ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9031-8164
Current Organisations
University of Otago
,
Monash University
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In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Terrestrial Ecology | Ecological Impacts of Climate Change | Ecological Applications | Invasive Species Ecology |
Effects of Climate Change and Variability on Australia (excl. Social Impacts) | Control of Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species in Mountain and High Country Environments | Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Mountain and High Country Environments
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-01-2020
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.13801
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2013
Publisher: Inter-Research Science Center
Date: 03-02-2017
DOI: 10.3354/MEPS12011
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-07-2017
DOI: 10.1111/DDI.12593
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-12-2019
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.13780
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-11-2022
DOI: 10.1002/ECM.1553
Abstract: Climate warming is considered to be among the most serious of anthropogenic stresses to the environment, because it not only has direct effects on bio ersity, but it also exacerbates the harmful effects of other human‐mediated threats. The associated consequences are potentially severe, particularly in terms of threats to species preservation, as well as in the preservation of an array of ecosystem services provided by bio ersity. Among the most affected groups of animals are insects—central components of many ecosystems—for which climate change has pervasive effects from in iduals to communities. In this contribution to the scientists' warning series, we summarize the effect of the gradual global surface temperature increase on insects, in terms of physiology, behavior, phenology, distribution, and species interactions, as well as the effect of increased frequency and duration of extreme events such as hot and cold spells, fires, droughts, and floods on these parameters. We warn that, if no action is taken to better understand and reduce the action of climate change on insects, we will drastically reduce our ability to build a sustainable future based on healthy, functional ecosystems. We discuss perspectives on relevant ways to conserve insects in the face of climate change, and we offer several key recommendations on management approaches that can be adopted, on policies that should be pursued, and on the involvement of the general public in the protection effort.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-10-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-09-2016
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-08-2017
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2009
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2014
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2022.120443
Abstract: Urban heat islands, where temperatures are elevated relative to non-urban surrounds, are near-ubiquitous in cities globally. Yet, the magnitude and form of urban heat islands in the tropics, where heat has a large morbidity and mortality burden, is not well understood, especially for those of urban informal settlements. We used 29 years of Landsat satellite-derived surface temperature, corroborated by in situ temperature measurements, to provide a detailed spatial and temporal assessment of urban heat islands in Makassar, Indonesia, a city that is representative of rapidly growing urban settlements across the tropics. Our analysis identified surface urban heat islands of up to 9.2 °C in long-urbanised parts of the city and 6.3 °C in informal settlements, the seasonal patterns of which were driven by change in non-urban areas rather than in urban areas themselves. In recently urbanised areas, the majority of urban heat island increase occurred before land became 50% urbanised, whereas the established heat island in long-urbanised areas remained stable in response to urban expansion. Green and blue space protected some informal settlements from the worst urban heat islands observed across the city and maintenance of such space will be essential to mitigate the growing heat burden from urban expansion and anthropogenic climate change. Settlements further than 4 km from the coast and with Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) less than 0.2 had higher surface temperatures, with modelled effects of more than 5 °C. Surface temperature measurements were representative of in situ heat exposure, measured in a subset of 12 informal settlements, where mean indoor temperature had the strongest relationship with surface temperature (R
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 18-12-2017
Abstract: How climate change and biological invasions interact to affect bio ersity is of major concern to conservation. Quantitative evidence for the nature of climate change–invasion interactions is, however, limited. For the soil ecosystem fauna, such evidence is nonexistent. Yet across the globe, soil-dwelling animals regulate belowground functioning and have pronounced influences on aboveground dynamics. Using springtails as an exemplar taxon, widely known to have species-specific effects on below- and aboveground dynamics, we show that across a wide latitudinal span (16–54°S), alien species have greater ability to tolerate climate change-associated warming than do their indigenous counterparts. The consequences of such consistent differences are profound given globally significant invasions of soil systems by springtails.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 23-06-2016
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 26-11-2012
Abstract: Abstract. Submarine canyons have often been identified as hotspots of secondary production with the potential to house distinct faunal assemblages and idiosyncratic ecosystems. Within these deep-sea habitats, assemblages of scavenging fauna play a vital role in reintroducing organic matter from large food falls into the wider deep-sea food chain. Free-fall baited traps were set at different depths within three submarine canyons on the Iberian Margin. Amphipods from the traps were identified to species level and counted. Scavenging hipod assemblages were compared at different depths within each canyon and between in idual canyon systems. Using data from literature, abyssal plain assemblages were compared to submarine canyon assemblages. S les from canyons were found to contain common abyssal plain species but in greater than expected abundances. It is proposed that this is a result of the high organic carbon input into canyon systems owing to their interception of sediment from the continental shelf and input from associated estuarine systems. Community composition differed significantly between the submarine canyons and abyssal plains. The cause of this difference cannot be attributed to one environmental variable due to the numerous inherent differences between canyons and abyssal plains.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 21-12-2015
DOI: 10.1017/S0025315415002064
Abstract: Existing population studies of deep-sea hipods have focused on species that inhabit deep-sea vent or trench environments but few cosmopolitan species have been studied. Here we provide new insight into the life history and population ecology of the pan-oceanic scavenging hipod Paralicella caperesca and discuss the influence of nutrient-rich submarine canyon environments on the growth and reproduction of this species. Data were collected through the dissection and measurement of 2997 P. caperesca from 14 s les taken from abyssal plains, continental slopes and submarine canyons in the North-East Atlantic. Sexual dimorphism was less pronounced than observed for other scavenging hipod species but females were significantly larger and had shorter antennae than males. The size of oostegites in female P. caperesca varied considerably within size classes, ovaries contained a relatively large number of oocytes, and no empty ovaries were observed. These factors, in combination with absence of mature females, suggest that P. caperesca practices semelparity, a reproductive strategy that complements the feeding strategy of this obligate necrophage. Five male and seven female size-grouped cohorts were identified for P. caperesca . Cohorts from deep-sea submarine canyon populations showed consistently larger mean total body lengths than non-canyon cohorts. In iduals from canyon s les also expressed sexual characteristics at smaller sizes than non-canyon in iduals. We hypothesize that these trends are indicative of nutrient-mediated growth, maturation, and reproduction in P. caperesca . The species is able to grow and reproduce relatively quickly in response to increased nutrient input in canyon environments and therefore dominates scavenging hipod assemblages.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-06-2015
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-09-2018
Abstract: Southern Ocean Islands are globally significant conservation areas. Predicting how their terrestrial ecosystems will respond to current and forecast climate change is essential for their management and requires high-quality temperature data at fine spatial resolutions. Existing datasets are inadequate for this purpose. Remote-sensed land surface temperature (LST) observations, such as those collected by satellite-mounted spectroradiometers, can provide high-resolution, spatially-continuous data for isolated locations. These methods require a clear sightline to measure surface conditions, however, which can leave large data-gaps in temperature time series. Using a spatio-temporal gap-filling method applied to high-resolution (~1 km) LST observations for 20 Southern Ocean Islands, we compiled a complete monthly temperature dataset for a 15-year period (2001–2015). We validated results using in situ measurements of microclimate temperature. Gap-filled temperature observations described the thermal heterogeneity of the region better than existing climatology datasets, particularly for islands with steep elevational gradients and strong prevailing winds. This dataset will be especially useful for terrestrial ecologists, conservation biologists, and for developing island-specific management and mitigation strategies for environmental change.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-10-2021
Abstract: Thermal traits, such as upper and lower critical thermal limits, are vital indicators of the vulnerability of populations and species to environmental change. Thus, accurate estimates of these traits are needed to explain biological patterns and forecast responses to the changing thermal environment. However, many thermal trait studies measure relatively few in iduals to estimate traits for whole populations or species. To ascertain if, and how, s le size affects the accuracy of reported trait means and variances, we applied a subs ling and equivalency testing approach to empirical and simulated trait data to investigate the accuracy of trait estimates relative to s le size and the skew and variance of the trait distribution in the source population. Simulation results indicated that only 7.9% of the 428 critical thermal limit traits documented in a recent synthesis of thermal trait data reported sufficiently large s le sizes, relative to variance, to ensure confidence in the reported mean trait value with negligible (±0.25°C) error. Greater inter‐in idual trait variance in the source population requires a larger number of in iduals to be measured to accurately estimate the mean and variance of that trait. This pattern is mitigated somewhat by the tendency of thermal traits to exhibit skew‐normal distributions. As measurements of few in iduals from a population are unlikely to provide accurate estimates of thermal traits, the propensity towards small s le sizes in thermal trait studies is concerning. Macrophysiological syntheses often use these data to describe, explain and predict broad‐scale ecological patterns. Thus, insufficient s le sizes in the original studies could diminish the robustness of these patterns and predictions. For future studies, we recommend that preliminary data be used to estimate trait variance and calculate minimum s le sizes. If small s le sizes are unavoidable, larger error around the measured trait mean must be assumed and accounted for in subsequent analyses. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ECS2.2358
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.COIS.2015.09.013
Abstract: Understanding the influence of microclimates is an increasing focus of investigations of global change risks to insects. Here we review recent advances in this area in the context of macrophysiological forecasts of the impacts of warming. Some studies have suggested that risk estimates may be inaccurate owing to microclimate variation or behavioural responses. Using modelled microclimatic data we illustrate this problem, demonstrating that soil microclimates on the Australian continent will warm in concert with global climate change such that the upper thermal tolerance limits of many insects will be exceeded across much of the continent. Deeper microclimates will be cooler and more hospitable, emphasising the importance of behavioural adaptation and movement amongst microclimates as a response to environmental warming.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 30-04-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2015
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2021
DOI: 10.1016/J.JTHERBIO.2021.103106
Abstract: Thermal traits are frequently used to explain variation in species distributions, abundance, and sensitivity to climate change. Due to their utility and ease of measurement, critical thermal limits in particular have proliferated across the ecophysiological literature. Critical limit assays can, however, have deleterious or even lethal effects on in iduals and there is growing recognition that intermediate metrics of performance can provide a further, nuanced understanding of how species interact with their environments. Meanwhile, the scarcity of data describing sub-critical or voluntary limits, which have been proposed as alternatives to critical limits and can be collected under less extreme conditions, reduces their value in comparative analyses and broad-scale syntheses. To overcome these limitations and determine if sub-critical limits are viable proxies for upper and lower critical thermal limits we measured and compared the critical and sub-critical thermal limits of 2023 ants representing 51 species. Sub-critical limits in isolation were a satisfactory linear predictor for both in idual and species critical limits and when species identity was also considered there were substantial gains in variance explained. These gains indicate that a species-specific conversion factor can further improve estimates of critical traits using sub-critical proxies. Sub-critical limits can, therefore, be integrated into broader syntheses of critical limits and confidently used to calculate common ecological metrics, such as warming tolerance, so long as uncertainty in estimates is explicitly acknowledged. Although lower thermal traits exhibited more variation than their upper counterparts, the stronger phylogenetic signal of lower thermal traits indicates that appropriate conversions for lower thermal traits can be inferred from congenerics or other closely related taxa.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2016
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-07-2015
DOI: 10.1038/SREP11957
Abstract: Although significant progress has been made using insect taxa as model organisms, non-tracheated terrestrial arthropods, such as Collembola, are underrepresented as model species. This underrepresentation reflects the difficulty in maintaining populations of specialist Collembola species in the laboratory. Until now, no species from the family Neanuridae have been successfully reared. Here we use controlled growth experiments to provide explicit evidence that the species Neanura muscorum can be raised under laboratory conditions when its diet is supplemented with slime mould. Significant gains in growth were observed in Collembola given slime mould rather than a standard diet of algae-covered bark. These benefits are further highlighted by the reproductive success of the experimental group and persistence of laboratory breeding stocks of this species and others in the family. The necessity for slime mould in the diet is attributed to the ‘suctorial’ mouthpart morphology characteristic of the Neanuridae. Maintaining laboratory populations of neanurid Collembola species will facilitate their use as model organisms, paving the way for studies that will broaden the current understanding of the environmental physiology of arthropods.
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.1136/BMJOPEN-2020-042850
Abstract: Increasing urban populations have led to the growth of informal settlements, with contaminated environments linked to poor human health through a range of interlinked pathways. Here, we describe the design and methods for the Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) study, a transdisciplinary randomised trial evaluating impacts of an intervention to upgrade urban informal settlements in two Asia-Pacific countries. RISE is a cluster randomised controlled trial among 12 settlements in Makassar, Indonesia, and 12 in Suva, Fiji. Six settlements in each country have been randomised to receive the intervention at the outset the remainder will serve as controls and be offered intervention delivery after trial completion. The intervention involves a water-sensitive approach, delivering site-specific, modular, decentralised infrastructure primarily aimed at improving health by decreasing exposure to environmental faecal contamination. Consenting households within each informal settlement site have been enrolled, with longitudinal assessment to involve health and well-being surveys, and human and environmental s ling. Primary outcomes will be evaluated in children under 5 years of age and include prevalence and ersity of gastrointestinal pathogens, abundance and ersity of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes in gastrointestinal microorganisms and markers of gastrointestinal inflammation. Diverse secondary outcomes include changes in microbial contamination abundance and ersity of pathogens and AMR genes in environmental s les impacts on ecological bio ersity and microclimates mosquito vector abundance anthropometric assessments, nutrition markers and systemic inflammation in children caregiver-reported and self-reported health symptoms and healthcare utilisation and measures of in idual and community psychological, emotional and economic well-being. The study aims to provide proof-of-concept evidence to inform policies on upgrading of informal settlements to improve environments and human health and well-being. Study protocols have been approved by ethics boards at Monash University, Fiji National University and Hasanuddin University. ACTRN12618000633280 Pre-results.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 07-10-2023
DOI: 10.1093/AOB/MCAD151
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2021
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2013
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-02-2023
DOI: 10.1002/PAN3.10454
Abstract: Sound exerts wide‐ranging influence on humans. The quality of that influence depends on the sound source and context in which it is perceived, but nature sounds are generally preferred by people and associated with health and well‐being benefits. In many environments, sounds are highly mixed giving rise to a multi‐source ‘soundscape’ that may vary through days or seasons. The complex and dynamic nature of soundscapes makes them challenging to quantify or classify to rigorously compare them and their contributing sources quantitatively through space and time. We address this challenge by developing an analytical procedure resulting in a generalized soundscape classification framework that (i) elucidates dominant sound sources (e.g. biophony vs. anthrophony) and (ii) can be used to improve our understanding of spatial and temporal variation in soundscapes across different contexts. We also address a knowledge gap in urban sound research by describing the soundscapes of urban informal settlements in Fiji and Indonesia. Despite the growing emphasis on improving the physical design and quality of life in urban informal settlements, little is known about soundscapes in these settings or their relationship to human health and well‐being. We identified seven soundscape classes representing relative dominance by (i) sustained geophony, biophony dominated by (ii) insect stridulation or (iii) bird song, anthrophony dominated by (iv) machines, (v) vehicles, (vi) human voices or (vii) a mixture of the former. These classes were applicable in both Indonesia and Fiji but differed in their prevalence between the countries, times of day and seasons in expected ways. Future automatic sorting of new sound data into this classification framework is provided by a supervised classification model that attained an overall testing accuracy of 94% and Cohen's kappa of 0.93. Our procedure yields broadly applicable, informative soundscape classes indicative of dominant sound sources, including natural sounds, that are known to have different effects on human health. Therefore, our soundscape classification framework can be used in conjunction with health, well‐being, or economic data, to aid the development, assessment and scaling of sustainable design solutions for liveable cities and especially for improving urban informal settlement environments. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-11-2022
DOI: 10.1111/ECOG.06312
Abstract: Much of Antarctica's highly endemic terrestrial bio ersity is found in small ice‐free patches. Substantial genetic differentiation has been detected among populations across spatial scales. S ling is, however, often restricted to commonly‐accessed sites and we therefore lack a comprehensive understanding of broad‐scale biogeographic patterns, which could impede forecasts of the nature and impacts of future change. Here, we present a synthesis of published genetic studies across terrestrial Antarctica and the broader Antarctic region, aiming to identify current biogeographic patterns, environmental drivers of ersity and future research priorities. A database of all published genetic research from terrestrial fauna and flora (excl. microbes) across the Antarctic region was constructed. This database was then filtered to focus on the most well‐represented taxa and markers (mitochondrial COI for fauna, and nuclear ITS for flora). The final dataset comprised 7222 records, spanning 153 studies of 335 different species. There was strong taxonomic bias towards flowering plants (52% of all floral data sets) and springtails (54% of all faunal data sets), and geographic bias towards the Antarctic Peninsula and Victoria Land. Recent connectivity between the Antarctic continent and neighbouring landmasses, such as South America and the Southern Ocean Islands (SOIs), was inferred for some groups, but patterns observed for most taxa were strongly influenced by s ling biases. Above‐ground wind speed and habitat heterogeneity were positively correlated with genetic ersity indices overall though environment was a generally poor predictor of genetic ersity. The low resolution and variable coverage of data may also have reduced the power of our comparative inferences. In the future, higher‐resolution data, such as genomic SNPs and environmental modelling, alongside targeting s ling of remote sites and under s led taxa, will address current knowledge gaps and greatly advance our understanding of evolutionary processes across the Antarctic region.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Start Date: 02-2019
End Date: 02-2022
Amount: $419,113.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
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