Presenters

Max Finlayson

Prof Max Finlayson is a wetland ecologist who has worked extensively on the inventory, assessment (including risk and vulnerability assessment) and monitoring of wetlands, covering water pollution, invasive species, land cover/use change and climate change. He is a proponent of inter-disciplinary approaches to wetland research and management; interests that were developed in the tropical north of Australia and extended to parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. He is the past-Chair of the Ramsar Wetland Convention’s Scientific and Technical Review Panel and past-President of Wetland International’s Supervisory Council. He was involved in the Third Assessment Report for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the wetland/water parts of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and the Global Environment Outlook-4.

David C. Paton AM

David C. Paton AM

Assoc. Prof. David Paton, a graduate of the University of Adelaide (B.Sc. Hons) and Monash University (Ph.D.) has contributed to the understanding and management of Australia’s natural environment for three decades. For many years he has undertaken research into the effects of inadequate environmental flows on one of Australia’s most important estuarine Ramsar sites, the Coorong in South Australia. His work is exceptional for its commitment to long-term studies that help understand and manage biodiversity assets for future generations. He frequently provides informed comment on wildlife and environmental issues to politicians, the general public and the media. He was the recipient of the SA Great Award for the Environment (1999), the Premier’s Science Excellence Award for Excellence on Research for Public Good Outcomes (2006), received a National Carrick Citation for environmental education (2006) and was appointed a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to conservation and the environment (2008).

Chris Elphic

Chris Elphic

Dr. Chris Elphick is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut where he teaches conservation biology, ecology, ornithology, and field techniques.  His research focuses on the conservation ecology of birds, especially in agricultural settings and wetlands.  For his PhD he studied the conservation benefits of managing California’s rice fields for wetland birds and, as a member of the Rice and Waterbirds Working Group he is editing a volume on the global value of rice agriculture to birds.  Other research focuses on the population dynamics and management of endangered waterbirds and on the ecology and conservation of saltmarsh nesting birds.  He is a co-author of the Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior and the Nevada Breeding Bird Atlas.

Iain R. Taylor

Iain Taylor

Dr. Iain Taylor is a vertebrate ecologist who works mainly on wetlands and waterbirds. His PhD research was a study of the trophic relations of terns and fish populations in the Ythan Estuary, Scotland. He taught ecology and conservation at Edinburgh University from 1977 to 1993 and during that time worked on a succession of studies of fish, waterbirds and otters in the aquatic ecosystems of Chitwan National park, Nepal as well as a shorter project on otter ecology in the rivers of the former Yugoslavia. Since moving to Australia in 1993 his research has concentrated on the ecology and conservation of waterbirds in estuarine and inland freshwater wetlands and on the significance of rice fields as a habitat for waterbirds.  In the latter two he has collaborated extensively with Mike Schultz of Fivebough and Tuckerbil Wetlands Trust.