JCU > Research Portfolio > Dr Brendan Ebner

About

Ebb has a BSc Honours from James Cook University (JCU) majoring in Marine Biology, and a PhD in Environmental Management & Ecology from La Trobe University. He has spent more than 25 years working at small regional laboratories for CSIRO, state agencies and universities, primarily researching fishes with emphasis on applied and pure aspects of the ecology of rare and threatened species. Elasmobranchs, semiaquatic reptiles and macrocrustacean are also within scope of his research. Ebb’s knowledge stems from substantial field experience and aquaria-based learning with habitat use, animal behaviour and biogeography being central themes of his research.

Postgraduate students with similar interests and especially those with a desire to communicate science broadly to society can contact Dr Ebner to discuss possible projects. Increasingly, Ebb is trying to understand the conservation interface between science and society and improving science communication, especially involving visual materials. Therefore those with non-scientific strengths (e.g. artists, film makers, tourism operators, indigenous rangers, economists) are welcome to get in contact to collaborate. Prospective honours and PhD students should have given some time to thinking about potential projects. As a guide, PhD candidates with a science background should usually have at least one first-author peer reviewed paper or equivalent experience, to demonstrate competence and compete for scholarships.

Publications

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU.

Journal Articles

Lintermans M, Geyle H, Beatty S, Brown C, Ebner B, Freeman R, Hammer M, Humphreys W, Kennard M, Kern P, Martin K, Morgan D, Raadik T, Unmack P, Wager R, Woinarski J and Garnett S (in press) Big trouble for little fish: identifying Australian freshwater fishes in imminent risk of extinction. Pacific Conservation Biology, , DOI:10.1071/PC19053.
Donaldson J, Drews P, Bradley M, Morgan D, Baker R and Ebner B (2019) Countering low visibility in video survey of an estuarine fish assemblage. Pacific Conservation Biology, 26 (2), pp. 190-200, DOI:10.1071/PC19019.
Ebner B, Donaldson J, Courtney R, Fitzpatrick R, Starrs D, Fletcher C and Seymour J (2019) Averting danger under the bridge: video confirms that adult small-toothed morays tolerate salinity before and during tidal influx. Pacific Conservation Biology, 26 (2), pp. 182-189, DOI:10.1071/PC19023.
Ebner B, Donaldson J and Starrs D (2019) Barred grunters shift objects to access benthic invertebrates in a crater lake. Food Webs, 20, Article: e00119, DOI:10.1016/j.fooweb.2019.e00119.
Ebner B, Donaldson J and Starrs D (2019) Juvenile silver grunter Mesopristes argenteus shift benthic objects to access food. Journal of Fish Biology, 95 (3), pp. 974-978, DOI:10.1111/jfb.14090.
Lear K, Gleiss A, Whitty J, Fazeldean T, Albert J, Green N, Ebner B, Thorburn D, Beatty S and Morgan D (2019) Recruitment of a critically endangered sawfish into a riverine nursery depends on natural flow regimes. Scientific Reports, 9, Article: 17071, DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-53511-9.
Burndred K, Cockayne B, Donaldson J and Ebner B (2018) Natural flow events influence the behaviour and movement patterns of eel-tailed catfish (Tandanus tandanus) in a subtropical Queensland river. Australian Journal of Zoology, 66 (3), pp. 185-194, DOI:10.1071/ZO18033.
Hammer M, Allen G, Martin K, Adams M, Ebner B, Raadik T and Unmack P (2018) Revision of the Australian Wet Tropics endemic rainbowfish genus Cairnsichthys (Atheriniformes: Melanotaeniidae), with description of a new species. Zootaxa, 4413 (2), pp. 271-294, DOI:10.11646/zootaxa.4413.2.3.
Kelly E, Martin P, Gibson-Kueh S, Morgan D, Ebner B, Donaldson J, Buller N, Crook D, Brooks S, Davis A, Hammer M, Foyle L, Hair S and Lymbery A (2018) First detection of Edwardsiella ictaluri (Proteobacteria: Enterobacteriaceae) in wild Australian catfish. Journal of Fish Diseases, 41 (2), pp. 199-208, DOI:10.1111/jfd.12696.
Beatty S, Allen M, Lymbery A, Jordaan M, Morgan D, Impson D, Marr S, Ebner B and Weyl O (2017) Rethinking refuges: implications of climate change for dam busting. Biological Conservation, 209, pp. 188-195, DOI:10.1016/j.biocon.2017.02.007.
Beatty S, Allen M, Whitty J, Lymbery A, Keleher J, Tweedley J, Ebner B and Morgan D (2017) First evidence of spawning migration by goldfish (Carassius auratus); implications for control of a globally invasive species. Ecology of Freshwater Fish, 26, pp. 444-455, DOI:10.1111/eff.12288.
Beatty S, Allen M, Whitty J, Lymbery A, Keleher J, Tweedley J, Ebner B and Morgan D (2017) First evidence of spawning migration by goldfish (Carassius auratus); implications for control of a globally invasive species. Ecology of Freshwater Fish, 26 (3), pp. 444-455, DOI:10.1111/eff.12288.

More: ResearchOnline@JCU stores 63+ research outputs authored by Dr Brendan Ebner from 2008 onwards.

Current Funding

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Queensland Department of Environment and Science - Citizen Science Grants

Killarney Fish Rescue

Indicative Funding: $31,500 over 1 year
Summary: The project is a collaboration with state agencies, universities and private enterprise in performing a rescue of an upland aquatic assemblage of two fish species and a crayfish species in Southern Queensland. Populations of these species are threatened by prolonged drought and warming water. A sample of each species will be brought into captivity and held for 5 months to provide ark populations should drought conditions persist. A major focus of the project is determining how to best keep these species and determine cost effective means of maintaining them as single species or in coexistence with one another.
Investigators: Brendan Ebner in collaboration with Jonathon Marshall, Jaye Lobegeiger, Jason Coe and Stephen Balcombe (TropWATER, QLD Department of Environment and Science, 3D Environmental and Griffith University)
Keywords: Threatened Species; Water Availability; Climate Change; Drought Recovery

Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment - Contract Research

Incursions of aquarium trade taxa

Indicative Funding: $30,000 over 1 year
Summary: This project will review existing and potential incursion pathways of freshwater aquarium trade taxa to tropical Australian systems.
Investigators: Brendan Ebner in collaboration with David Morgan (TropWATER and Murdoch University)
Keywords: Aquarium Trade Taxa; Exotic Species; Home Aquarium Release

Cairns Airport Pty Ltd - Contract Research

Fish Surveys Cairns Airport

Indicative Funding: $28,000 over 1 year
Summary: The Cairns Airport Pty Ltd is in the process of describing the aquatic food web at the airport and in the context of the Barron River and Saltwater Creek catchments. The purpose of this is to provide a basis from which to select appropriate taxa to serve as indicators of ecosystem health specifically in relation to the bioaccumulation of potentially harmful chemicals. Fish survey are to be performed in concert with literature review in developing a conceptual and empirical understanding of the food web.
Investigators: Brendan Ebner (TropWATER)
Keywords: Cairns Airport; Aquatic Food Webs

Cape York Natural Resource Management Ltd - Contract Research

Fish Surveys of the Jardine River Catchment

Indicative Funding: $30,904
Summary: This project involves developing a rapid assessment of the fish fauna of freshwater habitats in the Jardine River catchment and nearby streams. A mix of survey methods including netting and observational approaches are used. Baited underwater cameras in dangerous waters (i.e. crocodiles) and snorkelling in small waterways provides a means of rapidly assessing the composition of the fish fauna at a range of sites. Netting is also used to verify records of species and to collect species unlikely to be seen by the visual techniques (e.g. nocturnal species).
Investigators: Brendan Ebner (TropWATER)
Keywords: Fish fauna; Freshwater habitats; Wetlands; River

Cape York Natural Resource Management Ltd - Contract Research

Violet Vale Station Wetland Surveys 2017

Indicative Funding: $13,570 over 1 year
Summary: This is the second survey of aquatic fauna of the expansive floodplain wetlands on Violet Vale Station. Typically wetlands are diverse ecosystems that support high levels of biodiversity and perform essential ecosystem services. Importantly, wetlands act as nursery grounds for a number of commercially important fish species such as Barramundi; sustaining natural recruitment and also recreational and commercial fishing industries. This aquatic ecosystems are vulnerable to degradation by feral herbivores such as cattle, pigs and horses as well as invasion by semi-aquatic and aquatic weeds. It is important to establish a baseline and ongoing inventory of species inhabiting the wetlands to monitor the effect of management actions such as destocking, exclusion fencing and weed removal. The project will document the aquatic fauna of the area and fill in knowledge gaps surrounding aquatic biodiversity in the northern section of the Normanby catchment. We will again use fyke nets plan to use a suite as the primary survey technique and seine netting, and frame netting and electrofishing where appropriate. Survey methods will be designed to maximise species detection and will be based on repeated deployment and effort as per the previous expedition to aid in before and after fencing comparisons of the aquatic fauna assemblages. The project will culminate in a short report complete with photos, maps and an inventory of species observed at each site surveyed.
Investigators: Brendan Ebner (TropWATER)
Keywords: Fishe fauna; Freshwater habitats; Wetlands; Rivers; Cattle; Pigs

CSIRO - Contract Research

NAWRA Project: Mitchell River Region

Indicative Funding: $142,200 over 2 years
Summary: This research will oversee ecological assessment within the Mitchell River Region in an overriding water resources integrated evaluation of the feasibility, economic viability and sustainability of water, agricultural development and regional industries for each of the three key regions of Northern Australia comprising the Mitchell River catchment (Queensland), West Kimberley Fitzroy River catchment (Western Australia) and the Darwin region (Northern Territory). The assessments will seek to support deliberation and decisions concerning sustainable regional economic development.
Investigators: Brendan Ebner (TropWATER)
Keywords: Mitchell River; Regional Development; Ecological Assessment; Northern Australia

Collaboration

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.