Dr Kerrie Wilson

PhD (University of Melbourne)
Position: ARC Senior Research Fellow / Senior Lecturer

Room: 243 Goddard Building 8
Phone: +61 7 3365 2829
Email: k.wilson2@uq.edu.au
Web: http://wilsonconservationecologylab.wordpress.com/

Research Interests

Kerrie’s research interests are in applied conservation resource allocation problems, such as where to invest limited resources to protect biodiversity, to restore habitat, or manage systems. Her research requires an understanding of both the ecological and socio-economic context and has lead to the development of frameworks and decision support tools to inform how funds should be allocated between different activities to maximise conservation outcomes. Her research program also focuses on the analysis of uncertainty (with a particular focus on the impact of climate change and other institutional and socio-political factors that influence the likelihood of investment success), landscape dynamics (e.g. the evaluation of land use scenarios and threatening processes), and biodiversity benefit (e.g. how to maximise resilience in restoration and ways to account for multiple benefits such as ecosystem service delivery).

Kerrie’s research in conservation ecology has incorporated ecological dynamics and economics into the identification of priority areas and actions for conservation and has resulted in new theory for how funds should be allocated. This theory and applications have been published in high level journals including Nature, Science, PLoS Biology, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Her earlier research in the field of conservation planning was broadly focussed on investigating new ways to incorporate vulnerability (the likelihood of biodiversity loss due to land use changes) and the development of analytical approaches to quantify and represent data uncertainty.

After completing her PhD in Conservation Biology at the University of Melbourne in collaboration with the UNEP-WCMC in Cambridge, Kerrie undertook post-doctoral research at the The Ecology Centre. She then took the role of Director of Conservation with The Nature Conservancy Australia program, before being awarded and ARC Research Fellowship and Senior Lectureship at UQ. Currently, she is an active collaborator with several research groups in Australia, South East Asia, Denmark, South Africa, the US, and Europe. Her research involves collaborations with government and non-government organisations.

Discussion with prospective collaborators and post-graduate students and post-docs regarding research opportunities that exist in her lab are welcomed.

Selected Publications

 Wilson, K. A., E. Meijaard, S. Drummond, H. S. Grantham, L. Boitani, G. Catullo, L. Christie, R. Dennis, I. Dutton, A. Falcucci, L. Maiorano, H. P. Possingham, C. Rondinini, W. Turner, O. Venter, and M. Watts. 2010. Conserving Biodiversity in Production Landscapes. Ecological Applications. 20 (6): 1721-1732.

Wilson, K. A., J. Carwardine, and H. P. Possingham. 2009. Setting Conservation Priorities. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. The Year in Ecology and Conservation Biology: 1162:237–264.

Venter, O., E. Meijaard, H. Possingham, R. Dennis, D. Sheil, S. Wich, and K. Wilson. 2009. Confronting the carbon crisis-a safeguard for tropical forest wildlife. Conservation Letters. 2: 123-129.

Wilson, K. A., E. C. Underwood, S. A. Morrison, K. R. Klausmeyer, W. W. Murdoch, B. Reyers, G. Wardell-Johnson, P. A. Marquet, P. W. Rundel, M. F. McBride, R. L. Pressey, M. Bode, J. M. Hoekstra, S. J. Andelman, M. Looker, C. Rondinini, P. Kareiva, M. R. Shaw, and H. P. Possingham. 2007. Maximising the Conservation of the World's Biodiversity: What to do, Where and When. PLoS Biology. 5. e233

Wilson, K. A., M. McBride, M. Bode, and H. P. Possingham. 2006. Prioritising global conservation efforts. Nature. 440:337-340.
 

Funded Projects

Maximising the Conservation of biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services: What to do, where and when
Grant Body: Australian Research Council
Grant Period: 2008-2011
Value: $380 000

Climate Adaptation Research Initiative
Grant Body: CSIRO
Grant Period: 2009-2012
Value: $207 000

Spatial prioritisation in the context of climate change and unforeseen opportunities: maximising conservation outcomes in Gondwana Link.
Grant Body: Australian Research Council.
Grant Period: 2008-2013
Value: $630 000

Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions.
Grant Body: Australian Research Council
Grant Period: 2011-2018
Value: $12 million
 

Selected Awards

• 2010: Australian Academy of Science, International Science Linkages – Science Academies Program Award.

• 2009: Australian Leadership Award

• 2009: European Erasmus Mundus Scholar in Sustainable Forest and Nature Management at University of Copenhagen

• 2008: “Most Cited Author Award” by Biological Conservation for the paper titled “Sensitivity of conservation planning to different approaches to using predicted species distribution data” (Vol 122: 99-11).

• 2007: Australian Research Council Post-doctoral Fellowship
  
  

Professional Associations

· UQ Node Director of the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions
· Associate editor of Diversity and Distributions and Conservation Letters
· Member of the scientific committee for Diversitas
· Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Research Fellow
· Society for Conservation Biology
· Ecological Society of Australia
· Member WCPA-Australia New Zealand region

On this site