Dr Bell is a Research Officer in the Weed Research Unit of the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI), based in Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute. She joined the DPI in 2022 to conduct research on environmental DNA of weeds. Prior to that, she was a lecturer in plant ecology at the University of Western Australia, joint appointment with CSIRO Health & Biosecurity from 2016-2021. She completed her PhD at the University of Queensland in entomology. Through subsequent postdoctoral positions, her research interests diverged into plant-insect interactions, plant ecology, and invasion biology.

Dr Bell’s research uses methods from environmental DNA, genetics/genomics, and biogeography to investigate questions in biosecurity, invasion biology, plant-animal interactions and plant evolution. Key research interests are within three main themes:

• Using environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect invasive species, particularly when they are rare in the environment. This is important for biosecurity because it enables early detection of new incursions, and the validation of eradication programs. Current focus is on detection of aquatic weeds from water samples, as well as method development for detection of terrestrial weeds.
• Using DNA metabarcoding for the species-level identification of the community composition of ecosystems and to detect interactions between species. Two areas of focus of this work have been using pollen DNA to detect plant-pollinator interactions and using faecal DNA to detect diet species of herbivores.
• Tracing the geographic history of invasive species and ancient introductions of culturally important species using population genetics and biogeography, to understand where a species come from, when, and why the species was introduced. Understanding introduction pathways is important for optimising biosecurity measures. Identifying source populations in the native range may help with obtaining more effective biological control agents, while also improving our understanding of the coevolution of host plants and their natural enemies.