Biogeography, Ecology, & Modelling (BEAM)
Ngura Nandamari
We are always interested in hearing from to motivated individuals who are interested in developing their own proposals to join our lab. Salaries for researchers can often be funded via mechanisms like the Australian Research Council Discovery Early-Career Research Awards (DECRA), the UTS Chancellor’s Research Fellowship, or even overseas sources.
If you are interested in joining our lab and would like to investigate possible funding routes in this manner, please contact us.
Employment
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Vegetation Modelling
For millennia, innovative and adaptive Indigenous management practices actively shaped Australia’s environment, making pre-colonial landscapes a product of human intervention rather than untouched wilderness. The disruption of these practices, caused by European colonization, led to major ecological changes, including plant biodiversity loss, and the rise of novel ecosystems and environmental regimes. Understanding these ancient managed landscapes and the techniques used to maintain them is essential for addressing current environmental challenges like species decline, invasive species, and bushfires, especially as climate change exacerbates these issues. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will adapt dynamic vegetation models and develop code to simulate landscape changes over the last 1,000 years, focusing on the period of European colonization. Key objectives include (1) integrating values-driven land management practices, particularly fire management, to refine the pre-1750 vegetation layer, (2) comparing model outputs with independent evidence such as paleoenvironmental data (e.g., pollen, sedimentary DNA), and (3) generating scenarios for present and future culturally informed landscape management. This project is part of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Environmental Histories and Futures (CIEHF) in collaboration with the Australian National University (ACT), University of New South Wales (NSW), Western Sydney University (NSW), University of Melbourne (VIC), and Flinders University (SA).
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Spatial analyses, Point process and agent-based modelling
The Australian landscape has been shaped by Indigenous management over millennia, creating environmental baselines that are anthropogenic rather than pristine. Following European invasion and the depopulation of Indigenous peoples, rapid changes in land use occurred, including habitat loss, fragmentation, and urbanization, which drastically impacted Australia’s unique wildlife. Understanding historical patterns of land use and linking them to ecological processes affecting native fauna is essential for informed environmental management. By analysing baseline data, future impacts under various climate and land-use scenarios can be modelled to guide sustainable management. The Research Fellow will use spatial data, advanced statistical analyses, and point pattern modelling to examine land-use and land-cover changes over the past 1,000 years, particularly focusing on the period following European colonization. This includes: (1) assessing how landscapes changed after the cessation of Indigenous management, (2) validating model outputs against paleoenvironmental data (e.g., pollen, sedimentary DNA), (3) using this information in agent-based models to estimate native wildlife responses to land-use changes, and (4) creating scenarios for future culturally-informed landscape management strategies. This project is part of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Environmental Histories and Futures (CIEHF) in collaboration with: James Cook University (QLD), the Australian National University (ACT), University of New South Wales (NSW), and Flinders University (SA).
PhD projects
We have several Indigenous PhD scholarships available within the context of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures (CIEHF), particularly in partnership with the Gujaga foundations for projects taking place on Dharawal (Country). We are currently co-developing projects with representatives of Dharawal Nation and invite interested candidates to enquire directly with Frédérik Saltré for opportunities.
Masters & Honours projects
Modelling reintroduction strategies for the conservation of Advena campbellii on Norfolk Island
The Campbell’s keeled glass-snail (Advena campbellii), is an endemic species once likely widespread on Norfolk Island but has suffered significant declines due to habitat loss and introduced predators. The current population is now so small that the species is at risk of imminent extinction. One potential intervention is the reintroduction of zoo-bred individuals to the island, with the aim of increasing population resilience and improving long-term survival prospects in the wild. Although few land snail reintroductions have been attempted globally, this would be the first of its kind in Australia. However, reintroduction plans are often driven by practitioner experience rather than empirical evidence. We aim to use population modelling to determine the minimum number of individuals required, the optimal spatial and temporal frequency of releases, and how these outcomes depend on varying levels of predation. This approach will allow us to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of proposed management strategies and improve the likelihood of successful reintroduction.
Impact of Ecosystem stability on mammal biodiversity across Australia
Understanding ecosystem functioning under global change requires measuring ecosystem stability and its impact on animal populations across multiple spatial scales. Stability in ecological terms is a multidimensional concept that reflects an ecosystem’s ability to absorb and recover from environmental disturbances. It is often described through three key dimensions: resistance (the ability to withstand disturbances), resilience (the speed of recovery to an equilibrium state), and temporal variability (the extent to which an ecosystem fluctuates over time). While traditionally studied at small spatial scales, the advent of remote sensing technology now enables large-scale, high-temporal-resolution assessments of ecosystem stability. Satellite-derived productivity indices, such as the MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), provide valuable data for calculating these stability metrics. This project aims to quantify the impact of ecosystem stability on mammal biodiversity and conservation status using MODIS EVI time series data from the last 20 years across Australia. Specifically, we will examine spatial variations in ecosystem stability and assess its relative influence alongside human pressure and fire activity on mammal diversity and conservation status. By integrating ecological stability with conservation data, this research will provide critical insights into how ecosystem stability shapes biodiversity outcomes.
Improving population estimates in vertebrate pest control: addressing catch-effort model limitations
Reduction in abundance/density is a common objective of control programs which seek to reduce damages caused by vertebrate pests, but these programs often lack rigorous estimates of population size both pre- and post-control. The lack of good population estimates makes it difficult to gauge program progress. Catch-effort can be a useful proxy for estimating population size or density, but data derived from control programs rarely satisfy the assumptions of catch-effort models (e.g., standardised sampling methods, the population is closed except for removals due to pest control, all individuals are equally susceptible to control etc.), so their utility for estimating population change is often limited. Ideally, vertebrate pest control programs could address these assumptions in their design, but there are various reasons this is unlikely to happen (e.g., budget constraints, reactive changes to management techniques, limitations of existing control techniques, animal behaviour, habitat etc). Rather, it would be interesting to explore what mathematical or statistical methods are available to handle removal data and improve the reliability of catch-effort population estimates when assumptions cannot be met.
Assessing the Functional Diversity of Vegetation Through Pollen Reconstructions and Vegetation Surveys
Pollen analysis is a widely used method for reconstructing past vegetation and landscape diversity by examining pollen grains preserved in sedimentary environments such as lakes, peat bogs, and soils. These paleo-landscape reconstructions help assess the long-term impacts of climate change and human land use. However, while pollen-based reconstructions provide valuable insights into plant biodiversity (e.g., species richness and vegetation types), their ability to accurately capture the full functional diversity of plant communities remains uncertain. This project aims to evaluate the accuracy of pollen data in estimating actual functional diversity, redundancy, and uniqueness by comparing pollen reconstructions with direct vegetation surveys. We apply a newly developed trait-space approach to both pollen records and vegetation surveys across different regions of Australia (XX ) to determine how well pollen-based reconstructions reflect functional diversity patterns in contemporary ecosystems. By critically assessing the reliability of pollen-based reconstructions for estimating functional diversity in present-day landscapes, this project will help refining the interpretation of palaeoecological records and improve our understanding of long-term biodiversity changes.
Forecasting biodiversity risk: impact of climate dissimilarity, velocity, and divergence on mammal conservation
Climate-change metrics capture the complex effects of climate change and help predict where species are most likely to adapt, disperse, or face regional extinction. These metrics, including measures of novel and disappearing climates, are widely used to forecast biological responses to environmental change. This project examines how past variations in climate dissimilarity, velocity, and divergence have influenced the spatial distribution of IUCN mammal species classifications concerning human impacts. First, we will identify when and where novel ecosystems have emerged due to climate change and establish the spatial relationship between these changes and mammal species' conservation status. Using high-resolution General Circulation Model simulations under different climate scenarios, we will then project these metrics over the next 80 years to pinpoint regions most likely to experience climate-driven ecological shifts and assess future risks to mammal communities.
