Dr Eric Wolanski ~ Adjunct Professor

Dr. Eric Wolanski is a coastal oceanographer and ecohydrologist. He is linking physics and biology in estuarine, coastal, reef and savannah ecosystems. He has 416 publications, including five recent books:

• Paris, C. B., Wolanski, E., eds. (2020). The Importance of Behavior in the Recruitment of Marine Fauna and Flora. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. doi: 10.3389/978-2-88963-501-6
• Wolanski, E., Day, J., Elliott, M., Ramesh, Ramachandran (2019). Coasts and Estuaries. The Future. Elsevier, Amsterdam. 701 pp.
• Perillo, G.M.E., Wolanski, E., Cahoon, D.R., Hopkinson, C.S. (2019). Coastal Wetlands. An Integrated Ecosystem Approach. Springer  2nd ed., Dordrecht, 1097 pp.
• E. Wolanski & M. Elliott (2015). Estuarine Ecohydrology - An Introduction. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 310 pp.
• E. Wolanski (2014). Estuaries of Australia in 2050 and Beyond. Springer, Dordrecht, 292 pp.

Eric launched in 2020, in collaboration with Professors Michael Elliott at the University of Hull (UK) and Ellen Wohl at the State University of Colorado (USA), a new Elsevier book series "Ecohydrology from catchment to coast"  to provide an analysis for key rivers worldwide of the next set of policy and institutional reforms (environmental, social, cultural and economic) needed to ensure that the river basin is managed as an integrated system (including its land use, water resources and estuary) capable to adapt to the human impact and future changes including climate change. The first book has just been published,it is about the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia. https://www.elsevier.com/books/book-series/ecohydrology-from-catchment-to-coast  Being written now are books about the Mekong in SE Asia, the Nile in Africa, and the Scheldt in Belgium/The Netherlands. 

Eric is a member of the Scientific and Policy Committee of Japan's EMECS (Environmental Management of Enclosed Seas, focusing on the Seto Inland Sea) and of the European Union DANUBIUS-PP Scientific and Technical Advisory Board (STAB; see www.danubius-ri.eu; http://danubius-pp.eu), which will be a pan-European distributed research infrastructure dedicated to interdisciplinary studies of large river–sea systems throughout Europe.

Eric is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the Institution of Engineers Australia (ret.), and l'Academie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer (Belgium). He was awarded an Australian Centenary medal for services in estuarine and coastal oceanography, a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, a 2nd Doctorate Honoris Causa by the University of Hull in the UK, a Queensland Information Technology and Telecommunication award for excellence, and the first LifeTime Achievement Award of the Estuarine & Coastal Science Association (ECSA).

Eric is Honourary Editor of  Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, a Chief Editor of Wetlands Ecology and Management and of the Elsevier book series Ecohydrology from catchment to coast.

Since 1994 he has been running in Tanzania for Tanzania National Parks Authority yearly ecohydrology field training workshops with ecologists of the Serengeti, Katavi, Arusha, Nkomazi, Ruaha, Tarangire and Saadani National Parks, which are all either suffering or threatened by a water crisis.

Citation indices:

• Citations: 22905
• h-index: 82
• i10-index: 262

Interests

Research

• estuarine, coastal and reef oceanography: field data collection and modelling the systems. Quantifying and modeling the physics-biology links enabling the self-recruitment and the connectivity of estuarine and marine fauna and flora (jellyfish, coral and fish, prawns, mangroves, seagrass, marine turtles,..)
• modeling the environmental impact of dams, mine tailings, dredging, dredge spoil dumping, heavy metals and land-clearing in estuarine and coastal waters including mangroves, seagrass and reefs; studying through field work and modeling the spread of the Fly River plume in the Gulf of Papua and Torres Strait.
• modeling lagoon, estuarine, coastal, mangrove and reef ecosystems. Applications to eutrophication in the Guadiana Estuary (Portugal) and Darwin Harbour (Australia), coral reef management in Maunalua Bay (Hawaii) ,fisheries in Chilika Lagoon (India) and Laizhou Bay (China)
• modeling cohesive sediment (mud) dynamics in estuarine and coastal waters
• modelling the transport and fate of ghost nets, macro- and micro-plastics in coastal waters; modeling the recruitment, connectivity and biophysics of fish larvae, juvenile jellyfish, coral larvae, coral fish larvae, box jellyfish, green and flatback turtle hatchlings, copepods, and temperate estuarine fish larvae. Modelling the self-seeding and connectivity within Micronesia for grouper fish.
• modeling tropical savannah ecohydrology and applications to Serengeti, Ruaha, Katavi, Saadani and Tarangire National Parks in Tanzania, in collaboration with Tanzania National Parks.
• modelling the nutrient budget for turbid estuaries with applications to the Guadiana, Hooghly, Wami and Yangtze estuaries, Chilika lagoon and Laizhou Bay and others).
• modeling the water circulation in the topographically complex Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait, the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Bohai Strait in China. Modelling the over-heating of the northern GBR and Torres Strait during the 2016 bleaching event. Oceanographic chaos in the Galapagos, the South China Sea, the Coral Sea and Micronesia. See https://mediasite.jcu.edu.au/Mediasite/Play/65138ef3785648c3afc2ad7c942e399f1d

Experience

• 2008 to 2020 - Adjunct Professor, JCU (Townsville)
• 1978 to 2007 - Lead Research Scientist, AIMS (Townsville)
• 1976 to 1978 - Hydrologist, SMEC (Cooma, NSW)
• 1974 to 1976 - Hydrologist, NSW State Pollution Control Commission (Sydney)

Research Disciplines

• Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience (0406)
• Political Science (1606)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Economic Framework (9199)
• Climate and Climate Change (9603)

Awards

• Australian Centenary medal for services in estuarine and coastal oceanography, Australia.
• Doctorate Honoris Causa from the catholic University of Louvain, Belgium
• Queensland Information Technology and Telecommunication award for excellence, Australia.
• Doctorate Honoris Causa, University of Hull, UK.
• First LifeTime Achievement Award of the Estuarine & Coastal Science Association (ECSA)

Fellowships

• The Institution of Engineers Australia (ret.)
• Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer (Belgium).
• Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Australia.

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Schlaefer J, Wolanski E, Yadav S and Kingsford M (2020) Behavioural maintenance of highly localised jellyfish (Copula sivickisi, class Cubozoa) populations. Marine Biology, 167, Article: 40, DOI:10.1007/s00227-020-3646-6.
• Wolanski E, Choukroun S and Nhan N (2020) Island building and overfishing in the Spratly Islands archipelago are predicted to decrease larval flow and impact the whole system. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 233, Article: 106545, DOI:10.1016/j.ecss.2019.106545.
• Wolanski E and Lambrechts J (2020) The net water circulation in the far Northern Great Barrier Reef. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 235, Article: 106569, DOI:10.1016/j.ecss.2019.106569.
• Baptista V, Leitão F, Morais P, Teodósio M and Wolanski E (2019) Modelling the ingress of a temperate fish larva into a nursery coastal lagoon. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 235, Article: 106601, DOI:10.1016/j.ecss.2020.106601.
• Baptista V, Morais P, Cruz J, Castanho S, Ribeiro L, Pousão-Ferreira P, Leitão F, Wolanski E and Teodósio M (2019) Swimming abilities of temperate pelagic fish larvae prove that they may control their dispersion in coastal areas. Diversity, 11 (10), Article: 185, DOI:10.3390/d11100185.
• Gouezo M, Golbuu Y, Fabricius K, Olsudong D, Mereb G, Nestor V, Wolanski E, Harrison P and Doropoulos C (2019) Drivers of recovery and reassembly of coral reef communities. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 286 (1897), Article: 20182908, DOI:10.1098/rspb.2018.2908.
• Kihwele E, Muse E, Magomba E, Mnaya B, Nassoro A, Banga P, Murashani E, Irmamasita D, Kiwango H, Birkett C and Wolanski E (2018) Restoring the perennial Great Ruaha River using ecohydrology, engineering and governance methods in Tanzania. Ecohydrology and Hydrobiology, 18 (2), pp. 120-129, DOI:10.1016/j.ecohyd.2017.10.008.
• Kiwango H, Njau K and Wolanski E (2018) The application of nutrient budget models to determine the ecosystem health of the Wami Estuary, Tanzania. Ecohydrology and Hydrobiology, 18 (2), pp. 107-119, DOI:10.1016/j.ecohyd.2017.10.002.

Book Chapters

• Elliott M, Day J, Ramachandran R and Wolanski E (2019) A synthesis: what is the future for coasts, estuaries, deltas and other transitional habitats in 2050 and beyond? In: Coasts and Estuaries: the future. Elsevier, Oxford, United Kingdom, pp. 1-28
• Hopkinson C, Wolanski E, Brinson M, Cahoon D and Perillo G (2019) Coastal wetlands: a synthesis. In: Coastal Wetlands: an integrated ecosystem approach. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, pp. 1-75
• Kingsford M and Wolanski E (2019) Oceanography. In: The Great Barrier Reef. Biology, Environment and Management.. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton South, VIC, Australia, pp. 37-49
• Wolanski E (2019) Estuarine ecohydrology modeling: what works and within what limits? In: Coasts and Estuaries: the future. Elsevier, Oxford, United Kingdom, pp. 503-521

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 160+ research outputs authored by Dr Eric Wolanski from 2001 onwards.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Completed

• Determining the population structures of cubozoan jellyfishes with biophysical modelling (2020, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Recruitment and genetic population genetics of spiny lobsters, Panulirus ornatus and P. homarus in the south-east Asian archipelago (2017, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Using hydrodynamic models to understand the impacts and risks of plastic pollution (2018, PhD , External Advisor)

These are the most recent metadata records associated with this researcher. To see a detailed description of all dataset records, visit the JCU Research Data Catalogue.

• Wildermann, N. (2017) Metadata to run the SLIM model to simulate flatback post-hatchling dispersal in the Great Barrier Reef. James Cook University

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.