Noel D. Preece

(MENAFN- The Conversation)

• Adjunct Asssociate Professor, James Cook University

Profile Articles Activity

Adjunct Associate Professor, James Cook University
Adjunct Associate Professor, Charles Darwin University
Director (non-Executive), Terrain NRM Ltd
Director, Biome5 Pty Ltd

I am a Terrestrial Ecologist with 40 years experience in tropical, arid, temperate and alpine management, research and consulting. Principal Environmental Scientist and Director of private consulting firms for over 25 years working in northern and central Australia. I also ran Discovery Ecotours for 13 years in central and northern Australia.

I have broad interests in northern Australia, including fire ecology, savanna management, biodiversity, natural resource management, indigenous ecological knowledge and natural resource management in the savanna region, carbon sequestration and mitigation through reforestation, savanna burning and soil carbon sequestration.

I now live in far north Queensland, and with a team have established a major reforestation project on our property for carbon and biodiversity. The plantings are designed as a fully replicated experiment, examining carbon sequestration, planting methods, soil carbon sequestration processes and a host of related studies into natural recruitment, costs of planting and maintaining, vertebrate colonisation, dung beetles, bees and flies.

PhD (CDU) on Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Land Management, MSc (Zoology, UQ) on arid fauna and habitats, BSc Earth Sciences & Ecology (MacqU).

Experience

• 2006–present Director, Biome5 Pty Ltd
• 2006–present Director, Biocarbon Pty Ltd
• 1990–2006 Director, EcOz Environmental Services
• 1987–2000 Director, Discovery Ecotours
• 1984–1990 A/Regional Manager +, Conservation Commission NT

Education

• 2006 Charles Darwin University, PhD
• 1995 Northern Territory Uni/ Uni of Queensland, MSc
• 1983 Macquarie University, BSc

Publications

• 2017 Recovery of mammal diversity in tropical forest: a functional approach to measuring restoration, Restoration Ecology
• 2017 National carbon model not sensitive to species, families and site characteristics in a young tropical reforestation project, Forest Ecology and Management
• 2017 The role of topography and plant functional traits in determining tropical reforestation success, Journal of Applied Ecology
• 2017 A guide for ecologists: Detecting the role of disease in faunal declines and managing population recovery, Biological Conservation
• 2017 Ants as ecological indicators of rainforest restoration: community convergence and the development of an Ant Forest Indicator Index in the Australian wet tropics, Ecology and Evolution
• 2016 Soil types influence predictions of soil carbon stock recovery in tropical secondary forests, Forest Ecology and Management
• 2016 Ecosystem service valuation reinforces world class value of Cape York Peninsula's ecosystems but environment and indigenous people lose out., Ecosystem Services
• 2016 Forest age and isolation affect the rate of recovery of plant species diversity and community composition in secondary rain forests in tropical Australia, Journal of Vegetation Science
• 2016 Managing reforestation to sequester carbon, increase biodiversity potential and minimize loss of agricultural land, Land Use Policy
• 2015 Stemming the tide: progress towards resolving the causes of decline and implementing management responses for the disappearing mammal fauna of northern Australia, Therya
• 2015 Modelling the growth of young rainforest trees for biomass estimates and carbon sequestration accounting. , Forest Ecology and Management
• 2015 Improved models for estimating temporal changes in carbon sequestration in above-ground biomass of mixed-species environmental plantings, Forest Ecology and Management
• 2014 Integrating agriculture and climate change mitigation at landscape scale: Implications from an Australian case study, Global Environmental Change
• 2014 The Eucalypts of Northern Australia: An Assessment of the Conservation Status of Taxa and Communities,
• 2014 Use by small mammals of a chronosequence of tropical rainforest revegetation, Wildlife Research
• 2014 A Natural History and Field Guide to Australia's Top End, Gecko Books
• 2013 Improved estimation of biomass accumulation by environmental planting and mallee plantings using FullCAM, Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
• 2013 Tangible Evidence of Historic Australian Indigenous Savanna Management., Austral Ecology
• 2013 Planting methods matter for cost-effective rainforest restoration., Ecological Management & Restoration
• 2013 Resilience and Opportunity: Regions and the Roll-out of Australia's Greenhouse Gas Abatement Programs A Manual for Queensland's NRM Regions, Governance, planning and the effective application of emerging ecosystem service markets to secure climate change adaptation and landscape resilience in Far North Queensland.
• 2012 Comparing above-ground biomass among forest types in the Wet Tropics: Small stems and plantation types matter in carbon accounting., Forest Ecology and Management
• 2012 An Australian landscape-based approach: AFOLU mitigation for smallholders,, Climate Change Mitigation and Agriculture.
• 2010 Catching the baby: accounting for biodiversity and the ecosystem sector in emissions trading., Conservation Letters
• 2010 Uneven distribution of weeds along extensive transects in Australia's Northern Territory points to management solutions., Ecological Management & Restoration
• 2007 Traditional and ecological fires and effects of bushfire laws in north Australian savannas., International Journal of Wildland Fire
• 2002 Aboriginal fires in monsoonal Australia from historical accounts., Journal of Biogeography

Grants and Contracts

• 2013 Resilience and Opportunity: Regions and the Roll-out of Australia's Greenhouse Gas Abatement Programs Role: Principal Consultant Funding Source: Terrain NRM Ltd
• 2013 Biodiversity Studies Gulf and Cape York Regions Role: Principal Ecologist Funding Source: Northern Gulf Resource Management Group
• 2013 Fire Operations Manual Role: Principal Ecologist Funding Source: Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation Ltd
• 2013 Pests Control Manual Role: Principal Ecologist Funding Source: Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation Ltd
• 2012 Rainforest Restoration for Carbon & Biodiversity Role: Chief Investigator & Project Director Funding Source: Biodiversity Fund
• 2012 Biodiversity Assessments Cape York Role: Principal Ecologist Funding Source: Cape York NRM Ltd
• 2010 Woodside Browse LNG Plant and LNG Precinct Fire Management Study. Role: Principal Ecologist Funding Source: Woodside Energy Ltd
• 2009 Cost-effective Rainforest Restoration Role: Linkage Partner Investigator Funding Source: Australian Research Council

Professional Memberships

• Ecosystem Science Council, Councillor
• Ecological Society of Australia, Director
• Environment Insitute of Australia and New Zealand

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