Tom Lloyd

Tom has broad interests within biodiversity and conservation science but is particularly interested in addressing tropical biodiversity loss amongst increasing land-use pressures while enabling sustainable development. His PhD will explore how and where mining, directly and indirectly, impacts biodiversity at spatial scales extending beyond individual mines amid growing mineral demand and the drivers of this demand. His research aims to evaluate potential place-, actor- and supply chain-based interventions and conservation planning strategies to minimise resultant biodiversity loss while also optimising human development and mineral supply goals.

Tom holds a Bachelor of Biodiversity and Conservation from Macquarie University in Sydney and a Master of Conservation Science from the University of Queensland. For the latter, he examined the spatial coverage of citizen science projects potentially contributing to threatened species monitoring in terrestrial and marine realms of Australia with Professor Rich Fuller and Dr Rochelle Steven. Before commencing his Masters degree, Tom worked as a field researcher with clay-eating macaws in the Peruvian Amazon, a bush regenerator with an ecological restoration consultancy in Sydney, and a secretary/research assistant with several members of New South Wales Parliament. Before his PhD, he worked as a research assistant with Dr Laura Sonter exploring relationships between biodiversity, deforestation and mining in the Brazilian Amazon, identifying risks of mining to mammal species globally, and with Professor Jonathan Rhodes on ecosystem service supply and demand flows.

Selected publication

Lloyd, T. J., Fuller, R. A., Oliver, J. L., Tulloch, A. I., Barnes, M., & Steven, R. (2020). Estimating the spatial coverage of citizen science for monitoring threatened species. Global Ecology and Conservation, 23, e01048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01048