I am an ecologist, with experience in Australia, United Kingdom, Europe and United States. I grew up in Scotland and completed a BSc in Ecological Science at Edinburgh followed by an MA in Biology at the University of California Santa Barbara, on a Fulbright Scholarship. I completed my PhD at the University of Aberdeen, working on post-fire dynamics of heathland communities, supervised by Prof Charles Gimingham. After completing my PhD, I was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University 1982-84, working with Prof Hal Mooney on serpentine grassland dynamics. I joined CSIRO Division of Wildlife & Ecology in Western Australia in 1984 and worked on the dynamics of fragmented ecosystems in the Western Australian wheatbelt. I became Officer in Charge of the Western Australian laboratory in 1997. In 2000 I took up a Chair in Environmental Science at Murdoch University and was awarded an ARC Australian Professorial Fellowship in 2006. I joined UWA in 2009 and was awarded an Australian Laureate Fellowship. I retired and became Emeritus in 2020.

EDUCATION

1976 : B.Sc. 1st Class Honours(Ecological Science) University of Edinburgh
1977 : M.A. (Biology) University of California, Santa Barbara
1982 : Ph.D.University of Aberdeen, Department of Botany

I am retired and am no longer taking on further students or grant activity.

My particular interests are in vegetation dynamics and management, fragmentation, invasive species, ecosystem restoration, conservation biology and landscape ecology. My recent research focused on setting and achieving realistic restoration goals in a rapidly changing world. I now work on my Nature of Music project (see website)

Past Editor in Chief, Restoration Ecology (2005-2014)
Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Landscape Ecology (2006-)
Member, Editorial Board, Ecological Management and Restoration (1999-)
Associate Editor, Island Press Restoration Ecology Series
Member, Editorial Board, Cambridge University Press Landscape Ecology Series
Member, Society for Ecological Restoration, Science and Policy Working Group
Member, Editorial Board, Ecological Society of Australia, Hot Topics
Southern Correspondent, British Ecological Society Bulletin