photo

Lori Lach

Projects

2

Publications

0

Awards

4

Biography

Biography

My introduction to ecology and conservation came as a study abroad experience in Queensland's rainforests, after which I found that plans for medical school paled in comparison to an environmentally-oriented career. I earned a Masters in Public Health degree in Environmental Health at the University of California-Berkeley and consulted for a non-profit environmental organization for three years. I interned at a field study school in Kenya for a year, then traveled around the world before settling down to earn my Ph.D. at Cornell University. While there, I became interested in biological invasions as a conservation issue, particularly invasions by easily overlooked creatures. Upon completing my Ph.D., I went to Mauritius on an NSF fellowship to research ant invasions in a restoration context. An ARC-Discovery grant on biological invasions and conservation in an urban context brought me to Western Australia in 2005.

I started at JCU in 2013, first as a DECRA recipient researching ecological effects of bee disease. I have since contributed to various projects that apply ecological theory to addressing real-world challenges.

Current Research Projects (see also Current Funding tab)

  • Scientific support and research for the Yellow Crazy Ant Eradication Program run by the Wet Tropics Management Authority (monitoring effects on non-target species, permit compliance, improving and testing detection methods, general scientific advice)
  • Developing environmental DNA (eDNA) for the detection of invasive ants
  • Environmental Impact Categorization for Alien Taxa
  • Environmental stressors on native bees
  • Effects of drought on herbivory

Post-graduate and Honours inquiries

I currently supervise 3 PhD candidates, a Masters student, and an Honours student. See the Supervision tab for further details.

If you are interested in applying to be part of my lab as an MPhil or PhD student, please visit the Graduate Research School website to familiarize yourself with entry requirements and applications and scholarship deadlines. Please email me with a statement of your research interests, your CV, and your motivation for pursuing a degree.

If you are interested in studying for an Honours, Masters, or PhD degree with me, I specialize in the following areas:

  • effects of biological invasions, particularly insects
  • plant-insect interactions, especially as they affect conservation or agriculture
  • ant ecology
  • ecological effects of bee stressors

Most recent media coverage/interviews

Research

Research Interests

I am interested in how human-induced environmental changes affect interactions among species, particularly those between plants and insects. These relationships fascinate me because they drive many of the ecological processes in the world around us, and yet are often overlooked. Much of my research has investigated invasive social insects and how their interactions differ from native species, in particular, how they enter into new, or disrupt existing, mutualistic interactions with other insects or plants. Answering these questions not only advances our understanding of biological invasions and potential to mitigate their effects, but adds to our knowledge of community and trophic ecology and the ecology and evolution of mutualisms. I primarily use field-based experimental approaches to answer questions that are relevant to conservation and restoration.

Projects
Invasion Alert—A Machine Learning-based Platform for Invasive Ant Detection and Recognition (Old ID 27268)
01 Jul 2021 - 30 Jun 2023
Research to inform yellow crazy ant management in the Wet Tropics (Old ID 26714)
01 Apr 2020 - 30 Jun 2025

Activities

Awards
Ian Mackerras Medal: First female recipient of the Australian Entomological Society’s award for excellence in to a mid-career entomologist who has demonstrated excellence in entomology over many years.
2022
Peer Review Award on Publons for being in the top 1% of reviewers who performed verified pre-publications reviews in the Ecology/Environment field.
2018
TropEco Award, Research Category Highly Commended for outstanding research activities that contribute to a more sustainable society and environment.
2018
Invasive Species Council, Froggatt Award, Communication category: For exceptional efforts in raising awareness about the threat of yellow crazy ant and mobilising action to help eradicate the ant from the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area
2015
Associations
Restoration Ecology Coordinating Editor
2013 - 2018
Austral Entomology Subject Editor
2016 - 2021
member of the National Exotic Invasive Ant Scientific Advisory Group
2018
Queensland representative to the Australian Entomological Society Education Committee
2018
IUCN Species Survival Commission Ant Specialist Group founding steering committee member
2021
Journal of Applied Ecology Associate Editor
2021
Biosecurity Commons Expert Panel https://www.biosecuritycommons.org.au/who-we-are/
2021 - 2023
Employment
Deputy Director, ARC Plant Biosecurity Training Centre, James Cook University
2023
Director of Work Integrated Learning, James Cook University, College of Science and Engineering
2021
Associate Professor, James Cook University
2019
Senior Lecturer, James Cook University
2016 - 2018
Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA), James Cook University
2013 - 2016
Assistant Professor, University of Western Australia
2009 - 2013