Justine Shaw

Last updated

Justine Shaw
Justine Shaw South G.jpg
Justine Shaw on South Georgia
NationalityAustralian
Alma materBSc The University of Queensland
PhD University of Tasmania
Known forAntarctic Conservation
Scientific career
Fields Conservation science
Institutions University of Queensland
Australian Antarctic Division
Website Justine Shaw at National Environmental Science Programme

Justine Shaw is an Australian Antarctic researcher, best known for her conservation work on subantarctic islands, currently working at the Queensland University of Technology. [1] She has a wide global research network, having worked in Australia, South Africa, sub-Antarctic/Antarctic and the Arctic. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Shaw completed her BSc at the University of Queensland in 1996. Her first field season with the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition was to Macquarie Island in the summer of 1996. She received her PhD in 2005 from the University of Tasmania, [3] focusing on the plant ecology of subantarctic islands. She undertook a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology, [4] Stellenbosch University, South Africa from 2007 to 2010.

Career and impact

Research

Shaw is currently a Research Fellow at the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School of Biological Sciences, at the University of Queensland. [1] [2] [5] She has spent 20 years focused on Antarctic conservation science and environmental policy; working on a diverse range of plants and animals, ecosystems and management issues. [6] Her main research areas include: multiple species interactions, impacts of non-native species, design of Antarctic Protected Areas, and island conservation by invasive species eradication. [7] [8] Her research has directly impacted policy, via her advice to the Australian state and federal governments and through her work for the Committee for Environmental Protection of the Antarctic Treaty System. [9] She regularly leads workshops and conferences on issues relating to invasive species, Antarctic biodiversity and threatened species management for academic research groups and government agencies. [10] [11] [12]

Her seminal work on Antarctic Protected Areas was published in the high impact journal PLOS Biology in 2014. [13] [14] This work had wide uptake in the media at a global scale appearing in Australian, Indian, French, US and Malaysian newspapers, [15] [16] [17] reporting that Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems require greater protection from human activities. Her research received its most prominent exposure when it was profiled on a segment on Last Week Tonight highlighting the risk to Antarctica posed by human visitors, with the YouTube clip alone reaching over 2 million views. [18]

Shaw has undertaken field research and led science research teams to the sub-Antarctic Heard, Macquarie, Marion, Prince Edward and South Georgia islands. [19] [20] She has been a member of the Australian National Antarctic program, the South African National Antarctic Programme and been hosted by the British Antarctic Survey. Altogether she has spent almost 3 years on various subantarctic islands. She has travelled on numerous research vessels across much of the Southern Ocean. [21]

Shaw is currently examining the risks posed by non-native species to Antarctic protected areas, examining the interactions between indigenous and non-native species, and investigating how invasive species influence ecosystem function. [1]

Shaw was appointed to the Australia Government's Threatened Species Scientific Committee in December 2023. [22]

Outreach and community support

Shaw has also worked to improve outreach, collaboration, and networking within the Antarctic research community. [23] In 2014, she co-founded Women in Polar Science, an interdisciplinary professional network, which uses social media to connect people around the issues and achievements of women working in polar science. [24] Shaw was one of the co-founders of Homeward Bound, a training program for leadership for women in STEM which culminates 12 months of training with a voyage to Antarctica. [25] She was member of the onboard voyage faculty in 2016 & 2018. She drives science and leadership within the program. [26] [27] [28] She has discussed her research and Antarctic protection on several radio programs, including 3RRR and ABC Hobart. [29] [14] Dr Shaw is a member of the Australian Academy of Science's Early Mid Career Forum Executive Committee. [30] In this role she works to bring the voice and needs of Australia's early career scientific researchers to the broader science community and science policy makers.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antarctic</span> Polar region around Earths South Pole

The Antarctic is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heard Island and McDonald Islands</span> Australian external territory in the sub-Antarctic region

The Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands is an Australian external territory comprising a volcanic group of mostly barren Antarctic islands, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. The group's overall land area is 372 km2 (144 sq mi) and it has 101.9 km (63 mi) of coastline. Discovered in the mid-19th century, the islands lie on the Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian Ocean and have been an Australian territory since 1947.

The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) is a division of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The Division undertakes science programs and research projects to contribute to an understanding of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. It conducts and supports collaborative research programs with other Australian and international organisations, such as the Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia, as well as administering and maintaining a presence in Australian Antarctic and sub-Antarctic territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macquarie Island</span> Sub-Antarctic island of Australia

Macquarie Island is an island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. Regionally part of Oceania and politically a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1900, it became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978 and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand Subantarctic Islands</span> Southernmost parts of the South Pacific country

The New Zealand Subantarctic Islands comprise the five southernmost groups of the New Zealand outlying islands. They are collectively designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra</span> Ecoregion

The Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra ecoregion, within the tundra biome, includes five remote island groups in the Pacific Ocean south of New Zealand: the Bounty Islands, Auckland Islands, Antipodes Islands and Campbell Island groups of New Zealand, and Macquarie Island of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mawson's Huts</span>

Mawson's Huts are a collection of buildings located at Cape Denison, in the far eastern sector of the Australian Antarctic Territory, some 3000 km south of Hobart. The huts were erected and occupied by members of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) of 1911–1914, led by geologist and explorer Sir Douglas Mawson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macquarie Island Station</span> Subantarctic base in Tasmania

The Macquarie Island Station, commonly called Macca, is a permanent Australian subantarctic research base on Macquarie Island, situated in the Southern Ocean and located approximately halfway between mainland Australia and Antarctica, managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). The station lies at the base of Wireless Hill, between two bays on the isthmus at the northern end of the island.

<i>Pleurophyllum hookeri</i> Species of plant

Pleurophyllum hookeri, also known as the silver-leaf daisy or sage-green rosette herb, is a herbaceous plant in the family Asteraceae, a megaherb native to the subantarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands of New Zealand and Australia’s Macquarie Island. It grows up to 900 mm in height and has crimson button flowers and long, silky, silver leaves, with a large carrot-like tuber and long roots. It also has the unusual feature of a vertically contractile stem, most of which is underground, which serves to keep the leaf rosette close to the ground surface and the plant anchored securely against the very strong winds typical of subantarctic islands. Prior to the successful eradication of introduced mammals on Macquarie Island in 2011, it had been threatened there by black rats and European rabbits.

<i>Galium antarcticum</i> Species of plant

Galium antarcticum, commonly known as Antarctic bedstraw or subantarctic bedstraw, is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family. It has a largely subantarctic range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife of Antarctica</span> Antarctic wildlife

The wildlife of Antarctica are extremophiles, having adapted to the dryness, low temperatures, and high exposure common in Antarctica. The extreme weather of the interior contrasts to the relatively mild conditions on the Antarctic Peninsula and the subantarctic islands, which have warmer temperatures and more liquid water. Much of the ocean around the mainland is covered by sea ice. The oceans themselves are a more stable environment for life, both in the water column and on the seabed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Margaret Selkirk</span> Australian plant biologist and ecologist

Patricia Margaret Selkirk, is an Australian plant biologist and ecologist. Her career has focused on Antarctic and subantarctic terrestrial ecosystems and she is recognized as being a pioneering female Australian Antarctic scientist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dana Bergstrom</span> Australian ecologist

Dana Michelle Bergstrom is a senior researcher at the Australian Antarctic Division most notable for her work on identifying and mitigating risks against Antarctic and Sub Antarctic Ecosystems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Wienecke</span> Australian Antarctic ecologist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Strugnell</span>

Jan Maree Strugnell is an Australian evolutionary molecular biologist. She is a professor and director in the Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. Strugnell's work has investigated population and species level molecular evolution in Antarctic and deep sea species in the context of past geological and climatic change. Strugnell's work also uses genetic tools to help solve bottlenecks in aquaculture and fisheries industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Robinson (physiologist)</span> Antarctic researcher

Sharon Anita Robinson is an Antarctic researcher known for her work on climate change and bryophytes.

Jennifer Lee is an Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on invasion biology. She is the Environment Officer in the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

The Macquarie Island Marine Park is an Australian marine park surrounding Macquarie Island in the southwest Pacific. The marine park covers an area of 475,465 km2 (183,578 sq mi) and is assigned IUCN category IV. It is the largest of the 14 parks managed under the South-east Marine Parks Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homeward Bound (organization)</span> Australian leadership program

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megaherb</span> New Zealand subantartic wildflowers

Megaherbs are a group of herbaceous wildflowers growing in the New Zealand subantarctic islands and on the other subantarctic islands. They are characterised by their great size, with huge leaves and very large and often unusually coloured flowers, which have evolved as an adaptation to the harsh weather conditions on the islands. They suffer from overgrazing due to introduced mammals.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Dr Justine Shaw – UQ Researchers". researchers.uq.edu.au. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Justine Shaw". nespthreatenedspecies.edu.au. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  3. ↑ Shaw, Justine (2005). The reproductive ecology of vascular plants on subantarctic Macquarie Island (Thesis). University of Tasmania.
  4. ↑ "CIB DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology". academic.sun.ac.za. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  5. ↑ "Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science – Faculty of Science – The University of Queensland, Australia". science.uq.edu.au. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  6. ↑ "Vulnerability and spatial protection". antarctica.gov.au. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  7. ↑ Cooper, John. "Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels – Rapid recovery of vegetation following aerial poison baiting on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island". acap.aq. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  8. ↑ "Pest eradication on islands – it's not all or nothing". ceed.edu.au. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  9. ↑ "ATS – Committee for Environmental Protection". ats.aq. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  10. ↑ "#Andina2014 International workshop on weeds & invasive plants (with images, tweets) · y_buckley". Storify. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  11. ↑ "Day 2 afternoon plenary – Strategic Science in Antarctica". conference.antarctica.gov.au. 15 December 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  12. ↑ Hub, TSR (31 March 2016). "Joining the dots: working together to protect our island network | TSR Hub". TSR Hub. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  13. ↑ Shaw, Justine D.; Terauds, Aleks; Riddle, Martin J.; Possingham, Hugh P.; Chown, Steven L. (17 June 2014). "Antarctica's Protected Areas Are Inadequate, Unrepresentative, and at Risk". PLOS Biol. 12 (6): e1001888. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001888 . ISSN   1545-7885. PMC   4060989 . PMID   24936869.
  14. 1 2 "Re-evaluating Antarctica's protected area system". antarctica.gov.au. 18 June 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  15. ↑ "Tourists threaten Antarctic biodiversity".
  16. ↑ "Scientists warn of tourism threat to Antarctica". News24. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  17. ↑ Pash, Chris (17 June 2014). "Antarctica, The Last Wilderness on Earth, Is Being Loved To Death By Tourists". Business Insider Australia. Archived from the original on 28 June 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  18. ↑ Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Don't Visit Antarctica, HBO, 9 July 2014, retrieved 18 June 2016
  19. ↑ "CIB DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology". academic.sun.ac.za. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  20. ↑ "Justine Shaw – AFBA". AFBA. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  21. ↑ Baker, P.E. (1990), "E. South Sandwich Islands", Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans, Antarctic Research Series, vol. 48, Washington, D. C.: American Geophysical Union, pp. 360–395, doi:10.1029/ar048p0360, ISBN   0-87590-172-7 , retrieved 18 June 2022
  22. ↑ "Threatened Species Scientific Committee members". Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  23. ↑ "Justine Shaw". possinghamlab.org. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  24. ↑ "About". Women in Polar Science. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  25. ↑ "Founders - Homeward Bound". 8 October 2020.
  26. ↑ "About". Homeward Bound. 25 January 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  27. ↑ "HB Team". Homeward Bound. 25 January 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  28. ↑ "Justine Shaw shapes the science for Homeward Bound". ceed.edu.au. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  29. ↑ "Radio on Demand". ondemand.rrr.org.au. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  30. ↑ "EMCR Forum executive members | Australian Academy of Science".
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