Peter Fairweather, School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University

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Professor Peter Fairweather

Contact Details

Phone:	+61 8 8201 5021
Fax:	+61 8 8201 3015
Email:	peter.fairweather@flinders.edu.au
Location:	Room 018, Biological Sciences building (building 51)

Key Responsibilities

Professor of Marine Biology
Director of the Lincoln Marine Science Centre
Leader of the marine/aquaculture cluster within the School

Teaching

Marine biology and ecology via topics like: BIOL1301 Professional Skills for Marine Biologists; BIOL2271 Marine and Terrestrial Animal Diversity; BIOL2272 Marine Biology and Ecology; BIOL2102 Marine Organisms and Environments; BIOL3363 Marine Biology Research Projects; BIOL3400 Readings in Marine Biology; BIOL3260 Community Ecology
Supervision of Honours and postgraduate research students

Research

My research interests span the ecology of marine habitats in coastal environments. In particular, I’ve been concerned for the last seventeen years with the assessment of human impacts (such as water pollution, recreational effects & the harvesting of resources) on invertebrate assemblages. My current research activities include:

studies of food webs in a variety of coastal marine & estuarine ecosystems, especially examining whether upwelling can affect intertidal assemblages (ARC Discovery funding);
human impacts as disturbances (ARC Linkage, Coasts & Clean Seas funding);
ecological monitoring via the use of bioindicators of ecosystem health (mainly private industry funding); and
scaling issues & patchiness of biological community structure of a wide range of biota from algae to cetaceans.

See publication list

Student projects supervised (ongoing and recent past)

J. McKechnie: Wrack: A Nuisance or a Vital Component of Sandy Beach Ecosystems? (Hons, joint supervision with S. Murray Jones)
J. . Pocklington: Positive Interactions on Rocky Seashores: Are they important, or can they be ignored? (Hons)
D. Keuskamp: The Role of Epiphyte Grazers in Seagrass Meadows of South Australia’s Spencer Gulf (PhD)
A. Pope: Ecological Assessment of the Anglesea Estuary & Catchment (PhD, joint supervision with J. Sherwood & J. Hill)
J. Barton: Indicators of Coastal River Estuary Health in Victoria (PhD, joint supervision with D. Tiller)
A. Hirst: Macrofaunal Diversity on Subtidal Algae (PhD)
T. Moore: Biodiversity & Ecosystem Function of Seagrasses (PhD, joint supervision with A. Butler)
P. Lauer: Respiration of Marine Sediments under Tuna Pontoons (PhD, joint supervision with A. Cheshire & J. Tanner)
R. Henry: Groundwater Dependence of Nearshore Coastal Ecosystems of SE South Australia (PhD)
L. Van Camp: Squid Reproductive Biology (PhD, joint supervision with J. Havenhand)
E. Kupriyanova: Polychaete Life Histories (PhD, joint supervision with J. Havenhand & I. Svane)
B. McDonald: Seagrass Spatial Interactions (PhD, joint supervision with J. Tanner & I. Svane)
B. Holmes: Can we use Mangroves Epibionts as Indicators of Pollution? (Hons)

Other Professional

These interests have regularly led to numerous consultancies with all tiers of government & private enterprise, advising on the design & review of environmental research programs, e.g.:

Membership of the Editorial Board of the international journal, Marine & Freshwater Research, 2003 to present

1987 to 2000: served on the Editorial Board of the Australian Journal of Ecology; as an Editor, he handled more than 190 manuscripts, & during 1995-6 served as its Receiving Editor, in charge of the triad of Editors

1999 to present: member of the inaugural Editorial Board of the journal Ecological Management & Restoration

1988 to 1990: advised the federal government about environmental research in Antarctica as a member of the Antarctic Research Evaluation Group

1989 to 1995 advised the NSW state government on the Environmental Monitoring Programme for Sydney's Deepwater Ocean Outfalls as a member of the Technical Review Committee

1996-1997: Inland Waters Indicators Co-ordinator for the State of Environmental Reporting Unit of the federal bureaucracy Environment Australia, & part of a major CSIRO team that reviewed wastewater strategies for Sydney Water

1992 to 1996: member & eventually chaired the Ecology Expert Advisory Panel overseeing environmental studies at Sydney's Olympics 2000 site at Homebush Bay

Personal Statement

As a quantitative ecologist specialising in field assessments of ecological variation using well-designed sampling & manipulative experiments, I strive to seek out the true nature of marine ecosystems & human impacts thereupon. I have always sought to engender, in my students & my colleagues, intellectual rigour coupled with a sense of wonder. I believe that sound environmental management of our coasts & seas must be based on an understanding of how such ecosystems work. This, in turn, can be achieved by co-operation among scientists from a variety of disciplines & the involvement of stakeholders within the wider public. Marine biologists embracing this must be as up to date with their subject as possible & skilled in using their tools of trade such as experimental design, statistics, visualisation, epistemology, & scientific communication. These are qualities I actively research & teach every day.

I’m trained as a quantitative marine ecologist with more than 23 years experience in this field, & hold the degrees of Bachelor of Science (Honours Class I) & Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Sydney, where my research candidature was supervised by Professor A.J. Underwood.

Previous Employment

1985 to 1994: Lecturer & then Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies at Macquarie University

1994 to 1997: Senior Research Scientist, then Project Leader & Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO Division of Water Resources (later CSIRO Land & Water) at Griffith, NSW

1997 to 2001: Senior Lecturer in the School of Ecology & Environment, Deakin University (Warrnambool Campus)

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