Dr. Dongbo Li

Profile

The natural world is undergoing profound environmental stress. Habitat fragmentation, land-use change, and global warming are reshaping how species interact, persist and function within ecosystems. My research aims to understand how populations and communities respond to stress, and how we can safeguard the ecological interactions, such as plant-pollinator and host–parasitoid, that underpin biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.

I am an experimental ecologist, currently a visiting research fellow at University of Leeds. My work spans multiple biological systems, from soil Collembola and insect pollinators to moths–parasitoids. Across these systems, I use laboratory- and field-controlled experiments with ecological theories to explore how populations and their interactions respond to environmental change. I am particularly interested in the mechanisms that allow species to persist or collapse.

I completed my PhD at University of Bristol, where I investigated wildlife corridors both as a theoretical concept and as a practical conservation tool, asking how landscape connectivity can support pollinator communities and ecosystem services. I completed my first postdoc in the Sait Lab, where I focused on how climate warming and climatic extremes shape host–parasitoid interactions, with implications for population stability, cyclical dynamics, and predatory-prey oscillations. Now I’m taking a career break as a visting fellow.

Ultimately, my goal is to contribute knowledge that helps build landscapes and management strategies capable of supporting biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in a rapidly changing world.

Professional memberships

• British Ecological Society 2019-
• Ecological Society of America 2025-