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Noel D. Preece

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Adjunct Asssociate Professor, James Cook University

Adjunct Associate Professor, James Cook University
Adjunct Associate Professor, Charles Darwin University
Director (non-Executive), Terrain NRM Ltd
Director, Biome5 Pty Ltd

I am a Terrestrial Ecologist with 40 years experience in tropical, arid, temperate and alpine management, research and consulting. Principal Environmental Scientist and Director of private consulting firms for over 25 years working in northern and central Australia. I also ran Discovery Ecotours for 13 years in central and northern Australia.

I have broad interests in northern Australia, including fire ecology, savanna management, biodiversity, natural resource management, indigenous ecological knowledge and natural resource management in the savanna region, carbon sequestration and mitigation through reforestation, savanna burning and soil carbon sequestration.

I now live in far north Queensland, and with a team have established a major reforestation project on our property for carbon and biodiversity. The plantings are designed as a fully replicated experiment, examining carbon sequestration, planting methods, soil carbon sequestration processes and a host of related studies into natural recruitment, costs of planting and maintaining, vertebrate colonisation, dung beetles, bees and flies.

PhD (CDU) on Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Land Management, MSc (Zoology, UQ) on arid fauna and habitats, BSc Earth Sciences & Ecology (MacqU).

Experience

  • 2006–present
    Director, Biome5 Pty Ltd
  • 2006–present
    Director, Biocarbon Pty Ltd
  • 1990–2006
    Director, EcOz Environmental Services
  • 1987–2000
    Director, Discovery Ecotours
  • 1984–1990
    A/Regional Manager +, Conservation Commission NT

Education

  • 2006 
    Charles Darwin University, PhD
  • 1995 
    Northern Territory Uni/ Uni of Queensland, MSc
  • 1983 
    Macquarie University, BSc

Publications

  • 2017
    Recovery of mammal diversity in tropical forest: a functional approach to measuring restoration, Restoration Ecology
  • 2017
    National carbon model not sensitive to species, families and site characteristics in a young tropical reforestation project, Forest Ecology and Management
  • 2017
    The role of topography and plant functional traits in determining tropical reforestation success, Journal of Applied Ecology
  • 2017
    A guide for ecologists: Detecting the role of disease in faunal declines and managing population recovery, Biological Conservation
  • 2017
    Ants as ecological indicators of rainforest restoration: community convergence and the development of an Ant Forest Indicator Index in the Australian wet tropics, Ecology and Evolution
  • 2016
    Soil types influence predictions of soil carbon stock recovery in tropical secondary forests, Forest Ecology and Management
  • 2016
    Ecosystem service valuation reinforces world class value of Cape York Peninsula's ecosystems but environment and indigenous people lose out., Ecosystem Services
  • 2016
    Forest age and isolation affect the rate of recovery of plant species diversity and community composition in secondary rain forests in tropical Australia, Journal of Vegetation Science
  • 2016
    Managing reforestation to sequester carbon, increase biodiversity potential and minimize loss of agricultural land, Land Use Policy
  • 2015
    Stemming the tide: progress towards resolving the causes of decline and implementing management responses for the disappearing mammal fauna of northern Australia, Therya
  • 2015
    Modelling the growth of young rainforest trees for biomass estimates and carbon sequestration accounting. , Forest Ecology and Management
  • 2015
    Improved models for estimating temporal changes in carbon sequestration in above-ground biomass of mixed-species environmental plantings, Forest Ecology and Management
  • 2014
    Integrating agriculture and climate change mitigation at landscape scale: Implications from an Australian case study, Global Environmental Change
  • 2014
    The Eucalypts of Northern Australia: An Assessment of the Conservation Status of Taxa and Communities,
  • 2014
    Use by small mammals of a chronosequence of tropical rainforest revegetation, Wildlife Research
  • 2014
    A Natural History and Field Guide to Australia's Top End, Gecko Books
  • 2013
    Improved estimation of biomass accumulation by environmental planting and mallee plantings using FullCAM, Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
  • 2013
    Tangible Evidence of Historic Australian Indigenous Savanna Management., Austral Ecology
  • 2013
    Planting methods matter for cost-effective rainforest restoration., Ecological Management & Restoration
  • 2013
    Resilience and Opportunity: Regions and the Roll-out of Australia’s Greenhouse Gas Abatement Programs A Manual for Queensland’s NRM Regions, Governance, planning and the effective application of emerging ecosystem service markets to secure climate change adaptation and landscape resilience in Far North Queensland.
  • 2012
    Comparing above-ground biomass among forest types in the Wet Tropics: Small stems and plantation types matter in carbon accounting., Forest Ecology and Management
  • 2012
    An Australian landscape-based approach: AFOLU mitigation for smallholders,, Climate Change Mitigation and Agriculture.
  • 2010
    Catching the baby: accounting for biodiversity and the ecosystem sector in emissions trading., Conservation Letters
  • 2010
    Uneven distribution of weeds along extensive transects in Australia’s Northern Territory points to management solutions., Ecological Management & Restoration
  • 2007
    Traditional and ecological fires and effects of bushfire laws in north Australian savannas., International Journal of Wildland Fire
  • 2002
    Aboriginal fires in monsoonal Australia from historical accounts., Journal of Biogeography

Grants and Contracts

  • 2013
    Resilience and Opportunity: Regions and the Roll-out of Australia’s Greenhouse Gas Abatement Programs
    Role:
    Principal Consultant
    Funding Source:
    Terrain NRM Ltd
  • 2013
    Biodiversity Studies Gulf and Cape York Regions
    Role:
    Principal Ecologist
    Funding Source:
    Northern Gulf Resource Management Group
  • 2013
    Fire Operations Manual
    Role:
    Principal Ecologist
    Funding Source:
    Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation Ltd
  • 2013
    Pests Control Manual
    Role:
    Principal Ecologist
    Funding Source:
    Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation Ltd
  • 2012
    Rainforest Restoration for Carbon & Biodiversity
    Role:
    Chief Investigator & Project Director
    Funding Source:
    Biodiversity Fund
  • 2012
    Biodiversity Assessments Cape York
    Role:
    Principal Ecologist
    Funding Source:
    Cape York NRM Ltd
  • 2010
    Woodside Browse LNG Plant and LNG Precinct Fire Management Study.
    Role:
    Principal Ecologist
    Funding Source:
    Woodside Energy Ltd
  • 2009
    Cost-effective Rainforest Restoration
    Role:
    Linkage Partner Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council

Professional Memberships

  • Ecosystem Science Council, Councillor
  • Ecological Society of Australia, Director
  • Environment Insitute of Australia and New Zealand