DARE Domain Lead – Biodiversity
Professor Glenda Wardle (University of Sydney)
Bachelor of Science
Master of Science (First Class Honours)
PhD, Evolutionary Biology
Glenda Wardle has PhD and MS degrees in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Chicago (USA). Her research training began in New Zealand with a BSc in Botany and an MSc (First Class Honours) in Ecology from the University of Auckland. After Chicago, Glenda moved to Australia to take up an academic position at the University of Sydney, where she is currently a Professor of Ecology and Evolution.
Glenda co-leads the Desert Ecology Research Group (DERG), well known for their long-term field research in arid Australia studying the dynamics of populations, species and ecological interactions to improve conservation and management of ecosystems, particularly deserts. Glenda’s broad interests in statistics and modelling include Bayesian multivariate auto-regressive state space models for time-series data, matrix population models, network analysis, uncertainty in spatio-temporal models, and near-term ecological forecasting.
Her current research projects use a wide range of data sources, such as high resolution genomic data to understand how dynamic ecological change may cause rapid evolution, remote sensing satellite data to track vegetation response to fire, droughts and flooding rains, and wildlife camera images and acoustic data to quantify how biodiversity on farms can be integrated into production systems.
She provides expert advice to several projects for the Australian Government Department of Environment and Energy, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, and NGOs such as Bush Heritage Australia and the Central Land Council and is an internationally renowned expert advising several global projects.
