Professor William Stock

Head, Centre for Ecosystem Management
Professor of Environmental Management

Contact Details

Edith Cowan University,
270 Joondalup Drive,
Joondalup, 6027,
Western Australia.

Room	19.343
Phone	(61 8) 6304 5758
Facsimile	(61 8) 6304 5509
Email	w.stock@ecu.edu.au
Phone (Home)	(61 8) 9243 3403

Biography

I was born in Cape Town, South Africa where I attended school and university. I chose to study Botany because of my love of plants and the tremendous floral diversity of the fynbos vegetation in the Western Cape. My PhD studies on nitrogen cycling were part of the Fynbos Biome project which was one of the big South African funded ecosystem projects. After completing my PhD in 1985 I spent a post-doctoral year in Professor John Pate’s laboratory in Western Australia. The parallels of the West Australian kwongan vegetation with our own fynbos are striking and I felt very much at home working on nutrition and seed characteristics of Banksia spp. I then returned to a lecturing position at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg where I ran the first year biology courses. This position only lasted 18 months since I was recruited back to the University of Cape Town in 1988 to head up the teaching and research thrust in plant physiological ecology. I have had the opportunity of spending two periods of sabbatical leave overseas. The first was with Professor Walt Oechel's group in San Diego during 1994 and the second, in 2002, with the Environmental Biology Group at Research School of Biological Sciences at the Australian National University. In 2003 I accepted the Chair in Environmental Management at ECU.

Current Professional Activities

Head, Centre for Ecosystem Management, Edith Cowan University
Associate Editor Austral Ecology
Editorial Advisory Panel African Journal of Range & Forage Science
http://www.nisc.co.za/

Current Research Interests

Nutrition of plants from low nutrient environments.
Plant response to herbivory.
Nutrient cycling in natural ecosystems and commercial forestry plantation.
Stable isotope ecology.
Impacts of elevated CO2 on plants.
Mycorrhizas in natural ecosystems.
Water use efficiency of forest species.
The role of nitrogen fixing organisms in ecosystem functioning.
Ecosystem impacts of alien plant invasions.
Impact of atmospheric pollutants on ecosystems.
Foraging ecology of Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos.
Impacts of water abstraction on groundwater dependent vegetation.

Recent Publications

Archibald, S., Bond, W.J., Stock, W.D. & Fairbanks, D.H.K. (2005). Shaping the landscape: Fire-grazer interactions in an African savanna. Ecological Applications 15: 96-109.

Stock, W.D., Ludwig, F., Morrow, C.D., Midgley, G.F., Wand, S.J.E., Allsopp, N & Bell, T.L. (2005). Long-term effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on species composition and productivity of a southern African C4 dominated grassland in the vicinity of a CO₂ exhalation. Plant Ecology. 178: 211 -224.

Hattas, D., Stock, W.D., Mabusela, W.T. & Green I.R. (2005). Phytochemical changes in leaves of sub-tropical grasses and fynbos shrubs at elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Global and Planetary Change. 47: 181 -192.

Hawkins, H. J., Wolf, G. & Stock, W.D. (2005). Cluster roots of Leucadendron laureolum (Proteaceae) and Lupinus albus (Fabaceae) take up glycine intact: an adaptive strategy to low mineral N in soils? Annals of Botany 96: 1275 - 1282.

Botha, S. & Stock, W.D. (2005). Stable isotope composition of faeces as an indicator of seasonal diet selection in wild herbivores in southern Africa. South African Journal of Science 101: 371 – 374.

Phoenix, G.K., Hicks, W.K., Cinderby, S., Kuylenstierna, J.C.I., Stock W.D., Dentener, F.J., Giller, K.E., Austin, A.T., Lefroy, R.D.B., Gimeno, B.S., Ashmore, M.R. & Ineson, P. (2006). Atmospheric nitrogen deposition in world biodiversity hotspots: the need for a greater global perspective in assessing N deposition impacts. Global Change Biology 12: 1 – 7. DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01104.x.

Stock, W.D. & Evans, J.R. (2006). Effects of water availability, nitrogen supply and atmospheric CO₂ concentrations on plant nitrogen natural abundance values. Functional Plant Biology 33: 219 – 227.

Yelenik, S.G., Stock, W.D. & Richardson, D.M. (2007). Differential effects of N-fixing exotic plants on ecosystem function. Biological Invasions 9: 117 – 125. Doi: 10.1007/s10530-006-0008-3.

Forrester, D.I., Schortemeyer, M., Stock, W.D. Bauhus, J., Khanna, P.K. & Cowie, A.L. (2007). Assessing nitrogen fixation in a mixed-species plantation of Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia mearnsii. Tree Physiol. 27: 1319 -1328.

Waldram, M.S., Bond, W.J. & Stock, W.D. (2008) Ecological Engineering by a mega-grazer: White rhino impacts on a South African savanna. Ecosystems 11: 101 – 112. Doi: 10.1007/s10021-007-9109.9.

Craine, J.M., Morrow, C. & Stock, W.D. (2008) Nutrient concentration ratios and co-limitation in South African grasslands. New Phytologist 179: 829-836. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02513.x.

Canham, C.A., Froend, R.H. & Stock, W.D. (2009) Water stress vulnerability of four Banksia species in contrasting ecohydrological habitats on the Gnangara Mound, Western Australia. Plant, Cell and Environment. 32: 64-72. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01904.x.

Wilson, D, Stock, W.D. & Hedderson T. (2009) Historical nitrogen content of bryophyte tissue as an indicator of increased nitrogen deposition in the Cape Metropolitan Area, South Africa. Environmental Pollution.157: 938-945. DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2008.10.021.

Craine, J., Ballantyne, F., Peel, M. Zambatis, N., Morrow, C. & Stock, W.D. (in press) Grazing and landscape controls on nitrogen availability across 330 South African savanna sites. Austral Ecology 00: 00-00. DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2009.01978.x.

Stock, W.D., Bond, W.J. & Van De Vijver, C.A.D.M. (in press) Herbivore versus nutrient control of lawn and bunch grass distributions in a southern African savanna. Plant Ecology 00: 00-00. DOI: 10.1007/s11258-009-9621-4.

Staver, A.C., Bond, W.J., Stock, W.D., Van Rensburg, S. & Waldram, M. (in press) Browsing and fire interact to suppress tree density in an African savanna. Ecological Applications 00: 00-00.

Craine, J. M., A. J. Elmore, M. P. M. Aidar, M. Bustamante, T. E. Dawson, E. A. Hobbie, A. Kahmen, M. C. Mack, K. K. McLauchlan, A. Michelsen, G. B. Nardoto, L. H. Pardo, J. Peñuelas, P. B. Reich, E. A. G. Schuur, W. D. Stock, P. H. Templer, R. A. Virginia, J. M. Welker, and I. J. Wright. (in press). Global patterns of foliar nitrogen isotopes and their relationships with climate, mycorrhizal fungi, foliar nutrient concentrations, and nitrogen availability. New Phytologist 00: 00-00.