In conservation research focus group discussion is a widely used qualitative approach to gain an in-depth understanding of social issues. However, our study found that despite the growing popularity of the method conservation researchers do not adequately report on methodological choices from planning to data analysis. There is a lack of critical assessments of the…
Interviews are a widely used methodology in conservation research. However, researchers with natural science backgrounds have been criticised for poor and inadequate reporting on the application of the method. Our paper published in a Special Feature of Methods in Ecology and Evolution (January 2018) examines the use of interviews in conservation science. Led by Juliette…
Paper lead by honours student Brooke Williams has recently been published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Fire management is an important aspect of ensuring the safety of Australians. It can be challenging due to many factors such as time and budget constraints, the possibility of a prescribed burn escaping, possible damage to the…
Clear objectives are a necessary prerequisite for efficient restoration, but restoration projects often concern numerous and diverse stakeholders with different objectives and different values. A recent publication led by CEED researcher Angela Guerrero demonstrates how restoration projects can integrate the values and preferences of multiple stakeholders. Using a case of restoration decision-making in southeast Queensland,…
An article by Valerie Hagger, John Dwyer and Kerrie Wilson ‘What motivates ecological restoration’ has been featured in Editor’s Picks for the September 2017 issue of Restoration Ecology. Hagger et al. surveyed 307 people involved in the restoration of native vegetation across Australia to identify their underlying motivations. The study found that biodiversity enhancement is the…
A recent publication led by PhD student Konrad Uebel demonstrates the additional ecological benefits arising from assisted regeneration and its potential as a cost-effective tool for accelerating forest recovery. By comparing two different levels of management intervention on abandoned agro-pastoral land, using a combination of field data and historical aerial imagery, the study reveals the differences in forest structure and…
Successful decision-making needs to predict the future. How can we do this best? In most cases, this is not easy: in biodiversity conservation, predicting future outcomes is complicated by complex ecological, economic, and social contexts. But these challenges do not negate the need for us to make these predictions when deciding what conservation interventions to…
A recent report led by PhD student Courtney Morgans highlights the importance of strategic partnerships between Non-Government conservation organizations. By combining quantitative network analysis methodologies with qualitative perception assessments, the study reveals frequent collaboration and knowledge sharing between the 61 organizations identified. However, many of these collaborative endeavors are failing to achieve desired outcomes and…
A first population trend analysis of Critically Endangered Bornean orangutans reveals that despite decades of conservation work, the species is declining. This is the first study to bring together data from a combination of different survey methods, including helicopter surveys, traditional ground surveys, and interviews with local communities and involved over 50 Indonesian, Malaysian and…
Valerie was recently awarded the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment from the Ecological Society of Australia to investigate carbon storage and biodiversity potential of environmental planting sites across Australia. The grant will be used to elicit information on the fauna habitat values of planted species for woodland dependent birds to estimate biodiversity potential. Existing estimates of…
