Lachlan Jones

Dr Lachlan Jones

Agricultural ecologist

Gulbali Institute

Biography

My career began at the University of Queensland where I studied a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Chemistry. I remained at UQ for my Honours (2015) and PhD (2016-2020) under Prof Gimme Walter and Dr Michelle Rafter working on host associations of generalist herbivores, particularly their host plant recognition and egg-laying behaviour. I worked at CSIRO as a research assistant in weed biocontrol for 2½ years while on the side studied age progression of colony tasks in stingless bees with James Hereward and Tobias Smith. During the second half of 2022 I did a short postdoc at the University of New England working on pollination in apple orchards with Romina Rader’s lab. In 2023 I went to the US as a Fulbright Scholar and worked for 8½ months on solitary bees and climate change with Prof Rebecca Irwin at North Carolina State University and the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. I then worked with Prof Mark Brown at Royal Holloway University of London on medical effects of heather nectar compounds for protecting bumblebees from gut parasites. I returned to Australia to start my current role on sesame pests and weeds with Geoff Gurr in November 2024.

Research
  • Entomology
  • Biological Control
  • Crop protection
  • Insect-plant interactions
  • Insect behaviour
Publications
Full publications list on CRO

Recent  Publications

  • Jones, L., Feng, X., O'Rourke, J., Stevenson, P. C., & Brown, M. J. F. (2025). Heather nectar extracts reduce within-colony epidemics of the bumblebee parasite Crithidia bombi. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 292(2061), 1-10. Article 20251865. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.1865
  • Jones, L., Liu, J., & Gurr, G. (2025). Pests and beneficial insects of Australia's incipient sesame industry. Abstract from The 5th Combined Australian and New Zealand Entomological Societies Conference, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
  • Adorada, D. L., Jones, L. C., Liu, J., & Gurr, G. M. (2025). Sesame diseases and pests: Assessment of threats to the establishment of an Australian industry. Crops, 5(4), 1-44. Article 44. https://doi.org/10.3390/crops5040044
  • Jones, L. C., Lau, I. H., Smith, T. J., Walter, G. H., & Hereward, J. P. (2024). Age-related task progression in two Australian Tetragonula stingless bees. Insectes Sociaux, 71(3), 309–322. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-024-00942-3
  • Jones, L. C. (2022). Insects allocate eggs adaptively according to plant age, stress, disease or damage. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 289(1978), 20220831. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0831