Professor Barry Brook

Biography/ Background

Director, Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability http://www.adelaide.edu.au/climatechange

Professor Barry Brook holds the Foundation Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change and is Director of the Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability at the University of Adelaide. He has published two books and over 120 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and regularly writes opinion pieces and popular articles for the general public and media. In 2006, he was awarded both the Australian Academy of Science Fenner Medal for distinguished research in biology and the Edgeworth David Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales, and in 2007, the H.G. Andrewartha Medal by the Royal Society of South Australia and was listed by Cosmos as one of Australia's top 10 young scientists.

His area of expertise is climate change, global change biology, and other human impacts on biodiversity and extinction risk, such as deforestation, invasive species and overexploitation. Specific topics include analytical and computer simulation modelling for risk assessment of climate change impacts, understanding the relevance of past extinctions to the present biodiversity crisis, tropical conservation, and wildlife population management.

His research methods focus primarily on the statistical analysis, interpretation and computational modelling of long-term data, and meta-analysis of large-scale databases. Likely future impacts are modelled at global, regional and local scales, to provide a robust scientific underpinning for scientific management and government policy. His current research is aimed at determining the extent to which climate change might amplify other major anthropogenic threats to biodiversity (e.g., demographic and genetic stress, habitat degradation, introduced predator and competitor species), and developing a new modelling system which realistically captures this information for predictive and management purposes.

Recent Nature correspondence on Kyoto Protocol: Brook, B.W., Rowley, N. & Flannery, T.F. (2007) Kyoto: doing our best is no longer enough. Nature 450: 478. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v450/n7169/full/450478d.html

Comments on the UN Bali Conference: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1759

Comments on climate scepticism: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/24/2226189.htm and http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/12/1976998.htm and http://www.skepticalscience.com/Can-animals-and-plants-adapt-to-global-warming.html

New textbook: "Tropical Conservation Biology" published by Blackwell. To read more and to buy your print copy, go to: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/book.asp?ref=9781405150736&site=1

Teaching Interests

Opportunities are available for Ph.D., Masters and Honours students for specific on-going research projects with existing funding. General inquiries for student projects on topics such as climate change impacts on biodiversity and extinctions are also welcome.

Current Students:

Ms Siobhan de Little. (PhD, commenced 2007). Supervisors: Bradshaw, C., Brook, B.W., Bowman, D. Mosquito population dynamics and climate change.

Mr Salvador Herrando-Perez. (PhD, commenced 2007). Supervisors: Bradshaw, C., Brook, B.W. Factors controlling population size and extinction risk.

Mr Tony Griffiths. (PhD, commenced 2005). Supervisors: Brook B.W. & Bradshaw, C. Population dynamics of small mammals in Kakadu National Park.

Ms Julie Hagen. (PhD, commenced 2007). Supervisors: Bull, M., Donnellan, S. & Brook, B.W. Conservation status of Corucia zebrata in the Solomon Islands.

Mr Bert Harris. (PhD, commenced 2008). Supervisors: Brook B.W. & Sodhi, N.S. Synergistic effects of climate change and habitat loss on Southeast Asian bird distributions.

Mr Lochran Traill. (PhD, commenced 2005). Supervisors: Brook B.W., Bradshaw, C., Whitehead P. Plant-herbivore interactions: a model two-species system from northern Australia.

Mr Thomas Wanger. (PhD, commenced 2008). Supervisors: Brook B.W. & Sodhi, N.S. Impact of climate change and habitat fragmentation on the herpetofauna of Southeast Asia.

Ms Michelle Watson. (PhD, commenced 2002). Supervisors: Brook, B.W. & Woinarski, J. Correlates of decline of small mammals in Kakadu National Park.

Mr Dandong Zheng. (PhD, commenced 2007). Supervisors: Brook, B.W. & Hugo, G. Demographic impacts of future sea-level rise on Adelaide: a case study for Australian populations.

Professional Associations

ARC College of Experts Member (http://www.arc.gov.au/about_arc/expert.htm), Biological Sciences & Biotechnology Panel, Australian Research Council.

Editorial Board/Panel:
Faculty of 1000 Biology [Theoretical Ecology section] http://www.f1000biology.com (2005-present)

Ecological Research (2004-present) http://www.springer.com/life+sci/ecology/journal/11284

Raffles Bulletin of Zoology (2003-present) http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/

Professional Societies:
Society for Conservation Biology
Royal Society of South Australia
Biology Society of South Australia

Awards and Prizes:
2007: Cosmos Bright Sparks Award: One of the top 10 young scientists in Australia (http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1632)

2007: H.G. Andrewartha Medal: Royal Society of SA. Awarded for outstanding research by a scientist under 40 years (any discipline) (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/rssa/awards/)

2006: Fenner Medal: Australian Academy of Science. Awarded for distinguished research in biology by a scientist under 40 years (http://www.science.org.au/awards/fenmed.htm)

2006: Edgeworth David Medal: Royal Society of NSW. Awarded for outstanding research by a scientist under 35 years (any discipline) (http://nsw.royalsoc.org.au/awards/edgeworth.html)

2006: Who's Who in Australia? (Crown Content Publishing) bibliographic entry http://www.crowncontent.com.au/whoswho.html

2005: 2000 Outstanding Scientists of the 21st Century, bibliographic entry (International Biographical Centre, Cambridge) http://www.internationalbiographicalcentre.com/2000_outstanding_scientists_of_the_21st_c.php

1999: Australian Flora Foundation Prize, Australian Flora Foundation http://www.aff.org.au/

Qualifications

B.Sc. (Hons I), Ph.D., Macquarie University http://www.bio.mq.edu.au/

Research Interests

My research career has focused on the subject of global environmental change: human impacts on natural systems, in all its manifold forms. Past threats have predominantly involved the so-called 'evil quartet': overkill, habitat destruction, introduced species, and chains of extinctions. I have made a range of fundamental contributions to research on extinctions, biodiversity management and conservation ecology. In recent years I have concentrated particularly on the feedbacks between different threatening processes and how these interact with the looming risks posed by a new and rapidly accelerating hazard of climate change and global warming.

As a cross-disciplinary climate change scientist, quantitative analyst and modeller, I bring critical skills to the science of global change biology: an area characterised by complexity and uncertainty. I pioneered critical work on population viability analysis and have used advanced ecological and statistical modelling on a diversity of taxa, to reliably predict extinction threat, and demonstrated the most appropriate methods of inference using information theory, cross-validation and multi-model inference. My work on ancient extinctions, hunting and climate change has provided important new perspectives on the cause(s) of the Late Quaternary mass extinction of large mammals - I validated a set of scalar and age-structured quantitative models, using a newly assembled palaeo-database, to explain the underlying drivers of these extinctions.

I have also evaluated extinction selectivity and the response of tropical biota to major threatening processes, such as deforestation, climate change, fire, selective logging and overexploitation - this has involved a long-term collaboration with Prof Navjot Sodhi of the National University of Singapore. This international work has also resulted in recent authored books : Southeast Asian Biodiversity in Crisis (Cambridge University Press, 2006) and Tropical Conservation Biology (Blackwell Science, 2007).

Effective communication of the science of climate change is fundamental to providing policy makers with the type of evidence required to institute meaningful mitigation policy and to understand available adaptation options. It is this imperative that has led me to take a very active leadership role in the communication of the science of global change to government, industry and the community (directly, via public lectures and workshops and advisory committees, and indirectly via the media - including television, radio, the print media and popular science articles). It is my belief that if, in presenting hard-won technical scientific evidence to a broad audience in an intelligible way, we can provoke meaningful societal change, then we have surely left an enduring legacy.

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POTENTIAL STUDENT PROJECTS
1. Linking population viability models to bioclimatic projections: Develop bioclimatic projections for a range of well-studied species and compare these projections of geographic range shifts to those generated via population viability assessments.

2. Developing generalisations for inferring extinction risk: Use generalised linear modelling and Bayesian analysis to develop an approximation to complex population viability analysis simulations. This has the potential to greatly improve inference of extinction risk in threatened species with limited demographic and life history data.

3. The impact of life-history traits on royal penguin population dynamics: Analyse a 17 year capture-mark-recapture data set and notebook archive of royal penguins on Macquarie Island (covering the historical window of 1956-1972). The aim is to quantify changes in demographic rates and population trends in response to early recent climate change and the impact of introduced rabbits and cats.

Other projects include:
4. Climate change impacts on Adelaide's biodiversity (e.g., analysis of DEH biosurvey data, computational modelling of landscape and community change)

5. Development of numerical simulation models for wildlife management and conservation recovery programmes

6. Statistical/simulation modelling of long-term time series databases

7. Development and validation of models of extinction risk

The development of tailored research projects, which match the student's specific interests, would be welcome. All projects are well-supported logistically (most involve the analysis of extensive and carefully prepared datasets) and scholarships are available for candidates with particularly strong academic records.

Publications

BOOKS

Sodhi, N.S. & Brook, B.W. (2006) Southeast Asian Biodiversity in Crisis. Tropical Biology Series, Cambridge University Press, London, United Kingdom http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521839300

Sodhi, N.S., Bradshaw, C.J.A. & Brook, B.W. (2007) Tropical Conservation Biology. Blackwell, London, United Kingdom https://www.blackwellpublishing.com/book.asp?ref=9781405150736&site=1

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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (email: barry.brook@adelaide.edu.au for a PDF reprint; for a full PDF list of publications and an Endnote Library, see bottom of page)

Brook, B.W. (2008) Synergies between climate change, extinctions and invasive vertebrates. Wildlife Research, 35, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wr07116.

Brook, B.W., Sodhi, N.S. & Bradshaw, C.J.A. (2008) Synergies among extinction drivers under global change [review]. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, in press.

Brook, B.W. & Russell, G. (2007) Global warming beefed up. Australasian Science, 80, 37-39. http://www.control.com.au/bi2007/2810Brook.pdf

Brook, B.W., Rowley, N. & Flannery, T.F. (2007) Kyoto: doing our best is no longer enough. Nature 450: 478. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/450478d

Brook, B. W., Bowman, D.M.J.S., Burney, D.A., Flannery, T.F., Gagan, M.K., Gillespie, R., Johnson, C.N., Kershaw, A.P., Magee, J.W., Martin, P.S., Miller, G.H., Peiser, B., & Roberts, R.G. (2007) Would the Australian megafauna have become extinct if humans had never colonised the continent? Quaternary Science Reviews, 26, 560-564. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.10.008

Bradshaw, C.J.A., Sodhi, N.S., Peh, K.S.-H., & Brook, B.W. (2007) Global evidence that deforestation amplifies floods in the developing world. Global Change Biology, 13, 2379-2395. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01446.x

Elliott, L.P. & Brook, B.W. (2007) Revisiting Chamberlin: multiple working hypotheses for the 21st century. BioScience, 57, 608-614. http://dx.doi.org/10.1641/B570708

Garnett, S.T. & Brook, B.W. (2007) Modelling to forestall extinction of Australian tropical birds. Journal of Ornithology, 148, S311-S320. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10336-007-0202-9

Traill, L.W., Bradshaw, C.J.A., & Brook, B.W. (2007) Minimum viable population size: a meta-analysis of 30 years of published estimates. Biological Conservation, 139, 159-166. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2007.06.011

Brook, B.W. & Sodhi, N.S. (2006) Rarity bites. Nature, 444, 555-557. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/444555a

Brook, B.W. & Bowman, D.M.J.S. (2006) Postcards from the past: charting the landscape-scale conversion of tropical Australian savanna to closed forest during the 20th century. Landscape Ecology, 21, 1253-1266. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10980-006-0018-7

Brook, B.W. & Johnson, C.N. (2006) Selective hunting of juveniles as a cause of the imperceptible overkill of the Australian Pleistocene megafauna. Alcheringa Special Issue, 1, 39-48.

Brook, B.W., Bradshaw, C.J.A., Koh, L.P., & Sodhi, N.S. (2006) Momentum drives the crash: mass extinction in the tropics. Biotropica, 38, 302-305. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00141.x

Brook, B.W., Bradshaw, C.J.A., & Traill, L.W. (2006) Minimum viable populations and global extinction risk are unrelated. Ecology Letters, 9, 375-382. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00883.x

Brook, B.W. & Bradshaw, C.J.A. (2006) Strength of evidence for density dependence in abundance time series of 1198 species. Ecology, 87, 1445-1451. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2006)87[1445:SOEFDD]2.0.CO;2

Brook, B.W., Bowman, D.M.J.S., Bradshaw, C.J.A., Campbell, B.M. & Whitehead, P.J. (2006) Managing an endangered Asian bovid in an Australian national park: the role and limitations of ecological-economic models in decision-making. Environmental Management, 38, 463-469. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00267-005-0157-7

Gillespie, R. & Brook, B.W. (2006) Is there a Pleistocene archaeological site at Cuddie Springs? Archaeology in Oceania, 41, 1-11.

Gillespie, R., Brook, B.W., & Baynes, A. (2006) Short overlap of humans and megafauna in Pleistocene Australia. Alcheringa Special Issue, 1, 163-185.

O'Grady, J.J., Brook, B.W., Reed, D.H., Ballou, J.D., Tonkyn, D.W., & Frankham, R. (2006) Realistic levels of inbreeding depression strongly affect extinction risk in wild populations. Biological Conservation, 133, 42-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2006.05.016

Brook, B.W. & Bowman, D.M.J.S. (2005) One equation fits overkill: why allometry underpins both prehistoric and modern body size-biased extinctions. Population Ecology, 42, 147-151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10144-005-0213-4

Brook, B.W. & Whitehead, P.J. (2005) Sustainable harvest regimes for magpie geese (Anseranas semipalmata) under spatial and temporal heterogeneity. Wildlife Research, 32, 459-464. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WR02104

Brook, B.W. & Whitehead, P.J. (2005) Plausible bounds for maximum rate of increase in magpie geese (Anseranas semipalmata): implications for harvest. Wildlife Research, 32, 465-471. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WR02105

Bradshaw, C.J.A. & Brook, B.W. (2005) Disease and the devil: density-dependent epidemiological processes explain historical population fluctuations in the Tasmanian devil. Ecography, 28, 181-190. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0906-7590.2005.04088.x

Brook, B.W. (2004) Australasian bird invasions: accidents of history? Ornithological Science, 3, 33-42. http://dx.doi.org/10.2326/osj.3.33

Brook, B.W. & Bowman, D.M.J.S. (2004) The uncertain blitzkrieg of Pleistocene megafauna. Journal of Biogeography, 31, 517-523. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2003.01028.x

del Monte-Luna, P., Brook, B.W., Zetina-Rejón, M.J., & Cruz-Escalona, V.H. (2004) The carrying capacity of ecosystems. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 13, 485-495. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-822X.2004.00131.x

O'Grady, J.J., Reed, D.H., Brook, B.W., & Frankham, R. (2004) What are the best correlates of predicted extinction risk? Biological Conservation, 118, 513-520. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2003.10.002

Sodhi, N.S., Koh, L.P., Brook, B.W., & Ng, P.K.L. (2004) Southeast Asian biodiversity: an impending disaster. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 19, 654-660. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2004.09.006

Spielman, D., Brook, B.W., & Frankham, R. (2004) Most species are not driven to extinction before genetic factors impact them. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101, 15261-15264. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0403809101

Brook, B.W., Sodhi, N.S., & Ng, P.K.L. (2003) Catastrophic extinctions follow deforestation in Singapore. Nature, 424, 420-423. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature01795

Brook, B.W., Sodhi, N.S., Soh, M.C.K., & Lim, H.C. (2003) Abundance and projected control of invasive house crows in Singapore. Journal of Wildlife Management, 87, 808-817. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3802688

Conroy, S.D.S. & Brook, B.W. (2003) Demographic sensitivity and persistence of the threatened white- and orange-bellied frogs of Western Australia. Population Ecology, 45, 105-114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10144-003-0145-9

Reed, D.H., O'Grady, J.J., Brook, B.W., Ballou, J.D., & Frankham, R. (2003) Estimates of minimum viable population sizes for vertebrates and factors influencing those estimates. Biological Conservation, 113, 23-34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(02)00346-4

Brook, B.W. & Bowman, D.M.J.S. (2002) Explaining the Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions: Models, chronologies, and assumptions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 99, 14624-14627. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.232126899

Brook, B.W., Tonkyn, D.W., O'Grady, J.J., & Frankham, R. (2002) Contribution of inbreeding to extinction risk in threatened species. Conservation Ecology, 6, 16. [online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol6/iss1/art16

Brook, B.W., Burgman, M.A., Akçakaya, H.R., O'Grady, J.J., & Frankham, R. (2002) Critiques of PVA ask the wrong questions: Throwing the heuristic baby out with the numerical bath water. Conservation Biology, 16, 262-263. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.01426.x

Brook, B.W., Griffiths, A.D., & Puckey, H.L. (2002) Modelling strategies for the management of the critically endangered Carpentarian rock-rat (Zyzomys palatalis) of northern Australia. Journal of Environmental Management, 65, 355-368. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jema.2002.0561

Brook, B.W., O'Grady, J.J., Chapman, A.P., Burgman, M.A., Akcakaya, H.R., & Frankham, R. (2000) Predictive accuracy of population viability analysis in conservation biology. Nature, 404, 385-387. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/35006050

Brook, B.W., Burgman, M.A., & Frankham, R. (2000) Differences and congruencies between PVA packages: the importance of sex ratio for predictions of extinction risk. Conservation Ecology, 4, 6. [online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol4/iss1/art6

Brook, B.W. (2000) Pessimistic and optimistic bias in population viability analysis. Conservation Biology, 14, 564-566. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2000.99039.x

Brook, B.W., Cannon, J.R., Lacy, R.C., Mirande, C., & Frankham, R. (1999) A comparison of the population viability analysis packages GAPPS, INMAT, RAMAS and VORTEX for the Whooping crane (Grus americana). Animal Conservation, 2, 23-31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1367943099000323

Brook, B.W. & Kikkawa, J. (1998) Examining threats faced by island birds: a population viability analysis on the Capricorn silvereye using longterm data. Journal of Applied Ecology, 35, 491-503. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2664.1998.3540491.x

Brook, B.W., Lim, L., Harden, R., & Frankham, R. (1997) Does population viability analysis software predict the behaviour of real populations? A retrospective study on the Lord Howe Island woodhen. Biological Conservation, 82, 119-128. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(97)00026-8

Files

• Brook full publication list (updated May 2008) - BWBrook_Publications_May08.pdf [146.7K] (application/pdf)
• Endnote X Library: Barry Brook's publications to May 2008 - Barry_W_Brook_Publications.zip [138.0K] (application/zip)
• Brook 2-page Curriculum Vitae - Brook_2_page_CV_May_2008.pdf [95.6K] (application/pdf)

Expertise for Media Contact

Categories	Environment, Sustainability
Expertise	climate change; global change biology; ecology; tropical biology; extinction; habitat loss; invasive species; palaeontology; modelling; conservation biology; endangered species; climate policy; sustainability; conservation genetics
Notes	B.Sc. (Hons I), Ph.D., Macquarie University 2007: Cosmos Bright Sparks Award: One of the top 10 young scientists in Australia 2007: H.G. Andrewartha Medal: Royal Society of SA. 2006: Fenner Medal: Australian Academy of Science. 2006: Edgeworth David Medal: Royal Society of NSW. 2006: Who's Who in Australia? 2005: 2000 Outstanding Scientists of the 21st Century
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Entry last updated: Thursday, 15 May 2008