Dr Julia Cooke

Associate Dean, External Engagement And Enterprise, Stem

School of Environment, Earth & Ecosystem Sciences

julia.cooke@open.ac.uk

ORCID Profile

Biography

Professional biography

I am a plant ecologist, who uses traits to explore plant ecological strategies, with a primary interest in plant silicon. I teach at all undergraduate levels, with both face to face and distance teaching experience and specialise in engaging, innovative approaches encouraging student-led exploration and learning.

Research

I am a plant functional ecologist, interested in the different roles species play in ecosystems. I use plant trait analysis as a powerful tool to compare the functions of different species and describe ecological strategies.

In brief, my interests are:

silicon functional ecology
invasive plant biology
plant-insect interactions
plant trait analysis
comparative ecology
growth-trait relationships
plant physiology and climate change

A main research interest is the functional ecology of plant silicon, that is, how plants use silicon. I brought together information from agronomy and palaeontology to argue that plant ecology is more siliceous than we realise (Cooke and Leishman, 2010), and contributed to a more quantitative, ecoogical exploration of why plants silicify (de Tombeur et al 2022). I illutrated that silicon could be part of the leaf dry mass economics spectrum, by showing Si accumulation is higher in shorter lived leaves (Cooke and Leishman, 2011). I combined data from multiple studies, in meta-analyses, to show clear patterns in responses of stressed plants to silicon fertiliser (Cooke and Leishman, 2016), that stress alters the role of silicon in controlling water movement (Cooke and Carey, 2023), and silicon impacts chewing herbivores more that sap suckers (Johnson et al, 2024). Working with students, we showed that flowers accumulate silicon and suggests potential functions (Schoelynck et al. 2023) and how Si isotpes contribute understanding Si use in papyrus (Lodi et al, in review). In 2016 I co-edited two journal special issues on plant silicon in Functional Ecology and Frontiers in Plant Sciences and podcasts about my siliceous research are here and here. I also co-manage Siliceous Plants, a website about plant silicon research.

My research on invasive species encompasses the introduction and spread (Cooke, Groves and Ash, 2011) and population dynamics (Cooke, Ash and Groves, 2012) of an Australian semi-arid weed (Ward's Weed, Carrichtera annua), as well as carbon capture (Leishman, Thompson and Cooke, 2009), growth (Leishman, Cooke and Richardson, 2014) and reproductive (Mason et al, 2008) strategies of diverse weeds across the globe. I contributed to the study of the rapid evolution of leaf physiology in a weedy beach daisy (Brandenburger et al. 2019).

At the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at the University of Western Sydney, we examined the effects of elevated CO₂ on photosynthesis in trees (Gimeno et al, 2015) and understorey plants (Pathare et al, 2017) at the EucFACE facility, phosphorus recycling in photorespiration (Ellsworth et al, 2014) and determinants of stomatal conductance in forest systems. With Dr Ian Wright, I examined changes in relationships between leaf traits, biomass allocation and tree growth rates in savannah ecosystems (Wright et al, 2018). Working with Prof. Angela Moles at the University of New South Wales we explored if Australia is different to other continents (Flores-Moreno et al. 2023), and studied how to make Christmas trees last longer with school students (Akres et al. 2016).

I have also published on scribbly gum moths (Cooke and Edwards, 2007), pitcher plants (Cooke, 2010), and algal balls (Cooke et al, 2015).

Teaching

I am a Senior Fellow of AdvanceHE. I co-led a horizon scan of emerging challenges and solutions in teaching and learning in ecology (Cooke et al, 2020) and a book chapter on ethics in fieldwork teaching (in press). I sit on the British Ecological Society's Education and Careers Committee (and was interim Chair in 2024) and Teachign and Learning Group. I am also part of the committee (since 2020) which organises an annual Enhancing Fieldwork Learning Showcase.

I taught at Macquarie University, Sydney, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, from 2012-2015. At The Open University, I have been involved in the production of new science modules and pioneering ways of increasing access to field studies for distance education students through remotely-accessed student-led field investigations (fieldcasts). As part of The Fieldcast Team, I won a national Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) in 2024.

112 Science: concepts and practice

I was involved in writing and developing this module as part of the module production team
Developed Space-Time scales (Space-Time Explorer, an interactive featuring 13 mini-documentaries with associated activities), Environmental Cycles (FluxCity interactive), and Ecological Interactions.

S206 /SXF206 Environmental Science

Contributed to residential field schools, and I am on the module production team for S226
Developed fieldcasts which teach the process of an ecological investigation and increase access to field work. More about the fieldcasts is available here and here.

SDT306 Environment: Response to Change

I was involved in writing and developing this module as part of the module production team
Co-designed and wrote the Biodiversity and Conservation block with Phil Wheeler
Developed the Dinner Plate Diversity interactive - an interactive that plots of the species you eat on a circular phylogenetic tree of edible species. You can access this interactive as part of a free OpenLearn module.

Impact and engagement

I regularly contribute to external engagement activities including:

I was a speaker in 2016 for Soapbox Science Milton Keynes which brings science to the streets and increases the visibility of women in science, and led the local team in 2018 and 2019.
The Northern Ireland Science Festival and Science Uncovered at the Ulster Museum, Belfast
In Situ Science and On The Ledge podcasts

I am a committee member of the British Ecological Society Teaching and Learning Group, acting Chair the BES Education and Careers committee and am an associate editor for Functional Ecology.

As an academic advisor for OU-BBC co-productions I contributed to multi-award winning The Green Planet and Earth from Space, as well as the OU posters and articles that accompany the series. As Media Fellow (2019-2023), was responsible for co‐ordinating and leading free learning and broadcast in the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Faculty. I supported academic contributions to the television programmes Springwatch, Frozen Planet 2, Perfect Planet, The Universe, Our Coast, Greta Thunberg: A year to save the world, Countryfile: Plant Britain, The Real CSI, The Truth About Your Immune System and Wild Isles as well as Inside Science on Radio 4.

I am the author of a children's book, My Little World, in which a child uncovers a whole new world of little animals and plants when they can’t see the bigger things the grown-ups see. Written in verse and with vivid, accurate illustrations by Marjorie Crosby-Fairall, the book was published by Omnibus Books (A Division of Scholastic Australia) ISBN: 9781862917903 (hbk). My Little World was short-listed for the 2012 Environment Award for Children’s Literature by the Wilderness Society and is listed on the Premier’s Reading Challenge lists for New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

Projects

CENTA 2017 intake

CENTA is a geographically and scientifically coherent consortium offering a wide range of excellent NERC science embedded in a vibrant multidisciplinary environment. The Universities (Birmingham, Leicester, Loughborough, Open and Warwick) and Institutes (British Geological Survey and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) have a strong track record of producing PhD graduates fit for further research or other relevant employment. The Open University STEM Faculty has match-funded 3 studentships in the 2017 intake.