Peter Erskine
Associate
Peter has a PhD on the nutritional ecology of contrasting Australian ecosystems (monsoon forests, savanna woodlands, semi-arid mulga woodlands and subantarctic vegetation) from the University of Queensland, Australia. Since completing his PhD in 1997 he has worked with non-government organisations, as an environmental consultant, and within the University system. He has conducted research in a variety of ecosystems in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Laos, Uganda and Vietnam, and helped train students from a range of countries. Over the last decade he has worked on forest landscape restoration and mine rehabilitation nationally and internationally. He currently works closely with research organisations, mining companies and government agencies to solve a range of issues on land restoration and the environmental impacts of mining.
Research Focus
Peter has a broad range of interests and is reluctant to articulate a unifying theme for his research. Stemming from recent research on biodiversity and rehabilitation, his research is being moulded by issues that have emerged over time and includes:
- Monitoring techniques to detect environmental change
- Utilising Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to address issues of scale
- Carbon sequestration
- Decision making,
- The utility of reference sites for measuring rehabilitation success.
He works on a range of projects designing monitoring programs, rehabilitation strategies and completion criteria for restoration work.