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Teaching Staff

Professor ASHTON, Louise Amy

Professor ASHTON, Louise Amy

Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, HKU

BSc (Griffith University); PhD (Griffith University)

  • 3917 3313
  • 2858 3477
  • KBSB 6S01

Teaching Areas

  • Ecology and evolution
  • Community ecology
  • Conservation ecology
  • Field ecology

 

Research Interests

  • Tropical rainforest ecology

  • Biodiversity and the role of insects in ecosystem function

  • Ecological responses to environmental change

  • Canopy ecology

 

Current Research

  • Insect declines in the tropics
  • The impact of drought on tropical rainforests
  • Restoration of Hong Kong’s biodiversity
  • Food web responses to climate change

 

Fellowship and Awards

  • 2021 Excellent Young Scientist Award
  • 2020 HKU Outstanding Research Output Award
  • 2020 Griffith University Outstanding Young Alumnus Award 

 

Research Team

Post-doctoral Fellows: Michael J W Boyle, Michel Dongmo, Xiaoyi Zeng, Coskun Güçlü, Victoria Amaral, Bimal Sharma.

Postgraduates:  Theodora Chan, Ruiming Nie, Lily DuPlooy.

 

News

 

Recent Selected Publications

  • A. Sharp, M.J.W.Boyle*, T. Bonebrake, Y.Guo, R.L. Kitching, N. Stork, X. Zeng, Ashton, L.A.*, 2025. Elevated ENSO extremes are reducing tropical forest invertebrate diversity and function. Nature, 645, 946-951.
  • Zeng, X, Wong, A.C., Boyle, M. Cybulski, J., Majcher, B., Güçlü, C., Kong, X., Bonebrake, T.C., Eggleton, P., Baker, D.M., Griffiths, H.M., Ashton, L.A.* 2026, Soil invertebrates facilitate plant nitrogen assimilation in a tropical seasonal secondary forest. Current Biology, 36, R375-R376.
  • M.J.W. Boyle, K. Dias-Silva, M. Dongmo, F. Machado França, N. Gregory, R. Kitching, M. Ledger, O. Lewis , A. Sharp, N. Stork , J. Williamson, T. Bonebrake and Ashton, L.A. 2025, Causes and consequences of insect decline in tropical forests. Nature Reviews Biodiversity, 1, 315–331.
  • Zeng, X., Gao, H., Wang, R., Machjer, B., Woon, J., Wenda, C., Eggleton, P., Griffiths H. & Ashton, L.A.* 2024. Global contribution of invertebrates to forest litter decomposition.Ecology Letters. 27, e14423.
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