Claire Foster
Photo of Claire Foster
Research Fellow
BSc (Hons, UWA), PhD (ANU)
email claire.foster@anu.edu.au
call +61 2 612 51036
link ANU Researcher Portal profile

Content navigation

About

Dr Claire Foster is a Research Fellow at the Fenner School of Environment & Society. She is currently working on an Austalian Research Council Linkage Project investigating the role of animals in fire regimes.

Dr Foster previously worked on the Jervis Bay Long-term Monitoring and Fire Response Study, looking at the effects of fire regimes on the structure and composition of fire-prone vegetation communities.

Dr Foster's PhD research investigated the interactive effects of prescribed fire and herbivory on the flora and fauna of a eucalypt forest understory.

Affiliations

Research interests

Dr Foster's research focuses on terrestrial conservation biology. She is particularly interested in ecological disturbances and species interactions, and how feedbacks between these processes affect ecosystem structure, function and composition.

  • Ecology
  • Terrestrial Ecology
  • Community Ecology (Excl. Invasive Species Ecology)
  • Conservation And Biodiversity

Researcher's projects

ARC Linkage Project

‘Fauna, Fuel and Fire: Effects of native animals on fuel dynamics and bushfire risks' with David Lindenmayer, Geoff Cary, Paul Kardol and David Wardle.

Past projects

The interacting effects of herbivory and fire on understorey vegetation and its dependent fauna - Australian Academy of Science" (Primary Investigator)

Projects

Teaching information

Current student projects

Matt Chard PhD candidate (Fenner School, ANU)

"Fauna, Fuel & Fire: Feedbacks of macropod herbivory on fire regimes" (Primary Supervisor)

Jackie O’Sullivan PhD candidate (Fenner School, ANU)

“Quantifying the ecological role of surface rocks on reptile conservation in agricultural landscapes” (Co-Supervisor).

Location

Frank Fenner Building (141)

Publications

For an up to date list of publications, please visit my Google Scholar profile at: https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=xaGwn-8AAAAJ&hl=en

  • Barton, P, Westgate, M, Foster, C et al 2020, 'Using ecological niche theory to avoid uninformative biodiversity surrogates', Ecological Indicators, vol. 108, pp. 1-7.
  • Baker, C, Bode, M, Dexter, N et al 2019, 'A novel approach to assessing the ecosystem-wide impacts of reintroductions', Ecological Applications, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 1-12.
  • Barton, P, Evans, M, Sato, C et al 2019, 'Higher-taxon and functional group responses of ant and bird assemblages to livestock grazing: A test of an explicit surrogate concept', Ecological Indicators, vol. 96, pp. 458-465.
  • Foster, C, O'Loughlin, L, Sato, C et al 2019, 'How practitioners integrate decision triggers with existing metrics in conservation monitoring', Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 230, pp. 94-101.
  • Scheele, B, Pasmans, F, Skerratt, L et al 2019, 'Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity', Science, vol. 363, no. 6434, pp. 1459-1463pp.
  • Barton, P, Evans, M, Foster, C et al 2019, 'Towards Quantifying Carrion Biomass in Ecosystems', Trends in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 34, no. 10, pp. 950-961.
  • Lindenmayer, D, Wood, J, MacGregor, C et al 2018, 'Conservation conundrums and the challenges of managing unexplained declines of multiple species', Biological Conservation, vol. 221, pp. 279-292pp.
  • Lindenmayer, D, Lane, P, Westgate, M et al 2018, 'Tests of predictions associated with temporal changes in Australian bird populations', Biological Conservation, vol. 222, pp. 212-221pp.
  • O'Loughlin, L, Lindenmayer, D, Smith, M et al 2018, 'Surrogates Underpin Ecological Understanding and Practice', BioScience, vol. 68, no. 9, pp. 640-642pp.
  • Scheele, B, Foster, C, Banks, S et al 2017, 'The Role of Biotic Interactions in the Niche Reduction Hypothesis: A Reply to Doherty and Driscoll', Trends in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 148-149pp.
  • Scheele, B, Foster, C, Banks, S et al 2017, 'Niche Contractions in Declining Species: Mechanisms and Consequences', Trends in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 346-355.
  • Foster, C, Barton, P, MacGregor, C et al 2017, 'Effects of fire regime on plant species richness and composition differ among forest,woodland and heath vegetation', Applied Vegetation Science, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 132-143.
  • Foster, C, Barton, P, Robinson, N et al 2017, 'Effects of a large wildfire on vegetation structure in a variable fire mosaic', Ecological Applications, vol. 27, no. 8, pp. 2369-2381pp.
  • Barton, P, Evans, M, Foster, C et al 2017, 'Environmental and spatial drivers of spider diversity at contrasting microhabitats', Austral Ecology, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 700-710.
  • Lindenmayer, D, MacGregor, C, Wood, J et al 2016, 'Bombs, fire and biodiversity: Vertebrate fauna occurrence in areas subject to military training', Biological Conservation, vol. 204, no. 1, pp. 276-283.
  • Foster, C, Sato, C, Lindenmayer, D et al 2016, 'Integrating theory into disturbance interaction experiments to better inform ecosystem management', Global Change Biology, 22, 1325-1335.
  • Foster, C, Barton, P, Sato, C et al 2016, 'Herbivory and fire interact to affect forest understory habitat, but not its use by small vertebrates', Animal Conservation, 19, 15-25.
  • Foster, C, Barton, P, Sato, C et al 2015, 'Synergistic interactions between fire and browsing drive plant diversity in a forest understorey', Journal of Vegetation Science, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 1112-1123.
  • Foster, C, Barton, P, Wood, J et al 2015, 'Interactive effects of fire and large herbivores on web-building spiders', Oecologia, vol. 179, no. 1, pp. 237-248.
  • Foster, C, Barton, P & Lindenmayer, D 2014, 'Effects of large native herbivores on other animals', Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 929-938.