Dylan Bristol is a PhD candidate in the Cumberland Plain Research Program, studying the interactions within the belowground ecosystem and their influence on aboveground plant health. He evaluates soil biology, physico-chemical properties, and functional processes of soil in relation to native diversity in the Cumberland Plain Woodland.

This research is critical in aiding the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plain as he is benchmarking a wide variety of soil properties, biology and functions at sites dominated by natives and exotics to determine what characterises a healthy and degraded Cumberland Plain Woodland ecosystem. This research also looks at the resistance and resilience of soil biology and functions to degradation such as soil pollution and climate change.