Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science

Dr Kieran Murphy

Research Fellow - Marine Science
School of the Environment
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Researcher biography

I am a marine ecologist research fellow at UQ, specialising in global and regional marine ecosystem modelling, particulalry focused on the Southern Ocean. My research uses mathematical models to understand and predict how climate change and fishing impact marine ecosystems.

Current research focus:

  • Leading development of the Zooplankton Model of Size Spectra (ZooMSS) for an ARC Discovery Project on zooplankton and the ocean carbon cycle
  • Enhancing models of fish population dynamics, fishing impacts, and temperature-dependent physiology
  • Improving representation of mesopelagic ecosystems in climate projections

I co-coordinate the Southern Ocean Working Group of FishMIP (Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project), facilitating international collaboration on marine ecosystem projections under global change. My expertise in size-structured food web modelling has advanced understanding of cephalopod ecology and improved biological realism in marine ecosystem models.

Publications

Journal Articles (11)

Journal Articles

Murphy, Kieran, Fierro‐Arcos, Denisse, Rohr, Tyler, Green, David, Novaglio, Camilla, Baker, Katherine, Ortega‐Cisneros, Kelly, Eddy, Tyler D., Harrison, Cheryl S., Hill, Simeon L., Eskuche‐Keith, Patrick, Cataldo‐Mendez, Camila, Petrik, Colleen M., Pinkerton, Matthew, Spence, Paul, Stollberg, Ilaria, Subramaniam, Roshni C., Trebilco, Rowan, Tulloch, Vivitskaia, Palacios‐Abrantes, Juliano, Bestley, Sophie, Bianchi, Daniele, Boyd, Philip, Buchanan, Pearse J., Bryndum‐Buchholz, Andrea, Coll, Marta, Corney, Stuart, Datta, Samik, Everett, Jason D. ... Blanchard, Julia (2025). Developing a southern ocean marine ecosystem model ensemble to assess climate risks and uncertainties. Earth's Future, 13 (3) e2024EF004849. doi: 10.1029/2024ef004849
Titocci, Jessica, Pata, Patrick R., Durazzano, Tiziana, Ayata, Sakina-Dorothee, Clerc, Corentin, Cornils, Astrid, Duffy, Patrick, Greer, Adam T., Halsband, Claudia, Heneghan, Ryan F., Lacoursiere-Roussel, Anais, Lombard, Fabien, Majaneva, Sanna, Pakhomov, Evgeny A., Reis, Carolina, Rist, Sinja, Rommel, Alix C. M., Silva, Teresa, Stemmann, Lars, Ugwu, Kevin, Basset, Alberto, Rosati, Ilaria, Murphy, Kieran J. and Hunt, Brian P. (2025). Pathways for converting zooplankton traits to ecological insights are paved with findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data practices. Ices Journal of Marine Science, 82 (2) fsaf017. doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fsaf017
Ortega-Cisneros, Kelly, Fierros-Arcos, Denisse, Lindmark, Max, Novaglio, Camilla, Woodworth-Jefcoats, Phoebe, Eddy, Tyler D., Coll, Marta, Fulton, Elizabeth, Oliveros-Ramos, Ricardo, Reum, Jonathan, Shin, Yunne-Jai, Bulman, Cathy, Capitani, Leonardo, Datta, Samik, Murphy, Kieran, Rogers, Alice, Shannon, Lynne, Whitehouse, George A., Adekoya, Ezekiel, Dias, Beatriz S., Fuster-Alonso, Alba, Hansen, Cecilie, Husson, Berengere, Mcgregor, Vidette, Morell, Alaia, Morzaria Luna, Hem-Nalini, Ouled-Cheikh, Jazel, Ruzicka, James, Steenbeek, Jeroen ... Blanchard, Julia L. (2025). An Integrated Global-To-Regional Scale Workflow for Simulating Climate Change Impacts on Marine Ecosystems. Earths Future, 13 (2) e2024EF004826. doi: 10.1029/2024EF004826
Blanchard, Julia L., Novaglio, Camilla, Maury, Olivier, Harrison, Cheryl S., Petrik, Colleen M., Fierro-Arcos, Denisse, Ortega-Cisneros, Kelly, Bryndum-Buchholz, Andrea, Eddy, Tyler D., Heneghan, Ryan, Roberts, Kelsey, Schewe, Jacob, Bianchi, Daniele, Guiet, Jerome, Daniel van Denderen, P., Palacios-Abrantes, Juliano, Liu, Xiao, Stock, Charles A., Rousseau, Yannick, Buechner, Matthias, Adekoya, Ezekiel O., Bulman, Cathy, Cheung, William, Christensen, Villy, Coll, Marta, Capitani, Leonardo, Datta, Samik, Fulton, Elizabeth A., Fuster, Alba ... Tittensor, Derek P. (2024). Detecting, Attributing, and Projecting Global Marine Ecosystem and Fisheries Change: FishMIP 2.0. Earths Future, 12 (12) e2023EF004402. doi: 10.1029/2023EF004402
Murphy, Kieran J., Pecl, Gretta T., Everett, Jason D., Heneghan, Ryan F., Richards, Shane A., Richardson, Anthony J., Semmens, Jayson M. and Blanchard, Julia L. (2023). Improving the biological realism of predator–prey size relationships in food web models alters ecosystem dynamics. Biology Letters, 19 (10) 20230142, 1-6. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0142
Chen, Yiyong, Ni, Ping, Fu, Ruiying, Murphy, Kieran J. J., Wyeth, Russell C. C., Bishop, Cory D. D., Huang, Xuena, Li, Shiguo and Zhan, Aibin (2022). (Epi)genomic adaptation driven by fine geographical scale environmental heterogeneity after recent biological invasions. Ecological Applications, 34 (1) e2772, e2772. doi: 10.1002/eap.2772
Wilson, Emmerson R., Murphy, Kieran J. and Wyeth, Russell C. (2022). Ecological Review of the Ciona Species Complex. Biological Bulletin, 242 (2), 153-171. doi: 10.1086/719476
Twiname, Samantha, Audzijonyte, Asta, Blanchard, Julia L., Champion, Curtis, de la Chesnais, Thibaut, Fitzgibbon, Quinn P., Fogarty, Hannah E., Hobday, Alistair J., Kelly, Rachel, Murphy, Kieran J., Oellermann, Michael, Peinado, Patricia, Tracey, Sean, Villanueva, Cecilia, Wolfe, Barrett and Pecl, Gretta T. (2020). A cross-scale framework to support a mechanistic understanding and modelling of marine climate-driven species redistribution, from individuals to communities. Ecography, 43 (12), 1764-1778. doi: 10.1111/ecog.04996
Murphy, Kieran J., Pecl, Gretta T., Richards, Shane A., Semmens, Jayson M., Revill, Andrew T., Suthers, Iain M., Everett, Jason D., Trebilco, Rowan and Blanchard, Julia L. (2020). Functional traits explain trophic allometries of cephalopods. Journal of Animal Ecology, 89 (11) 1365-2656.13333, 2692-2703. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.13333
Murphy, K. J., Sephton, D., Klein, K., Bishop, C. D. and Wyeth, R. C. (2019). Abiotic conditions are not sufficient to predict spatial and interannual variation in abundance of Ciona intestinalis in Nova Scotia, Canada. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 628, 105-123. doi: 10.3354/meps13076
Ni, Ping, Murphy, Kieran J., Wyeth, Russell C., Bishop, Cory D., Li, Shiguo and Zhan, Aibin (2019). Significant population methylation divergence and local environmental influence in an invasive ascidian Ciona intestinalis at fine geographical scales. Marine Biology, 166 (11) 143, 1-12. doi: 10.1007/s00227-019-3592-3