The University of Western Australia

Dr Kris Hulvey

Research Associate
School of Plant Biology

Contact details

Address

School of Plant Biology
The University of Western Australia (M084)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 4638

Fax

6488 1108

Email

kris.hulvey@uwa.edu.au

Biography

I am a community ecologist keen on linking ecological research to ecosystem management and conservation policy. I completed a BSc in Biology at Stanford University (California, USA) and Dartmouth College (New Hampshire, USA) in 1997, followed by two years jointly working as a research associate at Island Conservation (Santa Cruz, CA) and a research assistant at the University of California (USA). In these positions I helped conduct a rat eradication on the US Channel Islands and researched the role of non-random species loss on ecosystem functioning. In 2003, I began my PhD at the University of California, Santa Cruz working with Erika Zavaleta. I examined the understudied role of species abundance on ecosystem functioning, testing: (1) how losses of native species with similar functional traits to non-natives affect invasion resistance in California grasslands, and (2) how restoration informed by functional trait matching might achieve the dual goals of increasing native species populations and creating grasslands less vulnerable to re-invasion by unwanted weeds. Additionally, throughout grad school, I worked on the Pribilof Islands in Alaska collaborating with US Fish & Wildlife biologists, indigenous, and non-indigenous local people, to understand the impact of introduced reindeer on the tundra and control the reindeer population. I moved to Perth, Australia in 2010 to work with Professor Richard Hobbs and his research group as a post-doctoral fellow focusing on Novel Ecosystem management and Intervention Ecology.

Key research

In a time of growing concern about global climate change, my current research focuses on how interactions between multiple drivers (native species declines, climate drying, non-native species invasions) affect our ability to manage, protect, and restore ecosystem functions and biodiversity. In addition to conducting ecological studies, I strive to bridge the gap between research science and conservation practice. To do so I collaborate with conservation practitioners, ecosystem managers, and social scientists to develop effective, science-based conservation strategies.

Publications

2010 Zavaleta E.S., J. Pasari, K.B. Hulvey, and D. Tilman. Sustaining multiple ecosystem functions in real assemblages requires higher biodiversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 107, 1443-1446.

2007 Zavaleta E.S., K.B. Hulvey, and B. Fulfrost. Regional patterns of recruitment success and failure in two endemic California oaks. Diversity & Distributions 13, 735-745.

2007 Zavaleta, E.S. and K.B. Hulvey. Realistic variation in species composition affects grassland production, resource use and invasion resistance. Plant Ecology 188, 39-51.

2004 Zavaleta, E.S. and K.B. Hulvey. Realistic species losses disproportionately reduce resistance to biological invasion. Science 306, 1175-1177.

Roles, responsibilities and expertise

Role: Research associate
Responsibilities: (1) Establish a long-term, large spatial-scale, field-based study focused on the restoration of ecosystem functions and services in Western Australian farmland/woodland systems in the context of a changing climate, (2) Collect, analyze, and synthesize data from this study
Expertise: Invasion biology, Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning, Grassland ecology

Funding received

2008: Mid Peninsula Regional Open Space District Resource Management Grant
2008: Jean H. Langenheim Graduate Fellowship in Plant Ecology and Evolution
2007: The Nature Conservancy’s Oren Pollak Memorial Award for Grassland Science
2006, 2007: Mildred E. Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant
2004-2007: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Fellow
2004: STEPS Institute Genes-to-Ecoregions Initiative Research Grant
2004-2009: Environmental Studies Departmental Grant
2003-2004: University of California Regents' Fellow

Memberships

Ecological Society of America
Ecological Society of Australia
Society for Restoration Ecology
California Invasive Plant Council

Honours and awards

2008: University of California, Santa Cruz Women’s Club Research Award
2007: Hardman Native Plant Award
2007: David Gaines Award in Environmental Studies
2006: Marilyn C. Davis Memorial Scholarship for Women in Science
2004, 2005: Pepper-Giberson Award in Environmental Studies
2004-2007: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Fellow
2004: Marilyn Justman Memorial Scholar

Previous positions

2009: Consultant, Blue Ridge Berryessa Conservation Partnership, Winters, CA, USA: Co-organized and co-facilitated landowner focus groups on regional conservation goals.

2004-09:Independent Researcher, St. George Island, AK, USA: Initiated a long-term project quantifying & managing introduced reindeer tundra impacts in collaboration with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, local Native Aleut community organizations, and local people.

2002-03: Research Assistant to Dr. Erika Zavaleta, Smith Postdoctoral Fellow, Santa Cruz, CA, USA: Managed and executed a grassland diversity-invasibility study focused on non-random species loss, and created a GIS database to analyse California endemic oak regeneration.

2001-05: Research Associate & Consultant, Island Conservation, Santa Cruz, CA, USA: Assembled and collaborated with an expert team to develop and implement a plan to mitigate non-target mortality of island birds during a rat eradication on Anacapa Island, Channel Islands, CA, USA.

2001: Research Assistant, Thomas Reid Associates, Palo Alto, CA, USA: Monitored endangered butterfly populations for the San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan.

Useful links

Ecosystem Restoration & Intervention Ecology Research Group
- http://www.erie-research.org
- http://www.plants.uwa.edu.au/research/ecosystem_restoration

Current projects

Currently I work in highly disturbed Australian woodland/farming systems, where together with collaborators, I am designing and implementing a long-term restoration study. We aim to restore a number of ecosystem functions at a landscape scale in an ecosystem currently undergoing environmental change (drying & exotic species invasion)through consideration of species traits. Additionally we will quantify trade-offs between functions that stem from species composition and interactions.

Research profile

Research profile and publications