Zoology & Ecology

Saul Chemonges

Saul Chemonges

Daniel Montesinos Torres

Daniel Montesinos Torres

Claire Gely

Claire Gely

Ben Hirsch

Ben Hirsch

Stephen Williams

Stephen Williams

Myles Menz

Myles Menz

Martijn van de Pol

Martijn van de Pol

Slade Allen-Ankins

Slade Allen-Ankins

Noel Preece

Noel Preece

Conrad Hoskin

Conrad Hoskin

Weed impacts on ten of the most threatened plant species of the Australian wet tropics
Daniel Montesinos Torres
01 Jan 2025 - 31 Dec 2027
One commonly stated threat to plant species conservation is displacement by invasive plants. However, very little quantitative information is available about the actual presence, abundance, and impact of invasives on individual threatened plant species. We have selected ten of the most threatened plant species of the wet tropics for which there are anecdotal reports of threats by invasives, as reported by the Species Profile and Threats Database. This project will remove or minimise immediate weed threats for ten of the most threatened species in the wet tropics, it will also establish a baseline for measuring impacts of invasive plants on plant conservation, for which there is currently a dearth of quantitative information, and it will develop a weed risk assessment tool to prioritize management interventions for weed threats.
Genetic sequencing analysis of Nangur spiny skink tissue samples to inform the captive breeding program
Conrad Hoskin
20 Jan 2025 - 31 May 2025
This project will be undertaken as laboratory analysis of genetic sequencing data of 41 captive N. spinosa tissue samples that will inform pairing for the captive breeding program at the Walkabout Creek Discovery Centre captive breeding facility.
Genetic sequencing analysis of Nangur spiny skink tissue samples to inform the captive breeding program
Conrad Hoskin
20 Jan 2025 - 31 May 2025
This project will be undertaken as laboratory analysis of genetic sequencing data of 41 captive N. spinosa tissue samples that will inform pairing for the captive breeding program at the Walkabout Creek Discovery Centre captive breeding facility.
Testing a biopesticide on yellow crazy ants
Peter Yeeles
28 Feb 2025 - 29 Aug 2025
This project will test the acute toxicity of a newly developed biopesticide on yellow crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes). Synthetic pesticides are currently used for yellow crazy ant management, but have some significant drawbacks including a high risk of non-target effects. Biopesticides have scope for minimising non-target impacts with lower eco-toxological risk profiles than their synthetic counterparts.
Testing a biopesticide on yellow crazy ants
Peter Yeeles
28 Feb 2025 - 29 Aug 2025
This project will test the acute toxicity of a newly developed biopesticide on yellow crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes). Synthetic pesticides are currently used for yellow crazy ant management, but have some significant drawbacks including a high risk of non-target effects. Biopesticides have scope for minimising non-target impacts with lower eco-toxological risk profiles than their synthetic counterparts.
Do tropical conifers differ fundamentally from angiosperms in CO2 response?
Lucas Cernusak
01 Jan 2025 - 31 Dec 2027
ARC Discovery Expression of Interest - DP250100943
Assessing recovery in threatened Australian amphibians and reptiles
Conrad Hoskin
01 Jan 2025 - 31 Dec 2027
Biodiversity loss is occurring at unprecedented levels. Worldwide, human activities have ushered in the sixth mass extinction event, and driven swathes of species to the brink of extinction. In Australia, the condition of the environment is poor and declining, with the key threats to biodiversity being habitat loss, invasive species, altered fire regimes, and climate change. As a result, Australia is both a biodiversity hotspot, with 8% of the world’s species, and an extinction hotspot with 100 confirmed extinctions, and a further ~2,000 species threatened with extinction. For 60 years, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species has provided the global standard approach for assessing the extinction risk of species. The IUCN Red List provides an internationally accepted language for assessing the likelihood of a species going extinct, that can be used across all plant and animal groups, and regions of Earth. Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) uses the IUCN Red List methodology to determine its list of threatened species. But whilst the IUCN Red List is an extremely effective way in which to assess a species’ risk of extinction, it was not designed to assess species recovery nor assess the value and effectiveness of conservation actions. Why is measuring species recovery important? Avoiding extinction is only the first stage of successful conservation—ultimate success requires maintaining viable and functional populations, and achieving the recovery of declining and depleted populations. Indeed, the Federal Government’s Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032 is focused on more than simply preventing new extinctions, but also ensuring that threatened species are “on track for improved trajectory” (2027 Target 1). However, recent attempts to measure recovery of the Australian fauna, using de-listing under IUCN Red List criteria as a proxy for recovery, have proved extremely controversial. Crucially, we argue that this is because such studies have been using the wrong approach to measure species recovery. In fact, there is a much more meaningful method for measuring species recovery, recently developed and tested by the international conservation community: the IUCN’s Green Status of Species (GSS). The GSS metrics complement the IUCN Red List, extending its existing conservation language, ecological theory, and criteria to assess how far a species is from being fully recovered (Fig. 1). The GSS also provides a way to determine the benefit of past and future conservation efforts. Critically, although the GSS approach has been adopted under the international Convention on Biological Diversity as a key indicator for measuring species recovery, it is yet to be integrated into the Australian EPBC Act or state-based conservation policy, nor any other country’s legislation.
Assessing recovery in threatened Australian amphibians and reptiles
Conrad Hoskin
01 Jan 2025 - 31 Dec 2027
Biodiversity loss is occurring at unprecedented levels. Worldwide, human activities have ushered in the sixth mass extinction event, and driven swathes of species to the brink of extinction. In Australia, the condition of the environment is poor and declining, with the key threats to biodiversity being habitat loss, invasive species, altered fire regimes, and climate change. As a result, Australia is both a biodiversity hotspot, with 8% of the world’s species, and an extinction hotspot with 100 confirmed extinctions, and a further ~2,000 species threatened with extinction. For 60 years, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species has provided the global standard approach for assessing the extinction risk of species. The IUCN Red List provides an internationally accepted language for assessing the likelihood of a species going extinct, that can be used across all plant and animal groups, and regions of Earth. Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) uses the IUCN Red List methodology to determine its list of threatened species. But whilst the IUCN Red List is an extremely effective way in which to assess a species’ risk of extinction, it was not designed to assess species recovery nor assess the value and effectiveness of conservation actions. Why is measuring species recovery important? Avoiding extinction is only the first stage of successful conservation—ultimate success requires maintaining viable and functional populations, and achieving the recovery of declining and depleted populations. Indeed, the Federal Government’s Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032 is focused on more than simply preventing new extinctions, but also ensuring that threatened species are “on track for improved trajectory” (2027 Target 1). However, recent attempts to measure recovery of the Australian fauna, using de-listing under IUCN Red List criteria as a proxy for recovery, have proved extremely controversial. Crucially, we argue that this is because such studies have been using the wrong approach to measure species recovery. In fact, there is a much more meaningful method for measuring species recovery, recently developed and tested by the international conservation community: the IUCN’s Green Status of Species (GSS). The GSS metrics complement the IUCN Red List, extending its existing conservation language, ecological theory, and criteria to assess how far a species is from being fully recovered (Fig. 1). The GSS also provides a way to determine the benefit of past and future conservation efforts. Critically, although the GSS approach has been adopted under the international Convention on Biological Diversity as a key indicator for measuring species recovery, it is yet to be integrated into the Australian EPBC Act or state-based conservation policy, nor any other country’s legislation.
Conservation genomics and population status of the endangered Mahogany Gliders (Petaurus gracilis) (Old ID 27672)
Eryn Chang
30 Jun 2022 - 30 Jun 2023
Habitat loss and fragmentation have been threatening population connectivity and genetic diversity of Mahogany Gliders, a rare and endangered gliding possum endemic to the Australian Wet Tropics. Substantial habitat loss and fragmentation have brought concerns to the status of remnant populations. I will use distribution models to refine the distribution and guide camera trapping to find unknown populations. Connectivity between populations will be assessed using genomics, which also allows estimations of population structure and effective population size. Knowledge of distribution and genetics will be used to choose populations for long-term monitoring, and to guide conservation actions for Mahogany Gliders recovery.
Improving land condition across north-west Queensland to boost productivity, build climate resilience and increase biodiversity
Lin Schwarzkopf
15 Jul 2024 - 30 Jun 2028
Across the Southern and Northern Gulf region of north-west Queensland, there are many thousands of hectares of land in poor condition. Land that is in poor condition is less productive and therefore profitable, more susceptible to severe impacts from extreme climate events (e.g., floods and droughts), has a lower capacity to sequester and store carbon, and negatively impacts other ecosystem services (e.g., biodiversity and water quality). The overarching aim of the project is to build resilience in Southern and Northern Gulf rangeland production systems through improving land condition. To achieve improved land condition across the region, the project will work directly with land managers to implement on-ground land management practice changes and/or remediation treatments. The effectiveness of these interventions will be rigorously monitored and evaluated. Key learnings and outcomes will be passed on to the other landholders, NRM groups, Government extension staff and researchers through demonstration sites, field days, communications materials, scientific publications, and capacity building events. Overall, the project will provide much needed new knowledge, information, data, tools, and capacity to boost productivity, build climate resilience, and facilitate access to emerging environmental markets across north-west Queensland, and other parts of northern Australia.

Apes, protected areas and infrastructure in Africa

A highway megaproject tears at the heart of New Guinea’s rainforest

Consequences of global shipping traffic for marine giants

High-risk infrastructure projects pose imminent threats to forests in Indonesian Borneo

Combined effects of climate change and sea-level rise project dramatic habitat loss of the globally endangered Bengal tiger in the Bangladesh Sundarbans

Climate change is killing off Earth’s little creatures

A framework for resolving cryptic species: a case study from the lizards of the Australian wet tropics

Reduced competition may allow generalist species to benefit from habitat homogenization

To reduce fire risk and meet climate targets, over 300 scientists call for stronger land clearing laws

Naive rainforest frogs on Cape York, Australia, are at risk of the introduction of amphibian chytridiomycosis disease

Title: ARC Future Fellow ($680,000), Global Change: Rainforest responses to experimental drought
Reseracher: Susan Laurance (Professor, Personal Chair)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2014
Title: American Society of Naturalists
Reseracher: Megan Higgie (Associate Professor)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2003
Title: European Research Council Advanced Grant 2018, ($2.5 million Euros). Role: collaborator, Lead Investigator: Dr Lourens Poorter
Reseracher: Susan Laurance (Professor, Personal Chair)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2018
Title: Habilitation (Venia Docendi), University of Bern
Reseracher: Myles Menz (Senior Lecturer, Zoology and Ecology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2013
End Date: 01 Jan 2018
Title: PhD, The University of Western Australia
Reseracher: Myles Menz (Senior Lecturer, Zoology and Ecology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2009
End Date: 01 Jan 2013
Title: MSc in Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern
Reseracher: Myles Menz (Senior Lecturer, Zoology and Ecology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2006
End Date: 01 Jan 2008
Title: Bachelor of Science , The University of Western Australia
Reseracher: Myles Menz (Senior Lecturer, Zoology and Ecology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2000
End Date: 01 Jan 2003
Title: Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand
Reseracher: Tasmin Rymer (Associate Professor)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2004
End Date: 01 Jan 2009
Title: Minibeast Wildlife, I partnered with Minibeast Wildlife to support an Honour's student's project focusing on subsociality in tarantulas. That work is in the process of being published.
Reseracher: Tasmin Rymer (Associate Professor)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2024
End Date: 01 Jan 2025
Title: Master of Science, University of Pretoria
Reseracher: Tasmin Rymer (Associate Professor)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2003
End Date: 01 Jan 2004