Connecting physiology and ecology
Mooney earned his doctorate at Duke in 1960, joined UCLA that year and moved to Stanford in 1968. His research on plant responses to environmental conditions connected physiological processes with how species perform in ecological communities.
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Water, growth and reproduction
A 1985 study he coauthored examined resource allocation in Diplacus aurantiacus in coastal central California. At the experimental site, water strongly limited both growth and reproduction, while added nutrients alone had little effect. Photosynthesis within reproductive structures helped reduce their competition with growth for carbon.
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Invasion as an evolutionary process
Mooney and E. E. Cleland’s 2001 work examined how invasive species can alter native evolutionary pathways through competition, predation, hybridization and other interactions. Invaders themselves also evolve in their new environments, making biological invasion a question about changing interactions as well as species gains and losses.
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Bringing research into assessments
Mooney helped coordinate the 1995 Global Biodiversity Assessment and cochaired the assessment panel of the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. His international work also included the Global Invasive Species Programme and the International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme, connecting research across regions and disciplines.
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