Professor Terry Hughes

Federation Fellow

Centre Director and Leader Program 5: Resilience of linked Social-Ecological Systems

Terry Hughes

 

 

Research Interests
Select Publications

 


Research Interests

Knowledge of the past improves our ability to predict future influences of natural environmental variability, human impacts, and of climate change on coral reefs. My colleagues and I are analyzing historical information using novel statistical and meta-analytical methods, to identifying potential causes of global shifts in biodiversity and their consequences for ecosystem function. Together with ecological studies (Program 2 and 3), this broad array of work provides a unique perspective on community change that ranges from centuries to millennia. Biodiversity is widely recognized as a critical factor for the maintenance of robust ecosystems. I have recently led teams of researchers to 15 islands along the Pacific Biodiversity Gradient (from Indonesia to French Polynesia). This project has provided new insight into the mechanisms and processes that maintain local and global biodiversity.

In the past 2-3 years, my research has increasingly evolved in a new direction, moving from an ecological focus to a broader evaluation of the linkages between coral reef ecosystems, the goods and services they provide to people, and the welfare of human societies. 
This new program focuses on solutions for managing resilience and for coping with change and uncertainty in complex social-ecological systems. The goal is to improve the governance and management of natural systems and enhance their capacity to sustain human and natural capital.  The ARC Centre is developing further research capacity in this area by strategic recruitment of social scientists, creating a unique multi-disciplinary team of the highest calibre.

Select Publications

Berkes, F., T.P. Hughes et al. 2006.  Policy Forum: Globalization, roving bandits, and marine resources. Science 311: 1557-1558.
Link to Full Text or pdf

Dornelas, M., S.R. Connolly, T.P. Hughes. 2006. Coral reef diversity refutes the neutral theory of biodiversity.  Nature 440: 80-82.
Link to Full Text or pdf

Hughes, T.P., D.R. Bellwood, C. Folke, R.S. Steneck, and J. Wilson. 2005. New paradigms for supporting the resilience of marine ecosystems.  Trends Ecol. Evol. 20: 380-386.
Link to Full Text or pdf

D.R. Bellwood, T.P. Hughes, C. Folke, and M. Nyström. 2004. Confronting the coral reef crisis. Nature 429: 827-833.

Adger, W.N, T.P. Hughes, C. Folke, S.R. Carpenter, and J. Rockstrom. 2005. Social-ecological resilience to coastal disasters.  Science 309: 1036-1039.
Link to Full Text or pdf

Ayre, D.J., and T.P. Hughes. 2004. Climate change, genotypic diversity and gene flow in reef-building corals. Ecology Letters 7: 273-278.

Hughes, T.P., et al. 2003. Climate Change, Human Impacts, and the Resilience of Coral Reefs. Science 301, 929-933.
 
Pandolfi, J.M., T.P. Hughes, and 10 co-authors. 2003. Global trajectories of the long-term decline of coral reef ecosystems. Science 301, 955-958.

Jackson, J.B.C.,  T.P., Hughes, and 16 co-authors. 2001. Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems. Science 293: 629-638.

Hughes, T.P., A.H. Baird, E.A. Dinsdale, N.A. Moltschaniwskyj, M.S. Pratchett, J.E. Tanner, and B.L. Willis.  1999.  Patterns of recruitment and abundance of corals along the Great Barrier Reef. Nature 397:59-63.
 
Hughes, T.P. and J.H. Connell. 1999.  Multiple stresses on coral reefs. Limnology & Oceanography 44(3):932-940.
 
Hughes, T. P. 1994. Catastrophes, phase-shifts, and large-scale degradation of a Caribbean coral reef. Science 265: 1547-1551.

Hughes, T.P. and J.B.C. Jackson.  1985. Population dynamics and life histories of foliaceous corals.  Ecological Monographs 55: 141-166.