pressure on the success of introduced fish establishment in novel environments.

In a separate study, I will be attempting to characterise at the local and landscape scale the physical habitat barriers that limit the upstream penetration of three key invasive species, the North American black basses Micropterus salmoides and Micropterus dolomieu, and the African sharptooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus), in invaded river catchments.