New metrics to measure and track bird community condition in Australia

A healthy environment relies on biodiversity: healthy ecosystems are diverse, with many different species contributing to ecological processes. Australia has committed to reversing its decades-long trend of biodiversity loss, including through changes to national biodiversity laws and encouraging private investment in conservation.

To track whether this is being achieved and to identify what actions are helping the most, we need to measure biodiversity holistically. Existing tools to measure biodiversity focus on vegetation and individual threatened species. However, this does not tell us how entire animal communities are faring. This project will develop new indicators of the health of entire communities of animals, with an initial focus on Australian birds. It will develop metrics to measure the health of the communities and track how they are trending through time. This project will help identify which bird communities are in trouble, where they are faring well, and what conservation actions are working.

The project will involve working with and analysing large citizen-science databases, and engaging with ornithological experts across Australia. It may also involve field work to ground-truth and test the methods developed and has the potential to extend to international case studies, where suitable data exist.

This fully-funded PhD project will join a team of researchers based across several universities and partner organisations working on an ARC Linkage grant that aims to develop a series of community-level indices of fauna health and condition.

This is an Earmarked scholarship project that aligns with a recently awarded Australian Government grant.

The scholarship includes:

• living stipend of $35,000 per annum tax free (2024 rate), indexed annually
• your tuition fees covered
• single overseas student health cover (OSHC).

Learn more about the Earmarked scholarship.

Your application will be assessed on a competitive basis.

We take into account your:

• previous academic record
• publication record
• honours and awards
• employment history.

A working knowledge of Australian birds and bird survey methods would be of benefit to someone working on this project.

You will demonstrate academic achievement in the field(s) of ecology and the potential for scholastic success.

A background or knowledge of citizen science and the statistical analysis of large datasets is highly desirable.

This project requires candidates to commence no later than Research Quarter 1, 2025. To allow time for your application to be processed, we recommend applying no later than 30 September, 2024 30 June, 2024.

You can start in an earlier research quarter. See application dates.

Before you apply

1. Check your eligibility for the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
2. Prepare your documentation.
3. Contact Professor Martine Maron (m.maron@uq.edu.au) to discuss your interest and suitability.

When you apply

You apply for this scholarship when you submit an application for a PhD. You don’t need to submit a separate scholarship application.

In your application ensure that under the ‘Scholarships and collaborative study’ section you select:

• My higher degree is not collaborative
• I am applying for, or have been awarded a scholarship or sponsorship
• UQ Earmarked Scholarship type.

Apply now