Virtually all of Professor Murdoch's research is related to the broad question: How are populations regulated in abundance? The question extends naturally, however, to the dynamics of communities. He is especially interested in the mechanisms that maintain the stability of interacting consumer and resource populations when the consumer keeps the resource population far below the level set by its resources.

Professor Murdoch is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Gugenheim Fellow and received the President's award fromteh American Society of Naturalists, along with receiving several other awards and distinguished positions.