Dr Alice Jones

I work with Prof. Bronwyn Gillanders in the Gillanders Aquatic Ecology lab.  My primary research focus is around coastal or 'blue' carbon ecosystems (mangroves, seagrasses and saltmarshes).

These coastal, vegetated ecosystems have an important role in reducing the impacts of climate change by accumulating and storing large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and the oceans.  This carbon may be stored within the vegetation ('above-ground' carbon) and sediment ('below-ground' carbon) for hundreds or thousands of years.  By protecting and restoring these ecosystems, we can support their important role in the carbon cycle, which helps mitigate against climate change. However, if these ecosystems are damaged or cleared, the carbon they have stored for many decades can be released back to the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases; contributing to climate change.  In addition to their ability to store carbon, these coastal ecosystems provide numerous other ecosystem services (also referred to as 'co-benefits') including providing fish habitat, improving coastal water quality and coastal protection from waves, storms and sea level rise.  You can view a write up of our Goyder Institute-funded project here.

I previously worked on (and continue to be involved in) the Spencer Gulf Ecosystem and Development Initiative (SGEDI).  With competing priorities – from fishing to mining, agriculture, energy and community values – management of the Spencer Gulf ecosystem may be compared to walking a tightrope between commercial and environmental interests. The overall aim of the SGEDI project is to develop the science and understanding for world class decision making; proactively maintaining Spencer Gulf's unique ecosystem rather than engaging in a costly restoration should damage occur due to human activities.

My role in this project was to develop maps of the Gulf's habitats and the potential threats to them from human activities, including the cumulative impacts from multiple activities.  These maps provide baseline information about the cumulative impacts on the marine habitats of the Spencer Gulf and can be used to assess the potential impacts of further development or industries in the region.  I also explored issues stemming from uncertainty in data derived from expert-elicitation (surveys and workshops etc.). You can see our open access paper on expert risk assessment here. I went on to investigate the effect that this uncertainty can have on the outputs of  spatial cumulative impact assessments and developed a method to deal with this in a quantitative way, which generates outputs that are easy to interpret and apply in a management context. You can read our open access paper on this here and also check out the graphical abstract below!

I am also involved in a collaboration with Dr Damien Fordham (Climate Ecology and Evolutionary Dynamics lab at Adelaide University) and Dr Tim Jessop (Deakin Uni), which looks at Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) range and population dynamics. We have used coupled niche-population models to project how population dynamics and changes in habitat availability will influence the species' survival and distribution under changing climatic conditions over the next few decades - look out for a paper on this coming soon! We hope to extend this modelling to test the efficacy of potential management scenarios for conserving the Komodo dragon into the future.