Hugh Possingham

Hugh Phillip Possingham, FAA (born 21 July 1962), is Chief Scientist of The Nature Conservancy, best known for his work in conservation biology. He is also an ARC Laureate Fellow[1] in the Department of Mathematics and the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland.

Hugh Possingham
Possingham in 2014
Born
Hugh Phillip Possingham

(1962-07-21) 21 July 1962
Adelaide, Australia.
Alma mater
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Doctoral advisorMichael Bulmer

Career

Possingham received his Bachelor's degree with Honours in 1984, from the department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Adelaide. He completed his D.Phil. at Oxford University under Michael Bulmer in 1987, on a Rhodes Scholarship. His thesis focused on optimal foraging theory.[2]

Possingham's first postdoctoral position was with Joan Roughgarden at Stanford University, working on the recruitment dynamics of intertidal communities. He then returned to Australia on a QEII Fellowship at the Australian National University, and undertook research on applications of population viability analysis to conservation biology. He moved to the University of Adelaide, first as a lecturer, then in 1995 as a Professor.[3] In 2000 Possingham moved to a chair in the departments of Mathematics and Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, where he was an ARC Professorial, Federation, and Laureate Fellow. He was Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions,[4] and the Australian government's Threatened Species Recovery Hub.[5] In 2016 he joined The Nature Conservancy as its Chief Scientist.[6]

During his academic career, Possingham has published over 600 peer-reviewed papers, and supervised 135 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers.[7] He co-developed the Marxan software for systematic conservation planning, which is considered "the most significant contribution to conservation biology to emerge from Australia's research community".[8] It has been used to plan terrestrial and marine protected area networks for 5% of the Earth's surface, including Australia's Great Barrier Reef.[9]

Public roles

Possingham is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, chaired the Australian Government's committees on Biodiversity Hotspots, and on Biological Diversity,[10] the Queensland Government's Smart State Council,[11] and the Wilderness Society's Wild Country Science Council.[12]

Possingham co-authored "The Brigalow Declaration"[13] with Dr Barry Traill, used by Queensland Premier Beattie to support an end to land-clearing in Queensland. Land clearance in Queensland was removing 500,000 hectares of native vegetation each year, and was responsible for 10% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions; its cessation enabled Australia to meet its Kyoto Protocol target.[14] In 2009 he proposed devoting a proportionate fraction of gambling revenues to saving an endangered species, to be selected by a random drawing shown on television before the Melbourne Cup.[15]

Awards

Possingham won the Australian Mathematical Society Medal,[16] the inaugural Fenner Medal for plant and animal biology from the Australian Academy of Sciences,[17] and the 1999 and 2009 Eureka Prizes for Environmental Research.[18] In 2016 he was awarded the Mahathir Science Award for Tropical Natural Resources, alongside Kerrie Wilson and Eric Meijard.[19]

He was elected to the Australian Academy of Science in 2005.[20] He was the first Australian to be elected a fellow of the Ecological Society of America, and in 2016 he was elected a foreign associate of the USA National Academy of Sciences.[21]

References
  1. UQ press release, accessed 13 September 2019.
  2. Oxford University Electronic Library, WorldCat Library, accessed 11 February 2012.
  3. Biography by the Australian Society for Operations Research. , accessed 11 February 2012.
  4. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, CEED, accessed 13 September 2019.
  5. NESP TSR , accessed 13 September 2019.
  6. , accessed 13 September 2019.
  7. TNC press release, , accessed 13 September 2019.
  8. Eureka Prize summary Archived 20 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine. accessed 10 October 2012.
  9. Fernandes et al. (2005) Establishing representative no-take areas in the Great Barrier Reef: large-scale implementation of theory on marine protected areas, Conservation Biology, 19(6), 1733–1744.
  10. Biological Diversity Advisory Committee, . accessed 10 October 2012.
  11. Queensland Smart State Council Members Archived 5 August 2012 at Archive.today
  12. Wild Country Science Council members. . Accessed 10 October 2012.
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. Crikey, Australia's Kyoto Target is a Croc
  15. Game, E.T. "An Endangered Species…Lottery?", The Nature Conservancy blog, 1 December 2009.
  16. Australian Mathematical Society Medal citation , Accessed 10 October 2012.
  17. "Inaugural award for population ecologist", University of Adelaide 17 March 2000.
  18. "'ALEX' model wins Eureka Prize", Adelaidian 17 May 1999.
  19. "Tropical Natural Resources Award Recipient for 2016".
  20. Australian Academy of Sciences fellowship list Archived 12 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. accessed 10 October 2012.
  21. National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected, News from the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, 3 May 2016, archived from the original on 6 May 2016, retrieved 14 May 2016.

Selected bibliography
  • Recruitment dynamics in complex life cycles. Roughgarden J, Gaines SD & Possingham HP. Science (1988) 241:1460-1466.
  • Limits to the use of threatened species lists. Possingham HP. et al. (2002) Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17:503-507.
  • Prioritising global conservation efforts. Wilson KA, McBride M, Bode M & Possingham HP. Nature (2006) 440:337-340.
  • Active adaptive management conservation. McCarthy M & Possingham HP. Conservation Biology (2007) 21:956-963.
  • Optimal allocation of resources among threatened species. Joseph L, Maloney R & Possingham HP. Conservation Biology (2009) 23:328-338.
  • Six common mistakes in conservation priority setting. Game E, Kareiva P & Possingham HP. Conservation Letters (2013) 27:480-485.
  • Optimal conservation outcomes require both restoration and protection. Possingham HP, Bode M, Klein CK. PLOS Biology (2015) e1002052.
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