Professor Jonathan Rhodes

ARC Future Fellow

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Faculty of Science
j.rhodes@uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 56838

Overview

Jonathan is interested in the application of mathematical models and decision analysis to inform environmental decision-making and policy setting, particularly for conserving biodiversity and the sustainable use of ecosystem services. His work has revealed new insights into how dynamic landscape change and climate change drive biodiversity and ecosystem services and what the implications are for environmental decision-making under uncertainty. He has also worked on optimal monitoring problems to quantify the benefits of investment in new information and research for environmental decisions. Jonathan’s work is multidisciplinary and has application across a wide range of scales from local to global. His current work focusses on linking processes across global and local scales to inform environmental policy setting at multiple scales and decision-making in complex social-ecological landscapes. Jonathan is based in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science at The University of Queensland (UQ).

Research Interests

  • Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
    Jonathan is interested in understanding the effect of human-caused landscape change and climate change on wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystem services. He works on developing landscape scale models of how landscape structure influences biodiversity and ecosystem services in both rural, urban and coastal landscapes. By integrating these models with data this work has answered critical questions about the interaction between threat processes and ecological and social processes operating at a range of scales.
  • Decision Analysis and Policy
    A key focus of Jonathan’s work is the application of our understanding of drivers of change in environmental systems to decision-making a policy formulation. He uses decision science approaches to achieve this and works closely with end-users (especially government) to maximise impact and uptake. This work has made important contributions to understanding appropriate management and policy for koalas, coastal planning, and linear infrastructure planning.
  • Value of Information and Optimal Monitoring
    Environmental policy and planning relies on information to make informed choices and Jonathan is interested in how we can better design investment in monitoring data and research to maximise environmental benefits. His work in this area focusses on monitoring design in complex socio-ecological systems and how research should be prioritised in these systems.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Kent.
  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Science (hons), University of East Anglia

Publications

View all Publications

Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Rhodes, Jonathan R. (2015). Mixture models for overdispersed data. In Gordon A. Fox, Simoneta Negrete-Yankelevich and Vinicio J. Sosa (Ed.), Ecological statistics: contemporary theory and application (pp. 284-308) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672547.001.0001

  • McAlpine, Clive A., Seabrook, Leonie, Morrison, Tiffany H. and Rhodes, Jonathan R. (2013). Strengthening landscape ecology's contribution to a sustainable environment. Landscape Ecology for Sustainable Environment and Culture. (pp. 21-37) edited by Bojie Fu and K. Bruce Jones. Dordrecht , The Netherlands: Springer Netherlands. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-6530-6_2

  • McAlpine, Clive A., Bowen, Michiala E. and Rhodes, Jonathan R. (2010). Landscape and regional perspectives from eastern Australia. Temperate woodland conservation and management. (pp. 231-240) edited by David Lindenmayer, Andrew Bennett and Richard Hobbs. Collingwood, Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing.

  • Jonathan R. Rhodes, McAlpine, Clive A., Zuur, A. F., Smith, G. M. and Ieno, E. N. (2009). GLMM applied on the spatial distribution of koalas in a fragmented landscape. Mixed effects models and extensions in ecology with R. (pp. 469-492) edited by Alain F. Zuur, Elena N. Ieno, Neil J. Walker, Anatoly A. Saveliev and Graham M. Smith. New York , U.S.A.: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-87458-6_21

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

Completed Supervision