Dr Geoff Heard

I am the Science Advisor for the Threatened Species Index (TSX) at the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). The TSX integrates long-term monitoring data for Australia’s threatened species to estimate abundance trends. A key focus of my role is assisting to get the hard-won data of Australia’s ecologists into the TSX, including working with data providers to generate reliable time-series of abundance or occurrence rate from their data. Outside of my TSX role, I continue to pursue research at the intersection of applied ecology and herpetology in collaboration with Dr Ben Scheele at the Fenner School, Australian National University. I study the spatial and temporal dynamics of declining species at landscape-scales, seeking insights into population processes to guide conservation planning. I also work on the impacts of chytridiomycosis on threatened frogs, with particular interest in environmental factors that mitigate disease risk.