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Corey J. A. Bradshaw

Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University

I am the Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology (globalecologyflinders.com) in the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University in Adelaide.

I have a broad range of research interests including population dynamics, extinction theory, palaeo-ecology, sustainable harvest, disease ecology, human demography, climate change impacts on biodiversity, invasive species, and sustainable energy systems.

I am also the author of The Effective Scientist (t.co/SGz41b7Z0G), Killing the Koala & Poisoning the Prairie (amzn.to/1Ouey69), and Tropical Conservation Biology (wp.me/PhhT4-b).

Experience

  • 2020–present
    Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology, Flinders University
  • 2017–2020
    Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology, Flinders University
  • 2015–2017
    Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change, University of Adelaide
  • 2008–2014
    Director of Ecological Modelling, University of Adelaide
  • 2004–2008
    Principal Research Fellow, Charles Darwin University

Education

  • 2005 
    Murdoch University, Postgraduate Certificate (Veterinary Conservation Medicine)
  • 1999 
    University of Otago, PhD Zoology
  • 1994 
    University of Alberta, MSc Zoology
  • 1992 
    Université de Montréal, BSc Ecology

Publications

  • 2023
    Estimating co-extinction threats in terrestrial ecosystems, Global Change Biology
  • 2023
    Time-travelling pathogens and their risk to ecological communities, PLoS Computational Biology
  • 2023
    Lower infant mortality, lower household size, and more access to contraception reduce fertility in low- and middle-income nations, PLoS One
  • 2023
    Directionally supervised cellular automaton for the initial peopling of Sahul, Quaternary Science Reviews
  • 2023
    Logistic-growth models measuring density feedback are sensitive to population declines, but not fluctuating carrying capacity, Ecology and Evolution
  • 2023
    Unveiling the hidden economic toll of biological invasions in the European Union, Environmental Sciences Europe
  • 2023
    Predicting predator-prey interactions in terrestrial endotherms using random forest, Ecography
  • 2023
    Recent advances in availability and synthesis of the economic costs of biological invasions, BioScience
  • 2022
    Zoonotic diseases and our troubled relationship with nature, American Journal of Health Promotion
  • 2022
    Co-extinctions dominate future vertebrate losses from climate and land-use change, Science Advances
  • 2022
    Principles for scientists working at the river science-policy interface, River Research and Applications
  • 2022
    Dismantling the poachernomics of the illegal wildlife trade, Biological Conservation
  • 2022
    Sahul’s megafauna species were vulnerable to plant-community changes due to their position in the trophic network, Ecography
  • 2021
    Stochastic models support rapid peopling of Late Pleistocene Sahul, Nature Communications
  • 2021
    Relative demographic susceptibility does not explain the extinction chronology of Sahul’s megafauna, eLife
  • 2021
    Predicting potential future reduction in shark bites on people, Royal Society Open Science
  • 2021
    Manipulating water for amphibian conservation, Conservation Biology
  • 2021
    Consequences of recreational hunting for biodiversity conservation and livelihoods, One Earth
  • 2021
    Natural and anthropogenic climate variability shape assemblages of range-extending coral-reef fishes, Journal of Biogeography
  • 2021
    High and rising economic costs of biological invasions worldwide, Nature
  • 2021
    Opposing life stage-specific effects of ocean warming at source and sink populations of range-shifting coral-reef fishes, Journal of Animal Ecology
  • 2021
    Predicting targets and costs for feral-cat reduction on large islands using stochastic population models, Conservation Science and Practice
  • 2021
    Landscape rules predict optimal super-highways for the first peopling of Sahul, Nature Human Behaviour
  • 2021
    Detailed assessment of the reported economic costs of invasive species in Australia, NeoBiota
  • 2021
    Underestimating the challenges of avoiding a ghastly future, Frontiers in Conservation Science
  • 2020
    Variation in stem xylem traits is related to differentiation of upper limits of tree species along an elevational gradient, Forests
  • 2020
    Grand challenges in global biodiversity threats, Frontiers in Conservation Science
  • 2020
    Dietary generalism accelerates arrival and persistence of coral-reef fishes in their novel ranges under climate change, Global Change Biology
  • 2020
    Tipping elements and amplified polar warming during the Last Interglacial, Quaternary Science Reviews
  • 2020
    Informing CITES Parties: strengthening science-based decision-making when listing marine species, Fish and Fisheries
  • 2020
    Processes controlling programmed cell death of root velamen radicum in an epiphytic orchid, Annals of Botany
  • 2020
    Combining agent-based, trait-based and demographic approaches to model coral-community dynamics, eLife
  • 2019
    FosSahul 2.0, an updated database for the Late Quaternary fossil records of Sahul, Scientific Data
  • 2019
    Testing the socio-economic and environmental determinants of better child-health outcomes in Africa: a cross-sectional study among nations, BMJ Open
  • 2019
    Minimum founding populations for the first peopling of Sahul, Nature Ecology and Evolution
  • 2019
    Early human settlement of Sahul was not an accident, Scientific Reports
  • 2019
    Increased population size of fish in a lowland river following restoration of structural habitat, Ecological Applications
  • 2019
    Statistical language backs conservatism in climate-change assessments, BioScience
  • 2019
    Opportunities to improve the future of South Australia's terrestrial biodiversity, Rethinking Ecology
  • 2019
    Comparative population genomics confirms little population structure in two commercially targeted carcharhinid sharks, Marine Biology
  • 2019
    Climate-driven shifts in the distribution of koala browse species from the Last Interglacial to the near future, Ecography
  • 2019
    Socio-economic predictors of environmental performance among African nations, Scientific Reports
  • 2019
    Climate-human interaction associated with southeast Australian megafauna-extinction patterns, Nature Communications
  • 2018
    Gender bias when assessing recommended ecology articles, Rethinking Ecology
  • 2018
    High-quality fossil dates support a synchronous, late-Holocene extinction of devils and thylacines in mainland Australia, Biology Letters
  • 2018
    Evidence of sensory-driven behaviour in the Ediacaran organism Parvancorina: implications and autecological interpretations, Gondwana Research
  • 2018
    Co-extinctions annihilate planetary life during extreme environmental change, Scientific Reports
  • 2018
    Effectiveness of five personal shark-bite deterrents for surfers, PeerJ
  • 2018
    Distribution models predict large contractions in habitat-forming seaweeds in response to ocean warming, Diversity and Distributions
  • 2018
    Revised European renewable-energy policies erode nature protection, Nature Ecology and Evolution
  • 2018
    Previous exposure to myxomatosis reduces survival of European rabbits during outbreaks of rabbit haemorrhagic disease for biological control, Journal of Applied Ecology
  • 2018
    Predicting sustainable shark harvests when stock assessments are lacking, ICES Journal of Marine Science
  • 2018
    The Effective Scientist. A Handy Guide to an Academic Career, Cambridge University Press
  • 2018
    Offshore Energy and Marine Spatial Planning, Routledge
  • 2017
    Burden of proof: a comprehensive review of the feasibility of 100% renewable-electricity systems, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
  • 2017
    Future extinction risk for wetland plants is higher from individual patch loss than total area reduction, Biological Conservation
  • 2017
    Highly localized replenishment of coral reef fish populations near nursery habitats, Marine Ecology Progress Series
  • 2017
    Species decline under nitrogen fertilization reduces community-level resistance to fungal diseases, Proceedings of the Royal Society B
  • 2017
    100 articles every ecologist should read, Nature Ecology and Evolution
  • 2017
    Niche constraints and dispersal-limited competition together assemble wetland plant communities, Journal of Vegetation Science
  • 2016
    A comprehensive database of quality-rated fossil ages for Sahul's Quaternary vertebrates, Scientific Data
  • 2016
    Banning trophy hunting will exacerbate biodiversity loss, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
  • 2016
    Climate change not to blame for late Quaternary megafauna extinctions in Australia, Nature Communications
  • 2016
    Humans and seasonal climate variability threaten large-bodied coral reef fish with small ranges, Nature Communications
  • 2016
    Where to dig for fossils: combining climate-envelope, taphonomy and discovery models, PLoS One
  • 2016
    Warming and fertilization alter the dilution effect of host diversity on disease severity, Ecology
  • 2016
    An efficient protocol for the global sensitivity analysis of stochastic ecological models, Ecosphere
  • 2016
    What caused extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna of Sahul?, Proceedings of the Royal Society B
  • 2016
    Implications of Australia’s population policy for future greenhouse-gas emissions targets, Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies
  • 2016
    How to rank journals, PLoS One
  • 2016
    Massive yet grossly underestimated global costs of invasive insects, Nature Communications
  • 2016
    Vertebral chemistry demonstrates habitat use and population structure of bronze whaler sharks, Marine Ecology Progress Series
  • 2016
    Diversity patterns of seasonal wetland plant communities mainly driven by rare terrestrial species, Biodiversity and Conservation
  • 2016
    Synergistic roles of climate warming and human occupation in Patagonian megafaunal extinctions during the Last Deglaciation, Science Advances
  • 2015
    Key role for nuclear energy in global biodiversity conservation, Conservation Biology
  • 2015
    Global estimates of boreal forest carbon stocks and flux, Global and Planetary Change
  • 2015
    Global zero-carbon energy pathways using viable mixes of nuclear and renewables, Applied Energy
  • 2015
    National emphasis on high-level protection reduces risk of biodiversity decline in tropical forest reserves, Biological Conservation
  • 2015
    Abrupt warming events drove Late Pleistocene Holarctic megafaunal turnover, Science
  • 2015
    Obliquity-driven expansion of North Atlantic sea ice during the last glacial, Geophysical Research Letters
  • 2015
    Killing the Koala and Poisoning the Prairie: Australia, America, and the Environment, Chicago University Press
  • 2015
    Ecological and economic benefits to cattle rangelands of restoring an apex predator, Journal of Applied Ecology
  • 2014
    Strong but opposing β-diversity-stability relationships in coral reef fish communities, Proceedings of the Royal Society B
  • 2014
    Predicting current and future global distributions of whale sharks, Global Change Biology
  • 2014
    An ecological regime shift resulting from disrupted predator-prey interactions in Holocene Australia, Ecology
  • 2014
    Genetics in conservation management: revised recommendations for the 50/500 rules, Red List criteria and population viability analyses, Biological Conservation
  • 2014
    Predictors of contraction and expansion of area of occupancy for British birds, Proceedings of the Royal Society B
  • 2014
    Nuclear power can reduce emissions and maintain a strong economy: rating Australia's optimal future electricity-generation mix by technologies and policies, Applied Energy
  • 2014
    Human population reduction is not a quick fix for environmental problems, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA
  • 2013
    No need for disease: testing extinction hypotheses for the thylacine using multi-species metamodels, Journal of Animal Ecology
  • 2013
    Brave new green world – consequences of a carbon economy for the conservation of Australian biodiversity, Biological Conservation
  • 2013
    Past human influences alter future range estimates: advancing the predictive capacity of species distribution models, Global Change Biology
  • 2013
    Conservation management and sustainable harvest quotas are sensitive to choice of climate modelling approach for two marine gastropods, Diversity and Distributions
  • 2013
    Near-complete extinction of native small mammal fauna 25 years following forest fragmentation, Science
  • 2012
    iREDD hedges against avoided deforestation’s unholy trinity of leakage, permanence and additionality, Conservation Letters
  • 2012
    Little left to lose: deforestation and forest degradation in Australia since European colonisation, Journal of Plant Ecology
  • 2012
    Novel coupling of individual-based epidemiological and demographic models predicts realistic dynamics of tuberculosis in alien buffalo, Journal of Applied Ecology
  • 2012
    Robust estimates of extinction time in the geological record, Quaternary Science Reviews
  • 2012
    Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas, Nature
  • 2011
    Primary forests are irreplaceable for sustaining tropical biodiversity, Nature
  • 2011
    Seaweed communities in retreat from ocean warming, Current Biology
  • 2011
    Relative need for conservation assessment of vascular plant species among ecoregions, Journal of Biogeography
  • 2010
    Evaluating the relative environmental impact of countries, PLoS One
  • 2010
    Reef size and isolation determine the temporal stability of coral reef fish populations, Ecology
  • 2010
    Mechanisms driving change: altered species interactions and ecosystem functions from global warming, Journal of Animal Ecology
  • 2009
    Urgent preservation of boreal carbon stocks and biodiversity, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
  • 2009
    Susceptibility of sharks, rays and chimaeras to global extinction, Advances in Marine Biology
  • 2009
    Tropical turmoil – a biodiversity tragedy in progress, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
  • 2008
    Synergies among extinction drivers under global change, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
  • 2008
    Threat or invasive status in legumes is related to opposite extremes of the same ecological and life-history attributes, Journal of Ecology
  • 2007
    Tropical Conservation Biology, Blackwell
  • 2007
    Global evidence that deforestation amplifies flood risk and severity in the developing world, Global Change Biology
  • 2007
    Minimum viable population size: a meta-analysis of 30 years of published estimates, Biological Conservation

Grants and Contracts

  • 2024
    Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2021
    Designing successful genetic-rescue approaches for threatened species
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2021
    Citizen Science Passport to Recovery
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Commonwealth Citizen Science Grants
  • 2017
    Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2016
    Do native invasions challenge Australian fisheries species?
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2013
    Generalised methods for testing extinction dynamics across geological, near and modern time scales
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2012
    Seascape genetics for shark management: an innovation in sustainable fisheries modelling
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2012
    Meta-modelling of ecological, evolutionary and climatic systems dynamics
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2012
    Identifying cost-effective reforestation approaches for biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration in southern Australia
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2011
    Developing best-practice approaches for restoring forest ecosystems that are resilient to climate change
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2011
    Solving the problems of estimating extinction rates in recent and geological time
    Role:
    Future Fellow III
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council

Research Areas

  • Ecological Applications (0501)
  • Ecological Impacts Of Climate Change (050101)
  • Invasive Species Ecology (050103)
  • Ecology (0602)
  • Palaeoecology (060206)
  • Marine And Estuarine Ecology (Incl. Marine Ichthyology) (060205)
  • Population Ecology (060207)
  • Terrestrial Ecology (060208)
  • Environmental Management (050205)
  • Environmental Sciences Not Elsewhere Classified (059999)
  • Statistics (0104)
  • Optimisation (010303)

Honours

2021 Reuters Hot List of Top Climate Scientists; 2021 top 15.9% of top 2% citations of all scientists across all fields; 2020-21 Australian Research Council College of Experts; 2017 Verco Medal, R Soc SA; 2012 Research Excellence Award, Univ Adelaide; 2011 ARC Future Fellow III; 2010 Australian Ecology Research Award, Ecol Soc Aust; 2010 Scopus Young Researcher of the Year; 2009 HG Andrewartha Medal, R Soc SA; 2008 SA Young Tall Poppy Science Award