April Reside

Researcher, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland
My research focuses on climate change impacts, adaptation and biodiversity conservation using spatial modelling.

My current postdoc is funded by the NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub, finding refuges for Australian threatened species.

My previous research involved using a conservation planning framework to identify spatial priorities for climate change adaptation; focussing on biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and habitat restoration. This research feeds into Natural Resource Management and government planning for climate change adaptation.

The project is a collaboration between the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, TESS and the Wet Tropics NRM cluster.

My previous postdoc identified potential refugia for species persistence under future climate change, funded by the National Adaptation Research Plan with an advisory board of global leaders in climate change research, based in the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change.

This project used both biodiversity and biophysical modelling to assess refugia potential across Australia. The project involved modelling the distributions of 1700 vertebrate species across Australia for both current and future climate scenarios to identify future biodiversity hotspots and refugia.

I completed my PhD in 2011 on “Assessing Climate Change Vulnerability: Novel methods for understanding potential impacts on Australian Tropical Savanna Birds”.

I have worked on bat ecology on three continents and eight countries, the impact of climate change and soil water deficits in plants, how terrestrial modelling can be applied to marine systems, and the impact of climate change on rainforest and wetland birds.

I am also involved with threatened species recovery on the recovery team for the Black-throated Finch, and am on Birdlife Australia's Research and Conservation Committee.