Faculty Member, Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
Program Manager
Faculty of Science
About
I have recently taken a year's absence from Southern Cross to initiate the new Centre noted above. ACEAS is a Facility of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), and is dedicated to create a virtual and physical environment in which leading (and emerging) scientists and managers can collaborate to tackle the big science questions facing Australia today. It is largely modelled on NCEAS, the National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, based in the USA.
My publications, such as the monograph "Australian Plant Communities: dynamics of structure, growth and biodiversity" (Oxford University Press) are contributing factors to my getting this job, as was the "Conservation Atlas of Plant Communities in Australia" (921 of them). This has been accompanied by extensive (20 year) monitoring of ecosystems subject to water extraction, studies on groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and latterly the behaviour of groundwater-dependent rare and threatened species.
The establishment of the then largest database in the country of the growth and management of new plantings of native Australian species, a major contribution to the development of the sustainable subtropical forestry program at SCU, and obtaining an individual Carrick award in 2006 for innovative university teaching (for the establishment of a subject entitled "Ecological Restoration and Monitoring" in which I employed many educational theories including those of authentic learning) have also been achievements along the way.
