Dr Tatjana Good
Visiting Scholar
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Swiss NSF Recipient 2008-2010
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Tatjana Good grew up in the US and Switzerland. She received her Diploma in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Biology in the Institute of Zoology at the University of Zűrich, Switzerland in 1997. Recognising the importance of communicating scientific findings to a broad audience, she completed her diploma for Gymnasium-level science teaching in 1998 at the University of Zürich, Switzerland.
Shortly afterwards she moved to the US and obtained her PhD in Behavioral Endocrinology from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. Due to her passion for conservation biology and her interest in its interface with public policy, she acquired a Certificate in Science Technology and Environmental Policy (STEP) at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 2004.
After a couple of years working for NGOs (DIVERSITAS & CI/IUCN on biodiversity conservation projects, including the recently launched Global Mammal Assessment, which consisted in a comprehensive assessment of the conservation status of all 5000+ mammal species, she was hired as visiting lecturer by the Institute of Shipboard Education for the Voyage Semester at Sea Spring ’08. While circumnavigating the globe, she received a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation for advanced researchers in 2008 to work with Bob Pressey on scales issues in conservation planning.
Her free time (yes, she actually has a life!) is spent at the Yoga Space, the Tibetan Buddhist Centre, walking her dog Leica, eating Swiss chocolate, planning trips or hanging out in her hammock with a good book. A member of the JCU Dive Club, she anticipates doing a lot of diving in the near future. As soon as she gets a small car and fuel prices stop going up, she plans to discover a bit more of Australia. Tips of off-the-beaten-track destinations, unusual hostels/backpackers and funky milkbars always welcome.
Research Interests
Tatjana's interests lie in the broad topic of systematic conservation planning, which is a process driven by explicit, quantitative targets, resulting in spatially explicit solutions and transparent, defensible, decisions about the areas selected for conservation action. She is fascinated and challenged by all aspects of the planning process, including data collection, data sources and their biases, the search and controversy of surrogates for biodiversity conservation, species range modelling, increasingly complex and realistic algorithms for selecting conservation areas, planning for processes, communicating and interacting with stakeholders, socio-economic considerations as well as the political climate which all affecting the ultimate outcome of conservation plans. She follows closely the new research on optimizing conservation returns on financial investments, and priority-setting schemes that allow allocation of funds among alternate conservation actions (acquiring land, pest management, restoration, etc).
This area of research is multi-facetted because one needs to consider the landscape as a whole, current protected areas as well as the surrounding matrix, to design conservation areas that are well connected represent the full range of biodiversity and explicitly considers natural patterns and processes, but that also allow people to live a sustainable lifestyle. While it is now evident that reserves are not sufficient to protect the world's biodiversity, we must find innovative ways to balance human needs and land use activities with the protection of biodiversity. Ultimately, our own survival depends on it
Select Publications
Schipper J etal 2008. The biogeography of biodiversity, threat and knowledge in the world’s terrestrial and aquatic mammals. Science 322:225-230.
Kremen C, Cameron A, Moilanen A, Phillips S, Thomas CD, Beentje H, Dransfeld J, Fisher BL, Glaw F, Good TC, Harper G, Hijmans RJ, Lees DC, Louis E Jr, Nussbaum RA, Razafimpahanana A, Raxworthy C, Schatz G, Vences M, Vieites DR, Wright PC & Zjhra ML 2008. Response: Cost of Conservation. Science 321:342-343.
Kremen C, Cameron A, Moilanen A, Phillips S, Thomas CD, Beentje H, Dransfeld J, Fisher BL, Glaw F, Good TC, Harper G, Hijmans RJ, Lees DC, Louis E Jr, Nussbaum RA, Razafimpahanana A, Raxworthy C, Schatz G, Vences M, Vieites DR, Wright PC & Zjhra ML 2008. Aligning conservation priorities across taxa in Madagascar, a biodiversity hotspot. Science 320:223-226.
Rodríguez JP, Rodríguez-Clark KM, Oliveira-Miranda MA, Good T, Grajal A. 2006. Professional capacity building: the missing agenda in conservation priority setting. Cons. Bio. 20:1340.
Good TC, Zjhra M & Kremen C 2006. Addressing Data Deficiency in Classifying Extinction Risk: a Case Study of a Radiation of Bignoniaceae from Madagascar. Cons. Bio. 20:1099-1110.
Rodríguez JP, Good, TC & Dirzo R 2005. La comunidad científica y el reto de la conservación de la biodiversidad neotropical. Interciencia 3:450.
Good T, Harris KK & Ihunnah CA 2005. Corticosteroids as potential mechanism regulating variability in reproductive success in monogamous oldfield mice (Peromyscus polionotus). Phys. Behav. 86:96-102.
Good TC, Khan MZ & Lynch JW 2003. Biochemical and physiological validation of a corticosteroid radioimmunoassay for plasma and fecal samples in oldfield mice (Peromyscus polionotus). Phys. Behav. 80:405-411.
Good T, Hindenlang K, Imfeld S & Nievergelt B 2001. A habitat analysis of badger (Meles meles) setts in a semi-natural forest. Mamm. Biol. 66:204-214.
Nievergelt B, Good T & Güttinger R 1998. A Survey of the Flora and Fauna of the Simen Mountains National Park Ethiopia. Walia, Special issue. Pano-Verlag, Zurich.
Fellowships and Grants
Swiss National Science Foundation Grant Recipient 2008-2010
Iniciativa de Especies Amenazadas (IEA) Grant 2006, 2007
Society for Conservation Biology Travel Grant, 2005
Animal Behavior Society Student Member Research Grant, 2002
Society for Comparative and Integrative Biology (SICB) Grant-in-Aid of Research, 2002
STEP (Science Technology and Environmental Policy) Fellow, 1999
Grant from Margaret Goheen S. Travel Fund, 1999, 2000
Michael W. Huber,'49, PEI Graduate Fellow Award, 1998
