Rate My Professor Katharine J. M. Dickinson

Katharine J. M. Dickinson is a Professor in the Botany/Ecology Programme within the Division of Sciences at the University of Otago. She obtained her PhD in 1985 from the University of Tasmania, with a thesis examining vegetation and fuel dynamics following clearfelling of dry Eucalypt forests on Dolerite in Southeastern Tasmania. Upon joining the University of Otago, she progressed through academic ranks to become a full professor. Dickinson formerly served as Head of the Department of Botany and directed the Ecology Teaching Programme from 2000 to 2005, overseeing the redesign of the undergraduate curriculum into cohesive, research-informed, team-taught courses that emphasize student inquiry and learning by doing. She has supervised doctoral students in botany, ecology, and zoology. Her excellence in teaching was nationally recognized with the Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching in 2007. In 2009, she received the Te Tohu Taiao Award for ecological excellence from the New Zealand Ecological Society.

Dickinson's research specializations encompass plant ecology, community ecology, conservation ecology, and restoration ecology. Her academic interests include ecological systems, habitat quality, biodiversity conservation, plant-animal interactions, mountain systems, non-forest ecosystems, and urban biodiversity. Notable contributions address pollinator dynamics, alpine plant diversity, and factors influencing gardening for wildlife. Key publications include "Does native invertebrate diversity reflect native plant diversity? A case study from New Zealand and implications for conservation" in Biological Conservation (1998), "Arthropod morphospecies versus taxonomic species: a case study with Araneae, Coleoptera, and Lepidoptera" in Conservation Biology (2002), "Facilitative plant interactions and climate simultaneously drive alpine plant diversity" in Ecology Letters (2014), "Thresholds for adding degraded tropical forest to the conservation estate" in Nature (2024), and "An examination of the factors influencing engagement in gardening for wildlife" in Biological Conservation (2023). With over 130 publications and more than 3,700 citations, her work has significantly impacted ecological research and conservation practices.