Fields of Research

Forest health and pathology
Forestry sciences
Forestry management and environment
Terrestrial ecology
Agroforestry
Conservation and biodiversity
Photogrammetry and remote sensing
Plant physiology
Pollution and contamination
Community ecology (excl. invasive species ecology)
Biogeography and phylogeography
Soil chemistry and soil carbon sequestration (excl. carbon sequestration science)
Forestry biomass and bioproducts
Invertebrate biology
Tree nutrition and physiology
Climate change processes
Natural resource management
Forestry fire management
Physical geography and environmental geoscience
Landscape ecology

Research Objectives

Native forests
Hardwood plantations
Other plant production and plant primary products
Assessment and management of freshwater ecosystems
Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences
Forestry
Expanding knowledge in built environment and design
Softwood plantations
Evaluation, allocation, and impacts of land use
Forest product traceability and quality assurance
Control of pests, diseases and exotic species in terrestrial environments
Information systems, technologies and services
Management of greenhouse gas emissions from plant production
Assessment and management of terrestrial ecosystems
Clinical health
Expanding knowledge in the chemical sciences
Control of pests, diseases and exotic species in fresh, ground and surface water
Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences
Other environmental management
Ecosystem adaptation to climate change
Terrestrial biodiversity
Effects of climate change on Australia (excl. social impacts)
Environmentally sustainable plant production

Career Best Publications

Research Publications

A climate analysis of the current and potential future Eucalyptus nitens and E. globulus plantation estate on Tasmanian state forest; Tasforests
A cross-continental comparison of plant and beetle responses to retention of forest patches during timber harvest; Ecological Applications
A robust multi-kernel change detection framework for detecting leaf beetle defoliation using Landsat 7 ETM+ data; ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
A sclerotium-forming strain of Botryis cinerea associated with shoot blight of Eucalyptus globulus in Tasmania; Australasian Plant Pathology
An analysis of pest risk and potential economic impact of pine wilt disease to Pinus plantations in Australia; Australian Forestry
An introduction to the Australian and New Zealand flux tower network - OzFlux; Biogeosciences
Are insect herbivores in Eucalyptus globulus/nitens plantations a worsening problem? A multi-region spatio-temporal review of southern Australia
Benchmarking forest health surveillance and biosecurity activities for managing Australia's exotic forest pest and pathogen risks; Australian Forestry
Changes in soil moisture drive soil methane uptake along a fire regeneration chronosequence in a eucalypt forest landscape; Global Change Biology
Climate change and pest risk in temperate eucalypt and radiata pine plantations: a review; Australian Forestry
Combined stresses in forests; Chapter 11. Combined Stresses in Plants
Costs and benefits of a leaf beetle Integrated pest management (IPM) program - I modelling changes in wood volume yields from pest management; Australian Forestry
Costs and benefits of a leaf beetle integrated pest management (IPM) program II - cost-benefit analysis; Australian Forestry
Data obtained from acoustic recording units and from field observer point counts of Tasmanian forest birds are similar but not the same; Australian Field Ornithology
Development of decay in Eucalyptus regnans, E obliqua and E delegatensis
Ease of access to an alternative food source enables wallabies to strip bark in Tasmanian Pinus radiata plantations; Forests
Economic appraisal of Sirex Wood Wasp (Sirex noctilio) control in Australian pine plantations; Australian Forestry
Establishing pest detection systems in South Pacific countries and Australia
Evaluating the costs and benefits of managing new and existing biosecurity threats to Australia's plantation industry
Forest succession where trees become smaller and wood carbon stocks reduce; Forest Ecology and Management
Fungi identified during forest health surveillance of eucalypt plantations in Tasmania; 12th Biennial Australasian Plant Pathology Society Conference
How well does a log decay-class system capture the ecology of decomposition? - A case-study from Tasmanian Eucalyptus obliqua forest; Forest Ecology and Management
Intercomparison of clumping index estimates from POLDER, MODIS, and MISR satellite data over reference sites; ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
Landscape structure and mature forest biodiversity in wet eucalypt forests: a spatial analysis of timber production areas in South-Eastern Australia; Forests
Lethal trap tree trials final report 2010 –11: Efficacy of lethal trap trees at protecting Eucalyptus nitens from defoliation by the target leaf beetle, Paropsisterna bimaculata
Living on the edge: a continental-scale assessment of forest vulnerability to drought; Global Change Biology
Managing the health of plantation eucalypts in Tasmania; Durable eucaltpts on drylands: protecting and enhancing value
Measuring a fire. The story of the January 2019 fire told from measurements at the warra supersite, Tasmania; Fire
Monitoring the implementation of variable retention silviculture in wet eucalypt forest: A key element of successful adaptive management; Forest Ecology and Management
Options for managing chrysomelid leaf beetles in Australian eucalypt plantations: reducing the chemical footprint; Agricultural and Forest Entomology
Pruning and fertiliser effects on branch size and decay in two Eucalyptus nitens plantations; Forest Ecology and Management
Quantifying floristic and structural forest maturity: an attribute-based method for wet eucalypt forests; Journal of Applied Ecology
Relationships between annual rainfall, damage symptoms and insect borer populations in mid-rotation Eucalyptus nitens and Eucalyptus globulus plantations in Tasmania: Can static traps be used as an early warning device?; Australian Forestry
Responses of flora and fauna in wet eucalypt production forest to the intensity of disturbance in the surrounding landscape; Forest Ecology and Management
Risk of exotic pests to the Australian forest industry; Australian Forestry
Seasonal dynamics in understorey abundance and carbohydrate concentration in relation to browsing and bark stripping of Tasmanian Pinus radiata plantations; Forest Ecology and Management
Short- and long-term benefits for forest biodiversity of retaining unlogged patches in harvested areas; Forest Ecology and Management
Soil methane oxidation in both dry and wet temperate eucalypt forests shows a near-identical relationship with soil air-filled porosity; Biogeoscience
Temperate eucalypt forest decline is linked to altered ectomycorrhizal communities mediated by soil chemistry; Forest Ecology and Management
The Australian SuperSite Network: A continental, long-term terrestrial ecosystem observatory; Science of the Total Environment
The validity of optimal leaf traits modelled on environmental conditions; New Phytologist
Thermal optima of gross primary productivity are closely aligned with mean air temperatures across Australian wooded ecosystems; Global Change Biology
Trophic position determines functional and phylogenetic recovery after disturbance within a community; Functional Ecology
Variation in mammal browsing damage between eucalypt plantations in Tasmania, and attempts to associate the variation with environmental features; Australian Forestry
Wood decay fungi and dead wood-dependent beetles in living Eucalyptus obliqua trees in southern Tasmania
Wood-decay fungi and saproxylic beetles associated with living Eucalyptus obliqua trees: early results from studies at the Warra LTER Site, Tasmania; Tasforests

Research Projects

A new integrated approach for ecologically sustainable forest management; Australian Research Council (ARC)
Linking Environmental Stress in Pine Plantations to Bark Stripping by Browsers and Fungal Attack: Developing Novel Options for Management; Australian Research Council (ARC)
Managing for Persistence of the Saproxylic Biota in Production Forest Landscapes; Australian Research Council (ARC)
Managing Variable Retention Harvesting to Maintain Forest Biodiversity - Effects of Forest Influence and Successional Stage on Recolonisation; Australian Research Council (ARC)
Risk, Impact on Productivity and Control of Mycosphaerella Infections in Plantations of E. nitens and E. globulus; Australian Research Council (ARC)
Using pre and post LIDAR to assess the severity of the 2019 Tasmanian Bushfires; Bushfire and Natural Hazard CRC (BNHCRC)
An Audit of Forest Biosecurity Arrangements and Preparedness in Australia
TERN Facility Warra Ozflux portal
TERN Facility Warra Tall Eucalypt SuperSite

Research Candidate Supervision