Miriam Goosem

Miriam is an ecologist interested in a wide range of human impacts on rainforests, particularly habitat fragmentation by clearing, roads and powerline clearings. She has been researching road impacts in rainforest for 25 years, particularly on mammals, birds, and amphibians, and has instituted a number of mitigation measures which have been monitored for effectiveness over long periods. She is interested in the obvious effects of roads and powerline clearings, such as roadkill, but also in more subtle effects such as road noise, barrier effects and habitat effects such as edge changes in microclimate, vegetation and faunal communities. She is globally recognised as an expert in rainforest road ecology.

Fragmentation of habitat through clearing is another aspect of Miriam's research, which currently is examining the role of secondary forests in restoring rainforest diversity, carbon storage and connectivity.

Miriam graduated with her PhD in 2000 from JCU and has been employed in research positions at JCU since then. She also has coordinated, lectured and organised field work, tutorials and assessments in subjects about human impacts in protected areas and environmental impact assessment.