Romina Rader

Romina Rader is a Professor of Community Ecology at the University of New England, Australia, affiliated with the School of Environmental and Rural Science. Her research focuses on plant-animal interactions in natural and human-modified landscapes, particularly examining wild and managed insect pollinators, their efficiency in pollinating horticultural crops, and the ecology and conservation of remnant vegetation.

Her research interests span Pollination Ecology, Agroecology, and Community Ecology, with emphasis on biodiversity-landscape interactions and ecosystem stewardship. She leads the Rader Community Ecology Lab and contributes to the Plant Evolution and Pollination Group. Her work investigates how differing management practices and global change impact plant and animal communities across habitats.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals a strong focus on quantifying pollination services in agricultural systems, particularly examining non-bee pollinators (especially Diptera), impacts of protective cropping systems, and landscape-scale factors affecting pollinator communities. Key trends include methodological innovations in pollination research, cross-continental comparisons of pollinator effectiveness, and translating ecological findings into practical agricultural applications.

• Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2017-2020)

Dr. Rader has secured significant funding from the Australian Research Council, Horticulture Innovation Australia, the Australian Department of Agriculture, and international bodies including the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research. Her research supervision spans PhD, Masters, and Honors students, focusing on ecological approaches to agricultural challenges. She serves as an Editor for the Journal of Applied Ecology and maintains active memberships in the Ecological Society of Australia, British Ecological Society, and American Ecological Society.

Her laboratory work integrates field studies with network analysis to understand pollinator-plant interactions across diverse landscapes. Current projects emphasize optimizing pollination services in horticultural systems while promoting biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes, with particular attention to urban agriculture and sustainable grazing practices.