She runs a lab within the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a focus on the interactions that structure plant and microbial communities in space and time, and how global change alters these interactions with consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem function. She studies ecology using a framework that integrates across a variety of disciplines – community ecology, microbial ecology, ecosystem ecology, invasion biology – and utilises a broad range of statistical modelling, GIS, and molecular techniques. Emily has used this framework to ask questions about plant-soil feedbacks, plant population dynamics, woody encroachment, and invasive species spread.