Things that make monitoring work

Key insights from long-term ecological monitoring

Monitoring is critical to understanding ecological processes, effective environmental management and conserving biodiversity. It is rarely done well and mostly often done badly, leading to poor management decisions and a waste of environmental investments. In this seminar, Gene Likens and David Lindenmayer first discuss some key insights that come from long-term ecological monitoring. Then they outline some of the most important factors that underpin good monitoring programs. At the conclusion of this short presentation, Gene Likens and David Lindenmayer will announce the release of their new book: Effective Ecological Monitoring.

Wine and cheese will be provided to celebrate this event.

About the speakers

Gene Likens is an ecologist best known for his discovery of acid rain in North America, for co-founding the internationally renowned Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study, and for founding the Institute of Ecosystem Studies – a leading international ecological research and education centre. He currently hold faculty positions at Yale, Cornell, Rutgers universities, State University of New York in Albany, University of Connecticut, and Albert Einstein Professor for the Chinese Academy of Science and Jinan University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society, among his awards are the 1994 Australia Prize for Science and Technology, and the US National Medal of Science in 2001.

David Lindenmayer is a Professor of Ecology and Conservation Biology at The Australian National University's Fenner School of Environment and Society. He has expertise in a wide range of topics associated with forestry, woodlands, wildlife and biodiversity conservation and ecologically sustainable natural resource management. He has published extensively on these topics (more than 1120 scientific articles including over 685 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 45 books). His research has been recognised through awards such as the Eureka Science Prize (twice), Whitley Award (seven times), the Serventy Medal for Ornithology, and the Australian Natural History Medallion. He is an Australian Research Council Laureate, a member of the Australian Academy of Science and Officer of the Order of Australia.