ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
Abstract:
Over the last decades, the lowlands of Jambi province in Sumatra (Indonesia) have undergone a major transformation from forests towards a cash crop-dominated landscape of rubber and oil palm plantations. EFForTS is a collaborative project of more than 160 researchers that investigate the ecological and socio-economic effects of such transformation focusing on smallholder systems. The goal of the project is to understand and possibly find ways how to support biodiversity and ecosystem functioning while serving human needs. Here, I will give some general background on the project and then focus on EFForTS-ABM, an integrated ecological-economic land-use change model. EFForTS-ABM is spatially-explicit and follows a combined agent-based and grid-based approach. Household agents own agricultural fields within a forested landscape and take economically-driven farming decisions that affect diverse ecological and socio-economic functions. EFForTS-ABM is equipped with EFForTS-LGraf, a landscape generator that not only generates input maps for EFForTS-ABM, but serves also as a stand-alone tool for specific landscape-scale analyses. Model structure and parameterization are based on field data from multiple EFForTS projects. Our guiding question is what kind of landscape mosaic optimizes the ensemble of biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and economic benefit.
Biography:
My interests revolve around spatial ecology, biodiversity, as well as ecological-socioeconomic land use systems. My first project was a population viability analysis of an Australian gecko species. In the last 20 years, my work has broadened to savannas, forests, grasslands, and agricultural landscapes. My methodological emphasis is on (spatially explicit, individual-based) simulation models and spatial statistics (point pattern analysis, of location of individuals). After having worked at a range of universities and research institutes across Germany, USA, and Israel, I’m professor for ecosystem modelling at the University of Goettingen (Germany) since 2009.
James Cook University researchers have found brightly coloured fish are becoming increasingly rare as coral declines, with the phenomenon likely to get worse in the future. Christopher Hemingson, a
Researchers working with stakeholders in the Great Barrier Reef region have come up with ideas on how groups responsible for looking after the reef can operate more effectively when the next bleaching
A new study has delivered a stark warning about the impacts of urban growth on the world’s coral reefs. As coastal developments expand at pace around the world, a year-long study of coral on a reef
Alarming new research shows global warming of 1.5°C relative to pre-industrial levels will be catastrophic for almost all coral reefs – including those once thought of as refuges. Associate Profes
Abstract: Molecular approaches have revolutionised our understanding of the systematics and evolution of most branches on the tree of life, including corals. Over the last twenty-five years molecula
Abstract: Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) are a major driver of coral decline across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and compound upon the impacts of increasingly frequent and severe coral
Abstract: Being a new staff member at JCU, I will start with a short overview of my research. Next I will zoom in on a specific topic that I have been interested in for a long time: the impact of e
Abstract: The harsh truth is that, despite exciting innovations and increases in activity, ocean conservation is not succeeding, at least not fast enough. This is my conclusion from the last decad
This talk is the last of the parachute science seminar series organized by the ARC CoE Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) committee. Abstract Universities and institutions across th
This talk is the second of three on parachute science being organized by the ARC CoE Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) committee. Abstract For millenia, Traditional Owners have hel
This talk is the first of three on parachute science being organized by the ARC CoE Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) committee. Abstract Parachute science is the practice whereby
ABSTRACT Climate change loss and damage is known as the “third pillar” of international climate governance in addition to mitigation and adaptation. Although there is no agreed upon definition,
Partner Research Institutions
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
