DrYvonne Davila

Dr Yvonne Davila leads the Pollination Ecology and Plant Conservation lab which focuses on: the ecology and conservation of plant-pollinator relationships, native plant reproductive ecology, and understanding how plant-pollinator interactions contribute to ecosystem function. Yvonne uses a combination of field-based pollination biology, community ecology and network analyses to investigate the complex responses of flowering plants and their pollinator communities to environmental change and to inform conservation approaches. Yvonne has a broad interest in plant ecology across a range of habitats and community types. She has supervised several research students and contributed to global research teams. Yvonne has published in several high impact journals including Nature, Nature Plants, Nature Ecology and Evolution, Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, and Austral Ecology. 

Yvonne is a member of the editorial board of Austral Ecology: A journal of Ecology of the Southern Hemisphere.

Yvonne has also conducted education research exploring effective first year transition strategies and developing academic literacies in science, designing inclusive science curricula, and discipline specific learning approaches in STEM. She has published a book chapter and in high impact education journals such as Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, International Journal for Academic Development, and Anatomical Sciences Education.

PROJECTS AND COLLABORATORS:

• Investigating reproductive strategies and pollination to guide management of threatened Australian flora (Prostanthera). Collaborators: Dr Trevor Wilson (National Herbarium of NSW, Botanic Gardens of Sydney) and Dr Nathan Emery (Australian PlantBank, Botanic Gardens of Sydney).
• Conservation, reproductive ecology and seed biology of Australian flora. Collaborator: Dr Nathan Emery (Australian PlantBank, Botanic Gardens of Sydney).
• How local biodiversity shapes reproduction and herbivory in an invasive plant. Collaborator: Dr Zoe Xirocostas (School of Life Sciences, UTS)
• Urban Climate and Ecology Research Group: Assoc. Prof. Brad Murray, Dr Zoe Xirocostas (School of Life Sciences, UTS)
• Igniting the passion for science with the plant barbeque and measuring the flammability of species from grassy box gum communities. Collaborators: Assoc. Prof. Tim Curran (Lincoln University, NZ), Assoc. Prof. Brad Murray (UTS), North West Local Land Services.

CURRENT FUNDING:

• Australian Flora Foundation
• Inner West Council

RESEARCH STUDENT SUPERVISION:
Yvonne has supervised the following PhD, Honours and undergraduate internship students:

2026-present Tingting Wang, PhD (UTS): Compound impacts of extreme heat and drought on carbon, water and energy cycling in semi-arid ecosystems of central Australia.

2026 Ben Russell, B Science (Environmental Science) (Honours) (UTS): From floods to fluxes: Linking leaf traits, canopy structure, and vegetation composition across semi-arid ecosystems after extreme rainfall

2026 Joni McGarry, B Science (Environmental Science) (Honours) (UTS): Estimating the passive restoration potential of Lantana camara stands across varying levels of urbanisation

2025 Tim Brenner, third-year UG Science internship (UTS): The pollination ecology and the spatial and temporal factors impacting a threatened Prostanthera population. 

2025 Arc Rosales, third-year UG Science internship (UTS): Understanding pollination, vegetation and density patterns to inform conservation on Prostanthera species.

2025 Daisy Parmenter, third-year UG Science internship (UTS): Investigating drivers of eco-anxiety in the Greater Sydney Region.

2024-present Molly Wallace, PhD (UTS): Cultural Fire analysis of NSW, connection to land, stories and history.

2024-2025 Leon Sims, B Science (Environmental Science) (Honours) (UTS): Alpine microclimatic variation influences plant-pollinator networks through flowering community and pollinator visitation. 

2024 Rohan Chretien, third-year UG Science internship (UTS): Ecology of Lantana camara in the Sydney region.

2022-2023 Jessi Drew-Smythe, B Science (Environmental Science) (Honours) (UTS): Plant-pollinator interactions and diversity in mine site rehabilitation areas of the Illawarra region, NSW. 

2022 Catherine Sinclair, third-year UG Science internship (UTS): Investigating the relationships between ‘Urban Heat Island’ phenomenon, flower temperature and plant-pollinator interactions.

2021 Jessi Drew-Smythe, third-year UG Science internship (UTS): Community and canopy: Perceptions of trees in the eastern Australian urban context.

2021 Nour El Zmeter, B Science (Honours) (UTS): Investigating the practice of science academics in teaching and embedding the Indigenous Graduate Attribute.

2019 Elham Hafiz, second-year UG Science internship (UTS): Designing Inclusive Science Curriculum (DISC).

2010-2013 Tony Popic, PhD (USYD): Pollination networks: dynamic responses to rain-driven resource pulses.

2008 Tony Popic, B Science (Honours) (USYD): Plant-Pollinator Networks in an Arid Sand Dune Habitat.

2008 Cecilia Phu, B Science (Honours) (USYD): Life history evolution in Trachymene: an investigation of life history trait variation in a group of Australian herbs.