Richard J. Hobbs FAA, is an Emeritus Professor, ARC former Australian Laureate Fellow and ecologist at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

, Perth, Australia. He is a

fellow of the Australian Academy of Science The Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science is made up of about 500 Australian scientists. Scientists judged by their peers to have made an exceptional contribution to knowledge in their field may be elected to Fellowship of the Academy ...

and a Highly-Cited author who has written extensively in the areas of vegetation dynamics and management, ecosystem fragmentation, ecosystem rehabilitation and restoration,

landscape ecology Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems. This is done within a variety of landscape scales, development spatial patterns, and organizatio ...

, and

conservation biology Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an i ...

. His research focused on managing ecosystems in a rapidly changing world and the implications of environmental and biological change for conservation and restoration.

Academic career

An alumnus of

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

, Scotland, Richard obtained a 1st class honours in Ecological Science in 1976. He secured a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

to the

University of California Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

, USA where he completed a master's degree in 1977. He completed his PhD at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

, Scotland in 1982, working o
post-fire dynamics of heathland communities
supervised by Prof Charles Gimingham. His first postdoctoral research position was at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, working with Hal Mooney on serpentine grassland dynamics. In 1984, he joined the CSIRO Division of Wildlife & Ecology in Western Australia and worked on the dynamics of fragmented ecosystems in the Western Australian wheatbelt, becoming the Officer in Charge of the Western Australian laboratory in 1997. In 2000, he took up a Chair in Environmental Science at

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its ...

and was awarded an ARC Australian Professorial Fellowship in 2006. Moving to the University of Western Australia in 2009, he was awarded an

Australian Laureate Fellowship The Australian Laureate Fellowship is an Australian professorial research fellowship awarded by the Australian Research Council. Fellows are chosen each year for five-year awards. In 2023 8 industry-focused Laureate Fellowships were awarded for the ...

by the

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

for research into "Intervention ecology: managing ecosystems in the 21st century". He retired from UWA in 2020 and retains an honorary research position there. His current activity focuses on researching and writing for the websit
The Nature of Music
which examines the sustainability and conservation issues associated with the materials for guitar-making.

Public and Professional Roles

* President, Ecological Society of Australia 1998-1999 * President, International Association for Landscape Ecology 1999-2003 * Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, Worldwide Fund for Nature (Australia) 1997-2004 * Member, Invasive Species Specialist Group,

IUCN Species Survival Commission The IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) is one of the six commissions of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Species Survival Commission, the largest of the IUCN's six commissions, is a science-driven network cons ...

* Member, ARC Expert Advisory Panel (Engineering and Environment) 2001-2002 * Member, Board of Governors,

Society for Ecological Restoration The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is a conservation organization based in the United States, supporting a "global community of restoration professionals that includes researchers, practitioners, decision-makers, and community leaders ...

International 2003-2004 * Member, Wilderness Society Wildcountry Science Council 2003-2009 * Member, ARC College of Experts 2004-2005 * Member, Natural Heritage Trust Advisory Committee 2004-2007 * Member, Editorial Board, Ecological Management and Restoration 1999-2010 * Editor in Chief,

Restoration Ecology Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from Conservation movement, conservation in that it attempts t ...

2005-2014 * Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Landscape Ecology, from 2006 * Founding Member, Leeuwin Group of Concerned Scientists. 2015-present * Member, Beeliar Group: Professors for Environmental Responsibility. 2017-present * Member, Perth Urban Restoration Science Advisory Group 2017-2020

Awards

* Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science * ISI Highly Cited Researcher in Ecology and Environment * Distinguished Scholarship Award, 1999, International Association for Landscape Ecology * Finalist, 2001 Eureka Awards (The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney Eureka Prize for Biodiversity Research) *

, 2009 * Winner, 2011 Western Australian Scientist of the Year * Ecological Society of Australia, 2010 Gold Medal Recipient *

Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...

, Honorary Member 2016 * Inductee, Western Australian Science Hall of Fame 2021 *

British Ecological Society The British Ecological Society is a learned society in the field of ecology that was founded in 1913. It is the oldest ecological society in the world. The Society's original objective was "to promote and foster the study of Ecology in its widest ...

, Honorary Member, 2022 * Academic Writing Residency, Rockefeller Institute Bellagio Centre, Italy 2022

Selected Publications

* Hobbs, R.J. & Suding, K.N. (eds.) 2009
''New Models for Ecosystem Dynamics and Restoration''.
Island Press, Washington D.C. * Suding, K.N. & Hobbs, R.J. 2009
Threshold models in conservation and restoration: A developing framework.
''

Trends in Ecology and Evolution A fad, trend, or craze is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation, or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short time period. Fads are objects or behaviors that ...

'' 24(5):271-279 * Jackson, S.T. & Hobbs, R.J. 2009
Ecological restoration in the light of ecological history
''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' 325(5940):567-569. * Hobbs, R.J., Higgs, E. & Harris, J.A. 2009.
Novel ecosystems: implications for conservation and restoration.
''Trends in Ecology and Evolution'' 24(11):599-605 * Lindenmayer, D.B., Bennett, A.F. & Hobbs, R.J. (eds) 2010

CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. * Hobbs, R.J., Cole, D.N., Yung, L., Zavaleta, E.S., Aplet, G.H., Chapin, F.S.III, Landres, P.B., Parsons, D.J., Stephenson, N.L., White, P.S., Graber, D.M., Higgs, E.S., Millar, C.I., Randall, J.M., Tonnessen, K.A. & Woodley, S. 2010
Guiding concepts for parks and wilderness stewardship in an era of global environmental change.
''

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment ''Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal issued ten times per year, and consists of peer-reviewed, synthetic review articles on all aspects of ecology, the environment, and related disciplines, as well as ...

'' 8(9):483-490. * Hobbs, R.J., Hallett, L.M., Ehrlich, P.R. & Mooney, H.A. 2011
Intervention ecology: applying ecological science in the 21st century.
''

BioScience ''BioScience'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal that is published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. It was established in 1964 and was preceded by the ''AIBS Bulletin'' (1951–1 ...

'' 61(6):442-450 For a full publication list, se
Google Scholar: Richard J Hobbs

External links

UWA Research Repository

Australian Research Council

Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions

Australian Academy of Science

Awards recognise passion for science

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbs, Richard Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of Edinburgh University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Australian ecologists Australian environmentalists Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science