Dr Sami Rifai
Senior Lecturer
School of Biological Sciences
College of Science
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD as Principal Supervisor - email supervisor to discuss availability.
AU Ecosystems Research Lab
My lab examines how global change is affecting ecosystem processes in Australia. Most projects in the lab utilise Earth Observation (remote sensing) in combination with field data to examine processes in ecophysiology and ecosystem ecology.
Ongoing Projects:
Identifying Mechanisms of tropical rainforest responses to climate warming (Funded by the Australian Research Council)
SA EcoMap (Funded by SmartSat CRC)
Calperum Super Site - TERN (NCRIS Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network - Ecosystem Processes)
I am happy to discuss potential Honours and Postgraduate research projects on anything vegetation and global change related. In particular, I have projects available on the following topics:
- The impacts of increasing atmospheric aridity on vegetation
- The interplay of photosynthesis and plant water use in response to warming and CO2
- Eucalypt forest recovery from bushfires
- Remote sensing of seagrass dynamics in response to coastal turbidity
- Remote sensing for identifying the impact of rangeland conservation management
Our research uses:
- Plant and ecosystem measurements
- UAV remote sensing LiDAR
- Satellite remote sensing
- Ecosystem flux measurements of CO2 and H2O
- Ecosystem modeling
- Climate data collection reanalysis
- Statistical modeling
- Machine learning
Global Change Biology (2880)
| Date | Position | Institution name |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 - ongoing | Senior Lecturer | Adelaide University |
| 2023 - 2006 | Lecturer | University of Adelaide |
| 2020 - 2023 | Postdoctoral Research Associate | University of New South Wales |
| 2017 - 2019 | Postdoctoral Research Associate | University of Oxford |
| 2017 - 2019 | Oxford Martin Fellow | University of Oxford |
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | University of Florida | United States | PhD |
| 2008 | University of Georgia | United States | MSc |
| 2005 | University of California, Irvine | United States | BSc |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Williams, L. J., Gallagher, R. V., Rifai, S. W., Adeleye, M. A., Baker, P. J., Bowman, D. M. J. S., . . . Medlyn, B. E. (2026). Detecting and attributing climate change effects on vegetation: Australia as a test case. Plants, People, Planet, 8(2), 461-485. Scopus4 WoS5 |
| 2026 | McQuillan, M., Rifai, S., Ostendorf, B., Lilley, C., & Hawken, S. (2026). Pixel Patchwork: Monitoring Temperate Grassland Restoration Success with Sentinel-2 Phenology Metrics in Urban Australia. Applied Vegetation Science, 29(1), 17 pages. Scopus1 WoS1 |
| 2026 | Wang, H., Bassiouni, M., Kang, Y., Rifai, S. W., Gherardi, L. A., Ukkola, A., & Keenan, T. F. (2026). Soil Moisture Buffers the Impact of Precipitation Variability on Ecosystem Productivity. Water Resources Research, 62(3), 20 pages. |
| 2025 | Aguirre-Gutiérrez, J., Díaz, S., Rifai, S. W., Corral-Rivas, J. J., Nava-Miranda, M. G., González-M, R., . . . Malhi, Y. (2025). Tropical forests in the Americas are changing too slowly to track climate change.. Science (New York, N.Y.), 387(6738), eadl5414. Scopus52 WoS46 Europe PMC19 |
| 2025 | Aguirre-Gutiérrez, J., Rifai, S. W., Deng, X., Ter Steege, H., Thomson, E., Corral-Rivas, J. J., . . . Malhi, Y. (2025). Canopy functional trait variation across Earth's tropical forests. Nature, 641(8061), 129-136. Scopus39 WoS34 Europe PMC10 |
| 2025 | Sanchez-Martinez, P., Martius, L. R., Bittencourt, P., Silva, M., Binks, O., Coughlin, I., . . . Meir, P. (2025). Amazon rainforest adjusts to long-term experimental drought.. Nat Ecol Evol, 9(6), 970-979. Scopus19 WoS19 Europe PMC5 |
| 2025 | Corbett, E., Rifai, S. W., Miot da Silva, G., & Hesp, P. A. (2025). Temporal and Spatial Distribution of 2022–2023 River Murray Major Flood Sediment Plume. Remote Sensing, 17(10), 33 pages. Scopus2 WoS2 |
| 2025 | Burton, C. A., Rifai, S. W., Renzullo, L. J., & Van Dijk, A. I. J. M. (2025). Comprehensive reassessment of Australia's land-surface phenology trends (1982–2022) using circular statistics and a harmonised NDVI dataset. Remote Sensing of Environment, 329, 114940. Scopus5 WoS5 |
| 2024 | Devanand, A., Falster, G. M., Gillett, Z. E., Hobeichi, S., Holgate, C. M., Jin, C., . . . Ukkola, A. M. (2024). Australia's Tinderbox Drought: An extreme natural event likely worsened by human-caused climate change. Science Advances, 10(10), eadj3460-1-eadj3460-22. Scopus82 WoS74 Europe PMC9 |
| 2024 | Morel, A. C., Demissie, S., Gonfa, T., Mehrabi, Z., Rifai, S., Hirons, M. A., . . . Norris, K. (2024). Landscape and management influences on smallholder agroforestry yields show shifts during a climate shock. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 366, 108930. Scopus5 WoS5 |
| 2024 | Retallack, A., Campbell, D., Finlayson, G., Raja Segaran, R., Ostendorf, B., Hennekam, M., . . . Lewis, M. (2024). Arid erosion mapping: comparing LiDAR and structure from motion. The Rangeland Journal, 45(4), 173-186. Scopus2 WoS2 |
| 2024 | Zhang-Zheng, H., Adu-Bredu, S., Duah-Gyamfi, A., Moore, S., Addo-Danso, S. D., Amissah, L., . . . Malhi, Y. (2024). Contrasting carbon cycle along tropical forest aridity gradients in West Africa and Amazonia. Nature Communications, 15(1), 3158. Scopus21 WoS20 Europe PMC10 |
| 2024 | Rifai, S. W., De Kauwe, M. G., Gallagher, R. V., Cernusak, L. A., Meir, P., & Pitman, A. J. (2024). Burn Severity and Post-Fire Weather Are Key to Predicting Time-To-Recover From Australian Forest Fires. Earth's Future, 12(4), e2023EF003780-1-e2023EF003780-18. Scopus22 WoS22 |
| 2024 | Slot, M., Rifai, S. W., Eze, C. E., & Winter, K. (2024). The stomatal response to vapor pressure deficit drives the apparent temperature response of photosynthesis in tropical forests. New Phytologist, 244(4), 12 pages. Scopus72 WoS72 Europe PMC41 |
| 2024 | Matos, I. S., Rifai, S. W., Gouveia, W. F., Oliveras, I., Mantuano, D., & Rosado, B. H. P. (2024). A causal trait model for explaining foliar water uptake capacity. Journal of Vegetation Science, 35(3), 13 pages. Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC6 |
| 2024 | Mu, M., Sabot, M. E. B., Ukkola, A. M., Rifai, S. W., De Kauwe, M. G., Hobeichi, S., & Pitman, A. J. (2024). Examining the role of biophysical feedbacks on simulated temperature extremes during the Tinderbox Drought and Black Summer bushfires in southeast Australia. Weather and Climate Extremes, 45, 100703-1-100703-13. Scopus6 WoS5 |
| 2024 | Retallack, A., Rifai, S., Finlayson, G., Ostendorf, B., & Lewis, M. (2024). Remote sensing for rangeland conservation monitoring: Impacts of livestock removal after 15 years. Journal of Applied Ecology, 61(9), 2111-2122. Scopus14 WoS13 |
| 2024 | Gopalakrishna, T., Rifai, S. W., Ratnam, J., Oliveras Menor, I., Stevens, N., & Malhi, Y. (2024). The distribution and drivers of tree cover in savannas and forests across India. Communications Earth and Environment, 5(1), 10 pages. Scopus9 WoS9 |
| 2024 | Burton, C. A., Rifai, S. W., Renzullo, L. J., & Van Dijk, A. I. J. M. (2024). Enhancing long-term vegetation monitoring in Australia: a new approach for harmonising the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer normalised-difference vegetation (NVDI) with MODIS NDVI. Earth System Science Data, 16(10), 4389-4416. Scopus10 WoS10 |
| 2023 | West, T. A. P., Wunder, S., Sills, E. O., Börner, J., Rifai, S. W., Neidermeier, A. N., . . . Kontoleon, A. (2023). Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation. Science (New York, N.Y.), 381(6660), 873-877. Scopus318 WoS284 Europe PMC72 |
| 2023 | De Kauwe, M., Sabot, M., Medlyn, B., Pitman, A., Meir, P., Cernusak, L., . . . Choat, B. (2023). Towards species-level forecasts of drought-induced tree mortality risk. |
| 2023 | Matos, I. S., Rifai, S. W., & Rosado, B. H. P. (2023). 2015/16 El Niño increased water demand and pushed plants from a Mesic tropical montane grassland beyond their hydraulic safety limits. Austral Ecology, 49(1), 17 pages. Scopus4 WoS3 |
| 2023 | Burton, C. A., Renzullo, L. J., Rifai, S. W., & Van Dijk, A. I. J. M. (2023). Empirical upscaling of OzFlux eddy covariance for high-resolution monitoring of terrestrial carbon uptake in Australia. Biogeosciences, 20(19), 4109-4134. Scopus9 WoS9 |
| 2023 | Burton, C. A., Renzullo, L. J., Rifai, S. W., & Van Dijk, A. I. J. M. (2023). Empirical upscaling of OzFlux eddy covariance for high-resolution monitoring of terrestrial carbon uptake in Australia. Egusphere. |
| 2023 | Valle, D., Rifai, S. W., Carrero, G. C., & Meiga, A. Y. Y. (2023). An automated procedure to determine construction year of roads in forested landscapes using a least-cost path and a Before-After Control-Impact approach. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 10(3), 388-400. Scopus2 WoS2 |
| 2022 | Beringer, J., Moore, C. E., Cleverly, J., Campbell, D. I., Cleugh, H., De Kauwe, M. G., . . . Woodgate, W. (2022). Bridge to the future: Important lessons from 20 years of ecosystem observations made by the OzFlux network. Global Change Biology, 28(11), 3489-3514. Scopus50 WoS48 Europe PMC11 |
| 2022 | Rifai, S. W., De Kauwe, M. G., Ukkola, A. M., Cernusak, L. A., Meir, P., Medlyn, B. E., & Pitman, A. J. (2022). Thirty-eight years of CO₂ fertilization has outpaced growing aridity to drive greening of Australian woody ecosystems. Biogeosciences, 19(2), 491-515. Scopus39 WoS39 |
| 2022 | Bauman, D., Fortunel, C., Cernusak, L. A., Bentley, L. P., McMahon, S. M., Rifai, S. W., . . . Malhi, Y. (2022). Tropical tree growth sensitivity to climate is driven by species intrinsic growth rate and leaf traits. Global Change Biology, 28(4), 1414-1432. Scopus61 WoS57 Europe PMC20 |
| 2022 | De Kauwe, M. G., Sabot, M. E. B., Medlyn, B. E., Pitman, A. J., Meir, P., Cernusak, L. A., . . . Choat, B. (2022). Towards species-level forecasts of drought-induced tree mortality risk. New Phytologist, 235(1), 94-110. Scopus30 WoS30 Europe PMC9 |
| 2022 | Bauman, D., Fortunel, C., Delhaye, G., Malhi, Y., Cernusak, L. A., Bentley, L. P., . . . McMahon, S. M. (2022). Tropical tree mortality has increased with rising atmospheric water stress. Nature, 608(7923), 528-533. Scopus211 WoS200 Europe PMC78 |
| 2022 | Scalon, M. C., Oliveras Menor, I., Freitag, R., Peixoto, K. S., Rifai, S. W., Marimon, B. S., . . . Malhi, Y. (2022). Contrasting strategies of nutrient demand and use between savanna and forest ecosystems in a neotropical transition zone. Biogeosciences, 19(15), 3649-3661. Scopus11 WoS11 |
| 2022 | De Kauwe, M., Sabot, M., Medlyn, B., Pitman, A., Meir, P., Cernusak, L., . . . Choat, B. (2022). Towards species-level forecasts of drought-induced tree mortality risk. |
| 2022 | Scalon, M. C., Oliveras Menor, I., Freitag, R., Peixoto, K. S., Rifai, S. W., Marimon, B. S., . . . Malhi, Y. (2022). Contrasting strategies of nutrient demand and use between savanna and forest ecosystems in a Neotropical transition zone. Biogeosciences. |
| 2022 | Scalon, M. C., Oliveras Menor, I., Freitag, R., Peixoto, K. S., Rifai, S. W., Marimon, B. S., . . . Malhi, Y. (2022). Supplementary material to "Contrasting strategies of nutrient demand and use between savanna and forest ecosystems in a Neotropical transition zone". |
| 2022 | Li, S., Rifai, S., Anderson, L. O., & Sparrow, S. (2022). Identifying local‐scale meteorological conditions favorable to large fires in Brazil. Climate Resilience and Sustainability, 1(1), 14 pages. Scopus13 WoS11 |
| 2021 | Li, S., Sparrow, S. N., Otto, F. E. L., Rifai, S. W., Oliveras, I., Krikken, F., . . . Wallom, D. (2021). Anthropogenic climate change contribution to wildfire-prone weather conditions in the Cerrado and Arc of deforestation. Environmental Research Letters, 16(9), 14 pages. Scopus34 WoS32 |
| 2021 | David Urquiza Muñoz, J., Marra, D. M., Negrón-Juarez, R. I., Tello-Espinoza, R., Alegría-Muñoz, W., Pacheco-Gómez, T., . . . Trumbore, S. E. (2021). Recovery of forest structure following large-scale windthrows in the northwestern Amazon. Forests, 12(6), 667-1-667-15. Scopus17 WoS18 |
| 2021 | Huaraca Huasco, W., Riutta, T., Girardin, C. A. J., Hancco Pacha, F., Puma Vilca, B. L., Moore, S., . . . Malhi, Y. (2021). Fine root dynamics across pantropical rainforest ecosystems. Global Change Biology, 27(15), 3657-3680. Scopus35 WoS31 Europe PMC16 |
| 2021 | Slot, M., Rifai, S. W., & Winter, K. (2021). Photosynthetic plasticity of a tropical tree species, Tabebuia rosea, in response to elevated temperature and [CO₂]. Plant Cell and Environment, 44(7), 2347-2364. Scopus32 WoS32 Europe PMC17 |
| 2021 | Malhi, Y., Girardin, C., Metcalfe, D. B., Doughty, C. E., Aragão, L. E. O. C., Rifai, S. W., . . . Phillips, O. L. (2021). The Global Ecosystems Monitoring network: Monitoring ecosystem productivity and carbon cycling across the tropics. Biological Conservation, 253, 108889-1-108889-14. Scopus80 WoS76 Europe PMC23 |
| 2021 | Aguirre-Gutiérrez, J., Rifai, S., Shenkin, A., Oliveras, I., Bentley, L. P., Svátek, M., . . . Malhi, Y. (2021). Pantropical modelling of canopy functional traits using Sentinel-2 remote sensing data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 252, 112122-1-112122-18. Scopus73 WoS71 Europe PMC11 |
| 2020 | De Kauwe, M. G., Medlyn, B. E., Ukkola, A. M., Mu, M., Sabot, M. E. B., Pitman, A. J., . . . Briggs, P. R. (2020). Identifying areas at risk of drought-induced tree mortality across South-Eastern Australia. Global Change Biology, 26(10), 5716-5733. Scopus115 WoS117 Europe PMC50 |
| 2020 | Liang, B., Chen, X., Lang, W., Liu, G., Malhi, Y., & Rifai, S. (2020). Examining land surface phenology in the tropical moist forest eco-zone of South America. International Journal of Biometeorology, 64(11), 1911-1922. Scopus1 |
| 2020 | Matos, I. S., Menor, I. O., Rifai, S. W., & Rosado, B. H. P. (2020). Deciphering the stability of grassland productivity in response to rainfall manipulation experiments. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 29(3), 558-572. Scopus43 WoS35 |
| 2019 | Rifai, S. W., Li, S., & Malhi, Y. (2019). Coupling of El Niño events and long-term warming leads to pervasive climate extremes in the terrestrial tropics. Environmental Research Letters, 14(10), 11 pages. Scopus67 WoS60 |
| 2019 | Morel, A. C., Hirons, M., Demissie, S., Gonfa, T., Mehrabi, Z., Long, P. R., . . . Norris, K. (2019). The structures underpinning vulnerability: Examining landscape-society interactions in a smallholder coffee agroforestry system. Environmental Research Letters, 14(7), 075006. Scopus12 WoS11 |
| 2019 | Park, J. Y., Muller-Landau, H. C., Lichstein, J. W., Rifai, S. W., Dandois, J. P., & Bohlman, S. A. (2019). Quantifying leaf phenology of individual trees and species in a tropical forest using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images. Remote Sensing, 11(13), 1534-1-1534-32. Scopus103 WoS100 |
| 2019 | Fonseca, L. D. M., Dalagnol, R., Malhi, Y., Rifai, S. W., Costa, G. B., Silva, T. S. F., . . . Borma, L. S. (2019). Phenology and seasonal ecosystem productivity in an Amazonian floodplain forest. Remote Sensing, 11(13), 1530-1-1530-17. Scopus26 WoS26 |
| 2019 | Núñez-Regueiro, M. M., Fletcher, R. J., Pienaar, E. F., Branch, L. C., Volante, J. N., & Rifai, S. (2019). Adding the temporal dimension to spatial patterns of payment for ecosystem services enrollment. Ecosystem Services, 36, 6 pages. Scopus22 WoS20 |
| 2019 | Aguirre-Gutiérrez, J., Oliveras, I., Rifai, S., Fauset, S., Adu-Bredu, S., Affum-Baffoe, K., . . . Malhi, Y. (2019). Drier tropical forests are susceptible to functional changes in response to a long-term drought. Ecology Letters, 22(5), 855-865. Scopus104 WoS103 Europe PMC54 |
| 2018 | Magnabosco Marra, D., Trumbore, S. E., Higuchi, N., Ribeiro, G. H. P. M., Negrón-Juárez, R. I., Holzwarth, F., . . . Wirth, C. (2018). Windthrows control biomass patterns and functional composition of Amazon forests. Global Change Biology, 24(12), 5867-5881. Scopus57 WoS56 Europe PMC18 |
| 2018 | Visakorpi, K., Gripenberg, S., Malhi, Y., Bolas, C., Oliveras, I., Harris, N., . . . Riutta, T. (2018). Small-scale indirect plant responses to insect herbivory could have major impacts on canopy photosynthesis and isoprene emission. New Phytologist, 220(3), 799-810. Scopus49 WoS41 Europe PMC26 |
| 2018 | Burton, C., Rifai, S., & Malhi, Y. (2018). Inter-comparison and assessment of gridded climate products over tropical forests during the 2015/2016 El Niño. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 373(1760), 20170406-1-20170406-10. Scopus30 WoS30 Europe PMC9 |
| 2018 | Rifai, S. W., Girardin, C. A. J., Berenguer, E., Del Aguila-Pasquel, J., Dahlsjö, C. A. L., Doughty, C. E., . . . Malhi, Y. (2018). ENSO Drives interannual variation of forest woody growth across the tropics. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 373(1760), 20170410-1-20170410-13. Scopus56 WoS52 Europe PMC30 |
| 2018 | Negrón-Juárez, R. I., Holm, J. A., Marra, D. M., Rifai, S. W., Riley, W. J., Chambers, J. Q., . . . Higuchi, N. (2018). Vulnerability of Amazon forests to storm-driven tree mortality. Environmental Research Letters, 13(5), 054021. Scopus70 WoS69 |
| 2017 | Wilson, C. H., Caughlin, T. T., Rifai, S. W., Boughton, E. H., Mack, M. C., & Flory, S. L. (2017). Multi-decadal time series of remotely sensed vegetation improves prediction of soil carbon in a subtropical grassland. Ecological Applications, 27(5), 1646-1656. Scopus34 WoS32 Europe PMC7 |
| 2017 | Tucker Lima, J. M., Vittor, A., Rifai, S., & Valle, D. (2017). Does deforestation promote or inhibit malaria transmission in the Amazon? A systematic literature review and critical appraisal of current evidence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 372(1722), 20160125. Scopus99 WoS77 Europe PMC56 |
| 2016 | Caughlin, T. T., Rifai, S. W., Graves, S. J., Asner, G. P., & Bohlman, S. A. (2016). Integrating LiDAR-derived tree height and Landsat satellite reflectance to estimate forest regrowth in a tropical agricultural landscape. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 2(4), 190-203. Scopus35 WoS33 |
| 2016 | Rifai, S. W., Urquiza Muñoz, J. D., Negrón-Juárez, R. I., Ramírez Arévalo, F. R., Tello-Espinoza, R., Vanderwel, M. C., . . . Bohlman, S. A. (2016). Landscape-scale consequences of differential tree mortality from catastrophic wind disturbance in the Amazon. Ecological Applications, 26(7), 2225-2237. Scopus50 WoS51 Europe PMC27 |
| 2015 | Rifai, S. W., West, T. A. P., & Putz, F. E. (2015). "Carbon Cowboys" could inflate REDD+ payments through positive Measurement bias. Carbon Management, 6(3-4), 151-158. Scopus24 WoS24 |
| 2014 | Cho, A. H., Johnson, S. A., Schuman, C. E., Adler, J. M., Gonzalez, O., Graves, S. J., . . . Bruna, E. M. (2014). Women are underrepresented on the editorial boards of journals in environmental biology and natural resource management. Peerj, 2014(1), 11 pages. Scopus93 WoS88 Europe PMC34 |
| 2014 | Graves, S. J., Rifai, S. W., & Putz, F. E. (2014). Outer bark thickness decreases more with height on stems of fire-resistant than fire-sensitive Floridian oaks (Quercus spp.; Fagaceae). American Journal of Botany, 101(12), 2183-2188. Scopus78 WoS74 Europe PMC25 |
| 2011 | Negrón-Juárez, R. I., Chambers, J. Q., Marra, D. M., Ribeiro, G. H. P. M., Rifai, S. W., Higuchi, N., & Roberts, D. (2011). Detection of subpixel treefall gaps with Landsat imagery in Central Amazon forests. Remote Sensing of Environment, 115(12), 3322-3328. Scopus62 WoS57 Europe PMC12 |
| 2010 | Rifai, S. W., Markewitz, D., & Borders, B. (2010). Twenty years of intensive fertilization and competing vegetation suppression in loblolly pine plantations: Impacts on soil C, N, and microbial biomass. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 42(5), 713-723. Scopus51 WoS47 Europe PMC8 |
| - | Morel, A. C., Demissie, S., Gonfa, T., Mehrabi, Z., Rifai, S., Hirons, M., . . . Norris, K. (n.d.). Landscape and Management Influences on Smallholder Agroforestry Yields Show Shifts During a Climate Shock. SSRN Electronic Journal. |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Santos, G. M., Mazon, M., Southon, J. R., Rifai, S., & Moore, R. (2007). Evaluation of iron and cobalt powders as catalysts for 14C-AMS target preparation. In Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms Vol. 259 (pp. 308-315). Univ Calif Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV. DOI Scopus38 WoS39 |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Retallack, A., Rifai, S., Lewis, M., & Ostendorf, B. (2024). management-effects-bon-bon [Computer Software]. DOI |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Burton, C., Renzullo, L., Rifai, S., & Van Dijk, A. (2025). Empirical upscaling of OzFlux eddy covariance for accurate, high-resolution monitoring of terrestrial carbon and water fluxes in Australia.. DOI |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Fonseca, L., Rifai, S. W., Carneiro, R., Malhi, Y., Brito, I., Rocha, H., & de Simone Borma, L. (2026). Estimation of long-term evapotranspiration over a tropical floodplain forest at the Amazon–Cerrado boundary. DOI |
| 2025 | Burton, C. A., Rifai, S. W., Renzullo, L. J., & van Dijk, A. (2025). Comprehensive Reassessment of Australia's Land-Surface Phenology Trends (1982-2022) Using Circular Statistics and a Harmonised Ndvi Dataset. DOI |
| 2025 | Wang, H., Bassiouni, M., Kang, Y., Rifai, S. W., Gherardi, L. A., Ukkola, A. M., & Keenan, T. F. (2025). Soil buffers the impact of precipitation variability on ecosystem function. DOI |
| 2024 | Burton, C. A., Rifai, S. W., Renzullo, L. J., & Van Dijk, A. I. J. M. (2024). Enhancing Long-Term Vegetation Monitoring in Australia: A New Approach for Harmonising and Gap-Filling AVHRR and MODIS NDVI. DOI |
| 2024 | Gopalakrishna, T., Rifai, S., Ratnam, J., Menor, I. O., Stevens, N., & Malhi, Y. (2024). The distribution and drivers of tree cover in India. DOI Europe PMC1 |
| 2023 | Morel, A. C., Demissie, S., Gonfa, T., Mehrabi, Z., Hirons, M., Woldemariam Gole, T., . . . Norris, K. (2023). Landscape and Management Influences on Smallholder Agroforestry Yields Show Shifts During a Climate Shock. DOI |
| 2023 | Zhang-Zheng, H., Adu-Bredu, S., Duah-Gyamfi, A., Moore, S., Addo-Danso, S., Ibrahim, F., . . . Malhi, Y. (2023). Contrasting carbon cycle along tropical forest aridity gradients in W Africa and Amazonia. DOI Europe PMC1 |
| 2023 | Zhang-Zheng, H., Bredu, S. A., Duah-Gyamfi, A., Moore, S., Addo-Danso, S. D., Ibrahim, F., . . . Malhi, Y. (2023). Contrasting carbon cycle along tropical forest aridity gradients in W Africa and Amazonia. DOI |
| 2021 | Bauman, D., Fortunel, C., Cernusak, L., Bentley, L., McMahon, S., Rifai, S., . . . Malhi, Y. (2021). Tropical tree growth sensitivity to climate is driven by species intrinsic growth rate and leaf traits. DOI |
Competitive Research Grants
| Years | Project Title | Investigators | Funding Body | Amount |
| 2024-2027 | Australian tropical rainforests in the face of climate change. | Cernusak L, Rifai SW, De Kauwe MG, Grossiord C, Slot M | ARC Discovery | $547,428 |
| 2024-2026 | SA EcoMap | Rifai SW | SmartSat CRC | $299,747 |
Industry Sponsored Research
| Years | Project Title | Investigators | Funding Body | Amount |
| 2023-2024 | Tracing the impact of environmental disturbance on turbidity in Gulf St. Vincent’s regions of high seagrass conservation importance | Rifai SW | SA Water | $73,514 |
| 2023-2024 | Mapping of temporal benthic cover dynamics from satellite imagery for Adelaide Metropolitan Coastline: Summers of 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 | Law WB, Rifai SW | SA Water | $46,361 |
SPATIAL 3010 - Earth Observation III (https://www.adelaide.edu.au/course-outlines/109293/1/sem-2/)
ENV BIOL 3121 - Concepts in Ecology III (https://www.adelaide.edu.au/course-outlines/103104/1/sem-1/)
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Program | Degree Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Co-Supervisor | Satellite-based monitoring of softwood productivity through optimal site-specific silviculture | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Ms Thuy Vu |
| 2025 | Co-Supervisor | The future of birds up in the air: Understanding how vegetation change affects woodland birds in the Mount Lofty Ranges. | Master of Philosophy | Master | Full Time | Mr Alexander Sargeant |
| 2024 | Principal Supervisor | Advancing the Monitoring of Seagrass Dynamics with Optical Remote Sensing | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Joram Andrew Downes |
| 2024 | Co-Supervisor | Spatiotemporal Patterns of the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons) and European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) with Remote Sensing Applications | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Miss Natarsha Jade McPherson |
| 2023 | Co-Supervisor | Designing authentic ecologies to address the biodiversity crises: Grasslands as designed landscapes | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Maximilian Dirk McQuillan |
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Program | Degree Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 - 2024 | Co-Supervisor | Monitoring Arid Land Condition for Conservation Using Remote Sensing Technologies | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Angus Eugene Retallack |
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Location | Program | Supervision Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 - ongoing | Co-Supervisor | Ecological restoration strategies of a native grassland | University of Adelaide | - | Doctorate | - | Maximilian Dirk McQuillan |
| 2022 - ongoing | External Supervisor | Investigating data-driven methods for characterising, understanding, and predicting Australia’s terrestrial carbon cycle | The Australian National University | Fenner School of Environment | Doctorate | - | Chad Burton |
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