2021 Publications Performance
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Mean Field Weighted Citation Impact of Monash Outputs: 1.57
Number of Monash Research Outputs: 95
Ecology and Conservation Group
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Ecology and Conservation is one of key research areas within the Monash School of Biological Sciences. Working across freshwater, marine and terrestrial environments, from the tropics to the Antarctic, and in state-of-the-art laboratory settings, researchers are working to understand ecological processes, and the consequences of environmental change for species and the ecosystems they occupy. The work contributes to the fields of fundamental ecology and environmental science, while also promoting evidence-based conservation management and policy decisions to secure biodiversity and limit disruptions to human society.
Jock Marshall Reserve
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Jock Marshall Reserve is a three hectare ecological sanctuary that is a cornerstone for environmental education and research at Monash Clayton. The reserve was established to enhance the campus’s native environment against European landscaping ideals of the 1960’s. Since then, it has been progressively renewed to support a rich ecosystem of bird species, aquatic life and other fauna. There are facilities within the reserve that are available to conduct research including the controlled temperature rooms, a dedicated outdoor aquatic mesocosm area and fully equipped greenhouses. The reserve is accessible to the community via the nature walk and through science experience programs, which provides exposure to the research activities that are being undertaken within.
Virtual landscapes to study endangered Australian
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Researchers from Monash University’s SensiLab, and a team of ecologists from CSIRO, have developed immersive virtual landscapes of intact endangered Australian ecosystems to accurately illustrate changes across time, seasons and following disturbances like bushfires. The study created a virtual reality model of an Australian Box Gum Grassy Woodland landscape, an endangered eucalypt woodland ecosystem that is difficult to observe in its intact pre-European colonisation form. The models could be used as a resource for ecological study and conservation.
eDNA sampling for biodiversity monitoring
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The Macroecology Research Group in Monash Science uses field studies, environmental DNA sampling, laboratory experiments, and statistical modelling to study the impacts of environmental change on species distributions at macroecological scales.
In 2021, research conducted amongst 30 taxonomists and systematists developed a new “return on investment” approach for working out which species should be a priority for taxonomic research for conservation outcomes.