Dr Jeremy Simmonds
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
+61 7 334 64569
Researcher biography
I am a postdoctoral research fellow in the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science at The University of Queensland. My major research focus is on environmental policy as this regulates environmental impact assessments. I am especially interested in the frameworks that mandate how impact assessments are conducted, and the approaches to addressing adverse impacts on people and nature that arise from infrastructure development. A major theme of this research is biodiversity offsetting - particularly, ways in which this tool can be harnessed to deliver better outcomes for people and biodiversity.
The other major theme of my research is landscape-level conservation actions in human-modified systems. Topics that I have examined include the use of thresholds of habitat loss to guide decision making, the implications of habitat loss for multi-species assemblages including the oft-neglected majority ('common' species), and regulatory mechanisms by which to conserve threatened fauna communities.
Journal Articles
zu Ermgassen, Sophus O. S. E., Maron, Martine, Corlet Walker, Christine M., Gordon, Ascelin, Simmonds, Jeremy S., Strange, Niels, Robertson, Morgan and Bull, Joseph W. (2020). The hidden biodiversity risks of increasing flexibility in biodiversity offset trades. Biological Conservation, 252 108861. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108861
Ward, Michelle, Tulloch, Ayesha I. T., Radford, James Q., Williams, Brooke A., Reside, April E., Macdonald, Stewart L., Mayfield, Helen J., Maron, Martine, Possingham, Hugh P., Vine, Samantha J., O’Connor, James L., Massingham, Emily J., Greenville, Aaron C., Woinarski, John C. Z., Garnett, Stephen T., Lintermans, Mark, Scheele, Ben C., Carwardine, Josie, Nimmo, Dale G., Lindenmayer, David B., Kooyman, Robert M., Simmonds, Jeremy S., Sonter, Laura J. and Watson, James E. M. (2020). Impact of 2019–2020 mega-fires on Australian fauna habitat. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 4 (10), 1321-1326. doi: 10.1038/s41559-020-1251-1
Sonter, Laura J., Simmonds, Jeremy S., Watson, James E. M., Jones, Julia P. G., Kiesecker, Joseph M., Costa, Hugo M., Bennun, Leon, Edwards, Stephen, Grantham, Hedley S., Griffiths, Victoria F., Jones, Kendall, Sochi, Kei, Puydarrieux, Philippe, Quétier, Fabien, Rainer, Helga, Rainey, Hugo, Roe, Dilys, Satar, Musnanda, Soares-Filho, Britaldo S., Starkey, Malcolm, ten Kate, Kerry, Victurine, Ray, von Hase, Amrei, Wells, Jessie A. and Maron, Martine (2020). Local conditions and policy design determine whether ecological compensation can achieve no net loss goals. Nature Communications, 11 (1) 2072, 2072. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15861-1
Williams, Brooke Anne, Grantham, Hedley S., Watson, James E. M., Alvarez, Silvia J., Simmonds, Jeremy S., Rogeliz, Carlos A., Da Silva, Mayesse A., Forero-Medina, German, Etter, Andres, Nogales, Jonathan, Walschburger, Thomas, Hyman, Glenn and Beyer, Hawthorne L. (2020) Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development. Environmental Research Letters, 15 1: 014001. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab5ff7
Maron, Martine, Simmonds, Jeremy S., Watson, James E. M., Sonter, Laura J., Bennun, Leon, Griffiths, Victoria F., Quétier, Fabien, von Hase, Amrei, Edwards, Stephen, Rainey, Hugo, Bull, Joseph W., Savy, Conrad E., Victurine, Ray, Kiesecker, Joseph, Puydarrieux, Philippe, Stevens, Todd, Cozannet, Naïg and Jones, Julia P. G. (2019). Global no net loss of natural ecosystems. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 4 (1), 46-49. doi: 10.1038/s41559-019-1067-z
Simmonds, Jeremy S., Reside, April E., Stone, Zoe, Walsh, Jessica C., Ward, Michelle S. and Maron, Martine (2019). Vulnerable species and ecosystems are falling through the cracks of environmental impact assessments. Conservation Letters, 13 (3) e12694 doi: 10.1111/conl.12694
Simmonds, Jeremy S., Sonter, Laura J., Watson, James E. M., Bennun, Leon, Costa, Hugo M., Dutson, Guy, Edwards, Stephen, Grantham, Hedley, Griffiths, Victoria F., Jones, Julia P. G., Kiesecker, Joseph, Possingham, Hugh P., Puydarrieux, Philippe, Quetier, Fabien, Rainer, Helga, Rainey, Hugo, Roe, Dilys, Savy, Conrad E., Souquet, Mathieu, ten Kate, Kerry, Victurine, Ray, von Hase, Amrei and Maron, Martine (2019). Moving from biodiversity offsets to a target-based approach for ecological compensation. Conservation Letters, 13 (2) e12695 doi: 10.1111/conl.12695
Simmonds, Jeremy S., Watson, James. E. M., Salazar, Alvaro and Maron, Martine (2019). A composite measure of habitat loss for entire assemblages of species. Conservation Biology, 33 (6) cobi.13331, 1438-1447. doi: 10.1111/cobi.13331
Sonter, Laura J., Gordon, Ascelin, Archibald, Carla, Simmonds, Jeremy S., Ward, Michelle, Metzger, Jean Paul, Rhodes, Jonathan R. and Maron, Martine (2019). Offsetting impacts of development on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Ambio, 49 (4), 892-902. doi: 10.1007/s13280-019-01245-3
Ward, Michelle S., Simmonds, Jeremy S., Reside, April E., Watson, James E. M., Rhodes, Jonathan R., Possingham, Hugh P., Trezise, James, Fletcher, Rachel, File, Lindsey and Taylor, Martin (2019). Lots of loss with little scrutiny: the attrition of habitat critical for threatened species in Australia. Conservation Science and Practice, 1 (11). doi: 10.1111/csp2.117
Simmonds, J. S. and Watson, J. E. M. (2019). All threatened species habitat is important. Animal Conservation, 22 (4), 324-325. doi: 10.1111/acv.12518
Simmonds, Jeremy S., van Rensburg, Berndt J., Tulloch, Ayesha I. T. and Maron, Martine (2019). Landscape-specific thresholds in the relationship between species richness and natural land cover. Journal of Applied Ecology, 56 (4), 1019-1029. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.13320
Maron, Martine, Simmonds, Jeremy S. and Watson, James E. M. (2018). Bold nature retention targets are essential for the global environment agenda. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2 (8), 1194-1195. doi: 10.1038/s41559-018-0595-2
Suárez-Castro, Andrés Felipe, Simmonds, Jeremy S., Mitchell, Matthew G. E., Maron, Martine and Rhodes, Jonathan R. (2018). The scale-dependent role of biological traits in landscape ecology: A review. Current Landscape Ecology Reports, 3 (1), 12-22. doi: 10.1007/s40823-018-0031-y
Fraser, Hannah, Simmonds, Jeremy S., Kutt, Alex S. and Maron, Martine (2018). Systematic definition of threatened fauna communities is critical to their conservation. Diversity and Distributions, 25 (3), 462-477. doi: 10.1111/ddi.12875
Simmonds, Jeremy S., van Rensburg, Berndt J. and Maron, Martine (2017). Non-random patterns of vegetation clearing and potential biases in studies of habitat area effects. Landscape Ecology, 32 (4), 1-15. doi: 10.1007/s10980-016-0482-7
Woosnam-Merchez, Olivia, Cristescu, Romane, Dique, David, Ellis, Bill, Beeton, Robert J. S., Simmonds, Jeremy and Carrick, Frank (2012). What faecal pellet surveys can and can’t reveal about the ecology of koalas Phascolarctos cinereus. Australian Zoologist, 36 (2), 192-200. doi: 10.7882/AZ.2012.030
Thesis
Simmonds, Jeremy (2017). Implications of vegetation clearing biases for the interpretation of landscape-scale species-area relationships. PhD Thesis, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2017.623
Newspaper Articles
Simmonds, Jeremy, Salazar, Alvaro, Watson, James and Maron, Martine (2019, 10 29). Most native bird species are losing their homes, even the ones you see every day The Conversation
Ward, Michelle, Reside, April, Possingham, Hugh, Watson, James, Simmonds, Jeremy, Rhodes, Jonathan and Taylor, Martin (2019, 09 09). Environment laws have failed to tackle the extinction emergency. Here's the proof The Conversation