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Member of project(s):3
Pia is a postdoc working with the Quantitative and Applied Ecology Group at the University of Melbourne, focusing on conservation planning and management in heavily modified systems. In particular, she is aiming to determine how we should prioritise where funds for connectivity conservation are spent, and the kinds of actions they are spent on, to ensure an effective increase in dispersal within and across landscapes. In addition, with others at the Australian Centre for Urban Ecology (ARCUE), she is also focussing on how we can plan for urban growth in a way which minimises impact on the species that inhabit our cities, particularly microbats."
My research focus is in two main areas:
1. Landscape ecology (Project 1.4a), particularly
~ What affects meso-scale diversity in altered landscapes: how different large-scale patterns of clearing, fire, forest management alter the capacity of landscapes to support species and conversely, how these patterns can be manipulated to increase meso-scale diversity; and
~Processes underlying patterns of individual species distribution in human-modified landscapes, such as resource availability and interspecific interactions (for example, with aggressive competitors)
2. Conservation policy, particularly development of defensible and transparent systems for accounting for conservation gains and losses such as in biod ...
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My research revolves around decision theory and decision science. While I am interested in all forms of environmental decision-making my recent work falls into two key areas – monitoring and adaptive management and the management of multiple interacting species (see below for more details). As a NERP researcher I am keen on infusing a structured and explicit approach to decision-making into environmental problems. NERP colleagues and I run workshops on structured decision-making, and I also facilitate the decision process for individual problems within SEWPAC. Email me to discuss getting assistance with a particular decisions problem, or you are interested in my work on monitoring, adaptive management or the management of multiple species and threats.
Monitoring and Adaptive management...
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Melinda's research is focused primarily on invertebrates and their management. She has interests in coextinction (extinction of host-dependent taxa with or before their host species), restoration, threatened taxa, refugia, biogeography and taxonomy. Melinda is also interested in the consequences for Australia's invertebrates in a changing climate, and possible management strategies.
Sam is broadly interested in how we make decisions to allocate resources to conservation projects. He uses mathematical optimization tools to figure out the best way to manage resources over time to achieve a conservation goal. Sam uses solution techniques drawn from operations research and artificial intelligence to solve these problems. Within the NERP hub, Sam’s postdoc fits into two projects: building lasting biodiversity assets, and monitoring for adaptive management. The postdoc is focussed on the adaptive management of dynamic networks. This means he is developing new methods to apply cutting-edge optimization tools to manage ecological networks that change over time. His current project is to determine how to manage migratory birds using the East Asia-Australasia flyway under uncertainty about the extent of fut ...
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My role in the Hub is to bring economics strongly into the research program. I lead the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy at UWA, which has broad expertise and experience in applying economics to environmental problems. We specialise in approaches that integrate scientific, social and policy information within an economic framework to provide information that supports sound decision making about environmental issues. Our work encompasses both financial and intangible environmental outcomes of environmental changes, and risks as well as benefits.
I am directly involved in several projects in the NERP hub. Project 5.3 is attempting to develop a new approa ...
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Keren is a PhD candidate interested in integrating ecological insights into policy and planning for improved decision making and conservation outcomes. She currently investigates mining-related disturbances in relatively intact landscapes with a focus on ‘enigmatic ecological impacts’: ecological impacts of development that are not systematically accounted for in impact evaluations, and that undermine the potential for successful impact mitigation. Keren’s work is aimed at informing improved decisions regarding planning, approving, managing and offsetting extensive developments in the Great Western Woodlands, and other intact landscapes elsewhere. Keren’s methods include spatial analysis, monitoring predator activity using motion-sensor cameras and spoor detection, and application of the landscape functional an ...
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Claire's work revolves around improving the way we manage migratory and nomadic species in Australia. In collaboration with SEWPaC, she is exploring the effects of current and potential legislation on the management of migratory species. In addition to this she is discovering ways to prioritise conservation actions for nomadic species, using outback Australia as a case study.
Justine Shaw is a postdoctoral fellow researching conservation decision making in the terrestrial Antarctica and sub-Antarctic, with a particular focus on non-native species. Her position is a collaborative one between EDG, the University of Queensland and the Australian Antarctic Division. Justine is currently examining the risks posed by non-native species to Antarctic protected areas, examining the interactions between indigenous and non-native species, and investigating how invasive species influence ecosystem function. Justine is interested in the role of invasive vertebrates as drivers of invasive plant distribution and abundance, and how these change over time, space and management regimes. She is interested in ways of dealing with uncertainty in large scale eradication attempts.
Her previous postdoc ...
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