- Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Node Leader in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures, Flinders University
I am the Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology (globalecologyflinders.com) in the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University in Adelaide. I am also a Chief Investigator in the Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures (ciehf.au), and a founding member of Future Child Health (futurechildhealth.org).
I have a broad range of research interests including population dynamics, extinction theory, palaeo-ecology, sustainable harvest, disease ecology, human demography, climate change impacts on biodiversity and human health, invasive species, and sustainable energy systems.
I am also the author of The Effective Scientist (t.co/SGz41b7Z0G), Killing the Koala & Poisoning the Prairie (amzn.to/1Ouey69), and Tropical Conservation Biology (wp.me/PhhT4-b).
Experience
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2020–presentMatthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology, Flinders University
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2017–2020Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology, Flinders University
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2015–2017Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change, University of Adelaide
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2008–2014Director of Ecological Modelling, University of Adelaide
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2004–2008Principal Research Fellow, Charles Darwin University
Education
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2005Murdoch University, Postgraduate Certificate (Veterinary Conservation Medicine)
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1999University of Otago, PhD Zoology
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1994University of Alberta, MSc Zoology
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1992Université de Montréal, BSc Ecology
Publications
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2025Restoration cannot be scaled up globally to save reefs from loss and degradation, Nature Ecology and Evolution
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2025A guide for developing demo-genetic models to simulate genetic rescue, Evolutionary Applications
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2024Differential predation patterns of free-ranging cats among continents, Ecography
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2024Taming the terminological tempest in invasion science, Biological Reviews
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2024Small populations of palaeolithic humans in Cyprus hunted endemic megafauna to extinction, Proceedings of the Royal Society B
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2024Environmental conditions associated with initial northern expansion of anatomically modern humans, Nature Communications
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2024How climate change degrades child health: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Science of the Total Environment
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2024Late Pleistocene emergence of an anthropogenic fire regime in Australia’s tropical savannahs, Nature Geoscience
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2024Forest mosaics, not savanna corridors, dominated in Southeast Asia during the Last Glacial Maximum, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA
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2024A Late Devonian coelacanth reconfigures actinistian phylogeny, disparity, and evolutionary dynamics, Nature Communications
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2024Damage costs from invasive species exceed management expenditure in nations experiencing lower economic activity, Ecological Economics
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2024Net benefit of smaller human populations to environmental integrity and individual health and wellbeing, Frontiers in Public Health
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2024Stochastic population models to identify optimal and cost-effective harvest strategies for feral pig eradication, Ecosphere
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2024How to map biomes: quantitative comparison and review of biome-mapping methods, Ecological Monographs
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2024Demographic models predict end-Pleistocene arrival and rapid expansion of pre-agropastoralist humans in Cyprus, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA
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2024Projected loss of brown macroalgae and seagrasses with global environmental change, Nature Communications
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2023Unveiling the hidden economic toll of biological invasions in the European Union, Environmental Sciences Europe
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2023Logistic-growth models measuring density feedback are sensitive to population declines, but not fluctuating carrying capacity, Ecology and Evolution
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2023Directionally supervised cellular automaton for the initial peopling of Sahul, Quaternary Science Reviews
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2023Lower infant mortality, lower household size, and more access to contraception reduce fertility in low- and middle-income nations, PLoS One
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2023Time-travelling pathogens and their risk to ecological communities, PLoS Computational Biology
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2023Estimating co-extinction threats in terrestrial ecosystems, Global Change Biology
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2023Recent advances in availability and synthesis of the economic costs of biological invasions, BioScience
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2023Predicting predator-prey interactions in terrestrial endotherms using random forest, Ecography
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2022Dismantling the poachernomics of the illegal wildlife trade, Biological Conservation
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2022Co-extinctions dominate future vertebrate losses from climate and land-use change, Science Advances
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2022Sahul’s megafauna species were vulnerable to plant-community changes due to their position in the trophic network, Ecography
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2022Zoonotic diseases and our troubled relationship with nature, American Journal of Health Promotion
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2022Principles for scientists working at the river science-policy interface, River Research and Applications
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2021Consequences of recreational hunting for biodiversity conservation and livelihoods, One Earth
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2021Predicting targets and costs for feral-cat reduction on large islands using stochastic population models, Conservation Science and Practice
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2021Detailed assessment of the reported economic costs of invasive species in Australia, NeoBiota
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2021Stochastic models support rapid peopling of Late Pleistocene Sahul, Nature Communications
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2021Natural and anthropogenic climate variability shape assemblages of range-extending coral-reef fishes, Journal of Biogeography
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2021High and rising economic costs of biological invasions worldwide, Nature
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2021Opposing life stage-specific effects of ocean warming at source and sink populations of range-shifting coral-reef fishes, Journal of Animal Ecology
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2021Landscape rules predict optimal super-highways for the first peopling of Sahul, Nature Human Behaviour
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2021Relative demographic susceptibility does not explain the extinction chronology of Sahul’s megafauna, eLife
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2021Predicting potential future reduction in shark bites on people, Royal Society Open Science
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2021Manipulating water for amphibian conservation, Conservation Biology
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2021Underestimating the challenges of avoiding a ghastly future, Frontiers in Conservation Science
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2020Dietary generalism accelerates arrival and persistence of coral-reef fishes in their novel ranges under climate change, Global Change Biology
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2020Informing CITES Parties: strengthening science-based decision-making when listing marine species, Fish and Fisheries
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2020Tipping elements and amplified polar warming during the Last Interglacial, Quaternary Science Reviews
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2020Grand challenges in global biodiversity threats, Frontiers in Conservation Science
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2020Combining agent-based, trait-based and demographic approaches to model coral-community dynamics, eLife
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2020Processes controlling programmed cell death of root velamen radicum in an epiphytic orchid, Annals of Botany
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2020Variation in stem xylem traits is related to differentiation of upper limits of tree species along an elevational gradient, Forests
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2019Increased population size of fish in a lowland river following restoration of structural habitat, Ecological Applications
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2019Socio-economic predictors of environmental performance among African nations, Scientific Reports
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2019Climate-driven shifts in the distribution of koala browse species from the Last Interglacial to the near future, Ecography
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2019Comparative population genomics confirms little population structure in two commercially targeted carcharhinid sharks, Marine Biology
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2019Climate-human interaction associated with southeast Australian megafauna-extinction patterns, Nature Communications
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2019Testing the socio-economic and environmental determinants of better child-health outcomes in Africa: a cross-sectional study among nations, BMJ Open
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2019Minimum founding populations for the first peopling of Sahul, Nature Ecology and Evolution
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2019Early human settlement of Sahul was not an accident, Scientific Reports
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2019Statistical language backs conservatism in climate-change assessments, BioScience
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2019Opportunities to improve the future of South Australia's terrestrial biodiversity, Rethinking Ecology
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2019FosSahul 2.0, an updated database for the Late Quaternary fossil records of Sahul, Scientific Data
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2018Revised European renewable-energy policies erode nature protection, Nature Ecology and Evolution
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2018Predicting sustainable shark harvests when stock assessments are lacking, ICES Journal of Marine Science
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2018Co-extinctions annihilate planetary life during extreme environmental change, Scientific Reports
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2018High-quality fossil dates support a synchronous, late-Holocene extinction of devils and thylacines in mainland Australia, Biology Letters
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2018Gender bias when assessing recommended ecology articles, Rethinking Ecology
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2018The Effective Scientist. A Handy Guide to an Academic Career, Cambridge University Press
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2018Effectiveness of five personal shark-bite deterrents for surfers, PeerJ
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2018Distribution models predict large contractions in habitat-forming seaweeds in response to ocean warming, Diversity and Distributions
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2018Evidence of sensory-driven behaviour in the Ediacaran organism Parvancorina: implications and autecological interpretations, Gondwana Research
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2018Previous exposure to myxomatosis reduces survival of European rabbits during outbreaks of rabbit haemorrhagic disease for biological control, Journal of Applied Ecology
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2018Offshore Energy and Marine Spatial Planning, Routledge
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2017Species decline under nitrogen fertilization reduces community-level resistance to fungal diseases, Proceedings of the Royal Society B
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2017100 articles every ecologist should read, Nature Ecology and Evolution
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2017Future extinction risk for wetland plants is higher from individual patch loss than total area reduction, Biological Conservation
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2017Niche constraints and dispersal-limited competition together assemble wetland plant communities, Journal of Vegetation Science
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2017Highly localized replenishment of coral reef fish populations near nursery habitats, Marine Ecology Progress Series
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2017Burden of proof: a comprehensive review of the feasibility of 100% renewable-electricity systems, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
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2016Humans and seasonal climate variability threaten large-bodied coral reef fish with small ranges, Nature Communications
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2016Where to dig for fossils: combining climate-envelope, taphonomy and discovery models, PLoS One
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2016Warming and fertilization alter the dilution effect of host diversity on disease severity, Ecology
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2016An efficient protocol for the global sensitivity analysis of stochastic ecological models, Ecosphere
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2016What caused extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna of Sahul?, Proceedings of the Royal Society B
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2016Implications of Australia’s population policy for future greenhouse-gas emissions targets, Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies
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2016How to rank journals, PLoS One
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2016Massive yet grossly underestimated global costs of invasive insects, Nature Communications
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2016Vertebral chemistry demonstrates habitat use and population structure of bronze whaler sharks, Marine Ecology Progress Series
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2016A comprehensive database of quality-rated fossil ages for Sahul's Quaternary vertebrates, Scientific Data
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2016Diversity patterns of seasonal wetland plant communities mainly driven by rare terrestrial species, Biodiversity and Conservation
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2016Synergistic roles of climate warming and human occupation in Patagonian megafaunal extinctions during the Last Deglaciation, Science Advances
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2016Banning trophy hunting will exacerbate biodiversity loss, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
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2016Climate change not to blame for late Quaternary megafauna extinctions in Australia, Nature Communications
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2015Abrupt warming events drove Late Pleistocene Holarctic megafaunal turnover, Science
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2015National emphasis on high-level protection reduces risk of biodiversity decline in tropical forest reserves, Biological Conservation
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2015Ecological and economic benefits to cattle rangelands of restoring an apex predator, Journal of Applied Ecology
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2015Key role for nuclear energy in global biodiversity conservation, Conservation Biology
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2015Global estimates of boreal forest carbon stocks and flux, Global and Planetary Change
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2015Killing the Koala and Poisoning the Prairie: Australia, America, and the Environment, Chicago University Press
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2015Global zero-carbon energy pathways using viable mixes of nuclear and renewables, Applied Energy
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2015Obliquity-driven expansion of North Atlantic sea ice during the last glacial, Geophysical Research Letters
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2014Predicting current and future global distributions of whale sharks, Global Change Biology
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2014Human population reduction is not a quick fix for environmental problems, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA
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2014Strong but opposing β-diversity-stability relationships in coral reef fish communities, Proceedings of the Royal Society B
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2014Genetics in conservation management: revised recommendations for the 50/500 rules, Red List criteria and population viability analyses, Biological Conservation
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2014Predictors of contraction and expansion of area of occupancy for British birds, Proceedings of the Royal Society B
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2014Nuclear power can reduce emissions and maintain a strong economy: rating Australia's optimal future electricity-generation mix by technologies and policies, Applied Energy
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2014An ecological regime shift resulting from disrupted predator-prey interactions in Holocene Australia, Ecology
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2013Conservation management and sustainable harvest quotas are sensitive to choice of climate modelling approach for two marine gastropods, Diversity and Distributions
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2013No need for disease: testing extinction hypotheses for the thylacine using multi-species metamodels, Journal of Animal Ecology
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2013Past human influences alter future range estimates: advancing the predictive capacity of species distribution models, Global Change Biology
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2013Near-complete extinction of native small mammal fauna 25 years following forest fragmentation, Science
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2013Brave new green world – consequences of a carbon economy for the conservation of Australian biodiversity, Biological Conservation
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2012iREDD hedges against avoided deforestation’s unholy trinity of leakage, permanence and additionality, Conservation Letters
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2012Little left to lose: deforestation and forest degradation in Australia since European colonisation, Journal of Plant Ecology
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2012Novel coupling of individual-based epidemiological and demographic models predicts realistic dynamics of tuberculosis in alien buffalo, Journal of Applied Ecology
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2012Robust estimates of extinction time in the geological record, Quaternary Science Reviews
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2012Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas, Nature
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2011Seaweed communities in retreat from ocean warming, Current Biology
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2011Primary forests are irreplaceable for sustaining tropical biodiversity, Nature
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2011Relative need for conservation assessment of vascular plant species among ecoregions, Journal of Biogeography
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2010Reef size and isolation determine the temporal stability of coral reef fish populations, Ecology
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2010Mechanisms driving change: altered species interactions and ecosystem functions from global warming, Journal of Animal Ecology
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2010Evaluating the relative environmental impact of countries, PLoS One
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2009Susceptibility of sharks, rays and chimaeras to global extinction, Advances in Marine Biology
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2009Urgent preservation of boreal carbon stocks and biodiversity, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
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2009Tropical turmoil – a biodiversity tragedy in progress, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
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2008Synergies among extinction drivers under global change, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
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2008Threat or invasive status in legumes is related to opposite extremes of the same ecological and life-history attributes, Journal of Ecology
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2007Global evidence that deforestation amplifies flood risk and severity in the developing world, Global Change Biology
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2007Minimum viable population size: a meta-analysis of 30 years of published estimates, Biological Conservation
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2007Tropical Conservation Biology, Blackwell
Grants and Contracts
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2024Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures
- Role:
- Chief Investigator
- Funding Source:
- Australian Research Council
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2021Designing successful genetic-rescue approaches for threatened species
- Role:
- Chief Investigator
- Funding Source:
- Australian Research Council
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2021Citizen Science Passport to Recovery
- Role:
- Chief Investigator
- Funding Source:
- Commonwealth Citizen Science Grants
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2017Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage
- Role:
- Chief Investigator
- Funding Source:
- Australian Research Council
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2016Do native invasions challenge Australian fisheries species?
- Role:
- Chief Investigator
- Funding Source:
- Australian Research Council
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2013Generalised methods for testing extinction dynamics across geological, near and modern time scales
- Role:
- Chief Investigator
- Funding Source:
- Australian Research Council
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2012Seascape genetics for shark management: an innovation in sustainable fisheries modelling
- Role:
- Chief Investigator
- Funding Source:
- Australian Research Council
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2012Meta-modelling of ecological, evolutionary and climatic systems dynamics
- Role:
- Chief Investigator
- Funding Source:
- Australian Research Council
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2012Identifying cost-effective reforestation approaches for biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration in southern Australia
- Role:
- Chief Investigator
- Funding Source:
- Australian Research Council
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2011Developing best-practice approaches for restoring forest ecosystems that are resilient to climate change
- Role:
- Chief Investigator
- Funding Source:
- Australian Research Council
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2011Solving the problems of estimating extinction rates in recent and geological time
- Role:
- Future Fellow III
- Funding Source:
- Australian Research Council
Research Areas
- Ecological Applications (0501)
- Ecological Impacts Of Climate Change (050101)
- Invasive Species Ecology (050103)
- Ecology (0602)
- Palaeoecology (060206)
- Marine And Estuarine Ecology (Incl. Marine Ichthyology) (060205)
- Population Ecology (060207)
- Terrestrial Ecology (060208)
- Environmental Management (050205)
- Environmental Sciences Not Elsewhere Classified (059999)
- Statistics (0104)
- Optimisation (010303)
Honours
2023 Vice-Chancellor's Award for Research Leadership; 2021 Reuters Hot List of Top Climate Scientists; 2021 top 15.9% of top 2% citations of all scientists across all fields; 2020-21 Australian Research Council College of Experts; 2017 Verco Medal, R Soc SA; 2012 Research Excellence Award, Univ Adelaide; 2011 ARC Future Fellow III; 2010 Australian Ecology Research Award, Ecol Soc Aust; 2010 Scopus Young Researcher of the Year; 2009 HG Andrewartha Medal, R Soc SA
Contact Corey for
- General
- Media request
- Speaking request
- Consulting / Advising
- Research collaboration
- Research supervision
- Location: Adelaide, Australia
- Website
- BlueSky: @conservbytes.bsky.social
- Facebook: conservbytes
- LinkedIn: cjabradshaw
- Article Feed
- ORCID
- Joined