I joined Flinders University in January 2017 as the Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology. I am the Director of the Global Ecology Laboratory (Partuyarta Ngadluku Wardli Kuu) and a lead Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures. I was formerly a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage where I led its Modelling Node. I am also a founding member of Future Child Health.

From 2008-2015 I was at the University of Adelaide (Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change 2015-2016), and from 2004-2008 I was Senior then Principal Research Fellow at Charles Darwin University. I was an ARC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Tasmania from 1999-2004.

My research is mainly in the area of global-change ecology — how human endeavour and climate fluctuations have altered past, present and future ecosystems. My most important contributions have been in the area of applied ecology, biodiversity conservation, theoretical ecology, extinction dynamics, human demography and health, species responses to climate change, disease ecology, and applying ecological theory and modelling techniques to hindcast prehistoric ecosystems. My work has provided environmental policy advice around the world, and my papers are highly cited.

During my early research years I focussed primarily on the population dynamics and behavioural ecology of land-breeding marine fauna. Later, I moved to more modelling-based research examining the temporal and spatial patterns of ecological processes, including density-feedback mechanisms. As part of this work, I have established a strong profile in the determinants of extinction risk of modern flora and fauna, the degradation of ecosystem services from anthropogenic habitat change, and the spatial dynamics of biodiversity. I have developed applications in disease ecology, predator-prey dynamics, and climate change predictions.

Much of my work has focussed on providing evidence for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development pathways. I have devised new ways of projecting human population size, with implications for long-term climate change, biodiversity maintenance, and human health; I have developed models to predict the best times to apply mosquito control for the reduction of disease risk, promote fisheries sustainability, assess the determinants of effective protected areas, and define the optimal mix of low biodiversity-impact electricity generation. I examined carbon cycles and budgets, examined broad-scale ecological patterns in response to climate gradients, and experimentally manipulated climate for fine-scale experiments in community composition and resilience.

My modelling framework has influenced how palaeo-ecologists and palaeontologists treat uncertainty in the chronology of palaeo-ecological events. I have led the development of state-of-the-art quality assessment criteria for fossil dating to ensure that only high-quality dates are used in palaeo-ecological analyses, and established a novel protocol for using palaeo-ecological data to predict the locations of as-yet-undiscovered fossil sites. I have also shown the dominant, continental-scale effect of humans (cf. climate change) on the demise of the Australian megafauna, and the influence of climate change and humans on the extinction/transition dynamics of Holarctic and South American megafauna.

See here for student opportunities.

• Mar 2025 Dr Rupert Mathwin - HDR Student Research Impact prize
• Dec 2024 Dr Rupert Mathwin - PhD conferred
• Aug 2023 Dr Antoine Champreux - PhD conferred
• Aug 2018 Dr Jarod Lyon - PhD conferred
• Mar 2018 Dr Benjamin Heard - PhD conferred
• Nov 2016 David Deane - Dean's Commendation for Master by Thesis Research Excellence
• Oct 2014 Dr Sanghyun Hong - Dean's Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence
• Jun 2014 Dr Ana Sequeira - Dean's Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence
• Jun 2012 Dr Salvador Herrando-Pérez - Dean's Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence