David Wardle is a Professor of Soil and Plant Ecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Umeå, Sweden. His research explores the links between aboveground and belowground communities in terrestrial ecosystems and the resulting impact on ecosystem functioning. His current projects focus on ecosystem impacts of invasive biota; consequences of wildfire; ecological changes across successional, retrogressive and elevational gradients; aspects of island ecology; and the ecological role of forest understory vegetation. He has authored two books on aboveground-belowground linkages. He is a Wallenberg Scholar as well as an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.