Zoe Richards

Experience

• 2023–present
  Associate Professor, Curtin University
• 2025–present
  Research Associate, Western Australian Museum
• 2019–2025
  Marine Invertebrate Curator, Western Australian Museum
• 2016–2023
  Senior Research Fellow, Curtin University
• 2012–2016
  Research Scientist, Western Australian Museum
• 2010–2012
  Biodiversity Fellow, Australian Museum

Education

• 2010 
  James Cook University, PhD/Biological Science

Publications

• 2024
  Links between climate histories and the rise and fall of a Pacific chiefdom, PNAS Nexus
• 2024
  Conservation: Corals in an Extinction Vortex, Current Biology
• 2024
  Biodiversity and biogeography of zooxanthellate corals in Australasia revisited based on new data from the Kimberley, Records of the Western Australian Museum
• 2024
  Deoxygenation following coral spawning and low-level thermal stress trigger mass coral mortality at Coral Bay, Ningaloo Reef, Coral Reefs
• 2024
  An examination of seasonal variation in taxonomic richness and community composition using eDNA on a tropical coral reef, Coral Reefs
• 2024
  Groundwater is a hidden global keystone ecosystem, Global Change Biology
• 2023
  Levels of autotrophy and heterotrophy in mesophotic corals near the end photic zone, Frontiers in Marine Science
• 2023
  The complete mitochondrial genome of the invasive cyanobacteriosponge Terpios hoshinota (Demospongiae, Suberitida, Suberitidae), Mitochondrial DNA Part B
• 2023
  Macroalgae exhibit diverse responses to human disturbances on coral reefs, Global Change Biology
• 2023
  Aquatic environmental DNA: A review of the macro-organismal biomonitoring revolution, Science of the Total Environment
• 2022
  Evolutionary responses of a reef-building coral to climate change at the end of the last glacial maximum, Molecular Biology and Evolution
• 2022
  Population connectivity and genetic offset in the spawning coral Acropora digitifera in Western Australia, Molecular Ecology
• 2022
  Environmental DNA for biodiversity monitoring of coral reefs, Coral Reef Conservation and Restoration in the Omics Age
• 2021
  The applicability of eDNA metabarcoding approaches for sessile benthic surveying in the Kimberley region, north-western Australia, Environmental DNA
• 2021
  Under the karst: detecting hidden subterranean assemblages using eDNA metabarcoding in the caves of Christmas Island, Australia, Scientific Reports
• 2021
  Spatio-temporal persistence of scleractinian coral species at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Coral Reefs
• 2021
  Large-scale eDNA metabarcoding survey reveals marine biogeographic break and transitions over tropical north-western Australia, Diversity and Distributions
• 2021
  Integrative systematics of the scleractinian coral genera Caulastraea, Erythrastrea and Oulophyllia, Zoologica Scripta
• 2021
  Inclusivity is key to progessing coral biodiversity research: Reply to comment by Bonito et al (2021), Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
• 2020
  Extreme seascape drives local recruitment and genetic divergence in brooding and spawning corals in remote north-west Australia, Evolutionary Applications
• 2020
  New records of Heliopora hiberniana from SE Asia and the Central Indian Ocean, Diversity
• 2020
  Evolutionary biogeography of the reef-building coral genus Galaxea across the Indo-Pacific Ocean, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
• 2020
  Biological consequences of an outbreak of growth anomalies on Isopora palifera at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Coral Reefs
• 2020
  Phylotranscriptomics confirms Alveopora is sister to Montipora within the family Acroporidae, Marine Genomics
• 2020
  eDNA metabarcoding reveals fine-scale coral reef community variation across a remote, tropical island system, Molecular Ecology
• 2019
  Development of a mulit-assay approach for monitoring coral diversity using eDNA metabarcoding, Coral Reefs
• 2019
  Contrasting patterns of genetic connectivity in brooding and spawning corals across a remote atoll system in northwest Australia, Coral Reefs
• 2019
  Oceanic and coastal populations of a harvested macroinvertebrate Rochia nilotica in north-western Australia are isolated and may be locally adapted, Marine and Freshwater Research
• 2019
  Outbreaks of growth anomalies in Isopora palifera at Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Marine Biodiversity
• 2019
  First report of the coral-killing sponge Terpios hoshinota in Western Australia: A new thereat to Kimberley coral reefs?, Diversity
• 2019
  Defining biodiversity gaps for North Wesh Shelf marine invertebrates, Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia
• 2019
  Socio-environmental drivers inform strategic management of coral reefs in the Anthropocene, Nature Ecology and Evolution
• 2019
  A tropical Australian refuge for photo symbiotic benthic fauna, Coral Reefs
• 2018
  Genetic signatures through space, time and multiple disturbances in a ubiquitous brooding coral, Molecular Ecology
• 2018
  The state of Western Australia's coral reefs, Coral Reefs
• 2018
  Integrated evidence reveals a new species in the ancient blue coral genus Heliopora (Octocorallia), Scientific Reports
• 2018
  The composition and structure of shallow benthic communities in the Kimberley, north-west Australia, Records of the Western Australian Museum
• 2018
  Gradients of disturbance and environmental conditions shapre coral community structure for south-eastern Indian Ocean reefs, Diversity and Distributions
• 2017
  Phylogenomics provide new insight into evolutionary relationships and genealogical discordance in the reef-building coral genus Acropora, Proceedings of the Royal Society B
• 2016
  Habitat degradation increases functional originality in highly diverse coral reef fish assemblages, Ecosphere
• 2016
  Post-Disturbance Stability of Fish Assemblages Measured at Coarse Taxonomic Resolution Masks Change at Finer Scales , Plos One
• 2016
  Cryptic genetic divergence within threatened species of Acropora coral from the Indian and Pacific Oceans , Conservation Genetics
• 2016
  Diversity on the edge: Non-linear patterns of coral community structure at an isolated oceanic island , Marine Ecology Progress Series
• 2016
  Marine biodiversity in temperate Western Australia: multi-taxon surveys of Minden and Roe Reefs , Diversity
• 2015
  New precise dates for the ancient and sacred coral pyramidal tombs of Leluh (Kosrae, Micronesia), Science Advances
• 2015
  A diverse assemblage of reef corals thriving in a dynamic intertidal reef setting, Bonaparte Archipelago, Kimberley, Australia, PLOS ONE
• 2015
  The coralline algal cascades of Tallon Island (Jalan) frinding reef, NW Australia, Coral Reefs
• 2015
  Scleractinian corals and crown-of-thorns seastars of the Kermadec Islands , Bulletin of the Auckland Museum
• 2015
  Hybridization on coral reef and the conservation of evolutionary novelty, Current Zoology
• 2014
  Taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of the coral genera Australomussa and Parascolymia (Scleractinia, Lobophylliidae), Contributions to Zoology
• 2014
  New records of sea snakes at mid-shelf shoals of Australia's North-west Shelf, Marine Biodiversity
• 2014
  Symbiodinium diversity and host specificity in Acropora corals from geographical extremes of Western Australia using 454 amplicon pyrosequencing, Molecular Ecology
• 2014
  Synthesis of Historic Marine Species Data for the Kimberley, Western Australia, (1880s – 2009): Hard Corals, Records of the West Australian Museum
• 2014
  Coral-mimicking alga Eucheuma arnoldii found at Ashmore Reef, north-western Australia, Coral Reefs
• 2014
  Predicting coral species richness: the effect of input variables, diversity and scale, PloS ONE
• 2014
  Optimal monitoring of coral biodiversity at Christmas Island, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology
• 2014
  The status of hard coral communitites at Kosrae, Micronesia, Marine Biodiversity
• 2014
  The status of hard coral biodiversity at Christmas Island, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology
• 2013
  Molecular phylogenetics of geographically restricted Acropora species: Implications for threatened species conservation, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
• 2013
  New records of atypical coral reef habitat in the Kimberley, Australia, Journal of Marine Biology
• 2013
  Regional conservation status of scleractinian coral biodiversity in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Diversity
• 2013
  A comparison of proxy performance in coral biodiversity monitoriting, Coral Reefs
• 2013
  Multiple occupancy-abudance patterns in staghorn coral communities, Diversity and Distributions
• 2013
  Enigmatic declines of Australia's sea snakes from a biodiversity hotspot, Biological Conservation
• 2012
  Rarity and genetic diversity in Indo-Pacific Acropora corals, Ecology and Evolution
• 2012
  New records of scleractinian coral fauna for the Pilbara Offshore Bioregion, Journal of the Royal Society of WA
• 2012
  Climate change impacts on the tree of life: changes in phylogenetic diversity illustrated for Acropora corals, Biology
• 2011
  Rapid increases in coral cover on an isolated coral reef, the Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve, north-western Australia, Marine and Freshwater Research
• 2011
  A quantification of the standing stock of marine debris in Majuro Lagoon, Republic of the Marshall Islands and its effect on coral communities, Marine Pollution Bulletin
• 2011
  Prehistoric Pacific Island Kings entombed in truncated coral pyramids, Coral Reefs
• 2011
  Population trends of remote invertebrate resources in a marine reserve: the case of trochus and holothurians at Ashmore Reef, Pacific Conservation Biology
• 2010
  Archetypal ‘elkhorn’ coral discovered in the Pacific Ocean, Systematics and Biodiversity
• 2008
  The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the US and Pacific Freely Associated States
• 2008
  Thinking Outside the Reef, Science
• 2008
  Bikini Atoll coral biodiversity resilience revealed: Five decades after nuclear testing, Marine Pollution Bulletin
• 2008
  One-Third of Reef-Building Corals Face Elevated Extinction Risk from Climate Change and Local Impacts, Science
• 2008
  Some rare Indo-Pacific coral species are probable hybrids, PLoS ONE
• 2004
  Acropora rongelapensis sp. nov., a new species of Acropora from the Marshall Islands (Scleractinia: Astrocoeniina: Acroporidae), Zootaxa
• 2001
  Regional distribution patterns of Acropora in Indonesia and their use in conservation, Indonesian Journal of Coastal and Marine Resources

Grants and Contracts

• 2025
  Coral Survivorship and community recovery after bleaching

  Role:

  Lead Researcher

  Funding Source:

  Minderoo Foundation

• 2024
  eGenomics of Threatened Species

  Role:

  Co-lead Researcher

  Funding Source:

  Australian Research Council

• 2023
  Benthic Biodiversity of King Reef

  Role:

  Lead Researcher

  Funding Source:

  RecFish West

• 2022
  Kimberley Reef Connect

  Role:

  Lead Researcher

  Funding Source:

  Parks Australia

• 2017
  Coral Resilience and the optimal management of biodiversity

  Role:

  Lead Researcher

  Funding Source:

  Australian Research Council

Professional Memberships

• IUCN Coral Specialist Group
• International Society for Coral Reef Studies
• Australian Coral Reef Society
• Western Australian Marine Science Institution

Honours

Churchill Fellow