Dr Chris Margules plays a key role in the Federal Government's Marine and Tropical Science Research Facility.
Current activities
Dr Margules has a part-time science leadership and mentoring role with CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems(CSE). He is a Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Tropical Landscapes Research Program.
He leads the rainforests and catchments research program of the Marine and Tropical Science Research Facility in north Queensland. This research program seeks to:
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understand the condition, trend and interdependencies of environmental assets of the region
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develop methods to support ongoing regular assessment and reporting
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develop methods to identify priorities for action.
His current research interests focus on:
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management of biological diversity - how and why populations decline and what can be done about it
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planning for biological diversity - assessing where in the landscape should areas for biodiversity protection be located.
He also works for Conservation International as the Executive Director of the Melanesia Centre for Biodiversity Conservation.
Background
Dr Chris Margules joined CSIRO in 1973 as a Technical Assistant.
Throughout his scientific career, Dr Margules has been motivated by a desire to ‘make a difference on the ground’.
He aims to ensure that a triple bottom line philosophy is adopted in biological conservation to allow for whole of landscape management solutions that will strengthen the protection of biodiversity while also fostering community and business growth.
Dr Margules was Leader of CSE's Tropical Landscapes Research Program from its inception in 2001 until late 2006.
Whole of tropical landscape management solutions strengthen biodiversity conservation, while ensuring community and business growth.
Dr Margules' expertise includes:
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ecology
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landscape ecology
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experimental design
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biogeography
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research management.
Academic qualifications
After being awarded a Bachelor of Applied Science and a Graduate Diploma in Recreation Planning, Dr Margules completed a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of York, United Kingdom, in 1981, studying quantitative ecology.
Achievements
Dr Margules has gained an international reputation in conservation biology and conservation planning.
He has been involved in several ecological and conservation research achievements including:
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co-discovery (with colleagues Faith, Pressey, Nicholls and Williams) and implementation of the principle of ‘complementarity’ in conservation planning and policy development, which has now been adopted in numerous jurisdictions throughout the world
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establishment of the Wog Wog habitat fragmentation experiment, one of the most influential long-term (15 years) ecological studies on habitat fragmentation
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development (with colleagues Faith, Nicholls, Hutchinson and Nix) of BioRap, a conservation planning toolbox to help countries prioritise their biodiversity planning. It is the only set of publications to describe the entire systematic conservation planning process, from data collection through to data treatments and implementation.
Dr Margules has received a number of awards including:
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Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM), 2005
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Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) highly cited researcher, 2004
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Fellowship, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Germany,1994 and 1997.
Read more about CSIRO’s work on Biodiversity & Ecology.
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