Dr Aleks Terauds – spatial ecologist

Scientists of the Antarctic: Dr Aleks Terauds

Video transcript

I’m a spatial ecologist at the Australian Antarctic Division and I run a small section called biodiversity conservation, where we try and do research into environmental protection and achieving conservation outcomes for Antarctica.

The research looks at things like the vulnerability of biodiversity, what drives biodiversity, what are the linkages between the things that live in Antarctica and the physical environment; and then using that information to try and better understand what threatens the biodiversity of Antarctica and how we can mitigate those threats into the future.

The biggest threats to Antarctica are quite clearly things around climate change. But also human activity is by far and away another major threat in Antarctica.

So what we try and do in our research team is develop ideas around how we can mitigate those threats and actually put them into a format that then the Antarctic Treaty parties can understand and then make decisions to better protect or better manage the biodiversity that are under their remit.

What I really love about my work is the fact that we can make a difference, so myself and my research team have done quite a range of research that feeds directly into the Antarctic Treaty and has actually changed the way people operate and manage life in Antarctica, and I think that’s really important and that makes me really happy.

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Dr Aleks Terauds: BSc (Hons), PhD

Research interests

I focus on research that integrates the strategic priorities of the Australian Government and influences environmental policy and management at national and international levels.

My research is largely applied, with a strong focus on improving and delivering environmental protection and achieving conservation outcomes in Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and the sub-Antarctic.

I currently lead the Integrated Digital East Antarctica Program (IDEA). IDEA is a new initiative that will support the data-driven future of Antarctic and Southern Ocean science.

Current projects

Australian Antarctic Science projects

#4636: Sustainable Management of Antarctic Krill and Conservation of the Krill-based Ecosystem
#4619: Macquarie Island Wildlife Monitoring Program: strategic monitoring for applied conservation and management

Securing Australia’s Environmental Future (SAEF) projects

A novel, integrative approach to modelling and monitoring Antarctic biodiversity (Theme 2: Biodiversity Status and Trends)
Conservation planning in Antarctica (Theme 3: Supporting Environmental Stewardship)

Key outcome areas

Australian Government Antarctic Policy and Strategy
The Antarctic Treaty’s Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP)
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM)
Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)

Collaborations & representations

Adjunct Associate Professor – Queensland University of Technology
Adjunct Senior Research Fellow – Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania

Publications

Lee, J. R., Terauds, A, … & Chadès, I. (2022). Threat management priorities for conserving Antarctic biodiversity. PloS Biology, 20(12), e3001921.

Hughes, K. A., Santos, M, … & Terauds, A. (2022). Ant-ICON-‘Integrated Science to Inform Antarctic and Southern Ocean Conservation’: a new SCAR Scientific Research Programme. Antarctic Science, 1–10.

Keith, D. A., Ferrer-Paris, J. R., …Terauds, A.,... & Kingsford, R. T. (2022). A function-based typology for Earth’s ecosystems. Nature, 610(7932), 513–518.

Bird, J. P., Terauds, A.,., … & Shaw, J. D. (2022). Generating unbiased estimates of burrowing seabird populations. Ecography, e06204.

Wauchope, H. S., Shaw, J. D., & Terauds, A. (2019). A snapshot of biodiversity protection in Antarctica. Nature communications, 10(1), 1–6.

Lee, J. R., Raymond, B., …, & Terauds, A. (2017). Climate change drives expansion of Antarctic ice-free habitat. Nature, 547(7661), 49–54.

See more of Dr Terauds’ publications on Google Scholar.

Awards

2018 International Polar Mentorship Award – Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS)
2006 Whitley Book Awards, Winner – Best Natural History Publication in Australia

This content was last updated 6 months ago on 30 March 2023.