Graeme comes from Harare, Zimbabwe, where he went to Saint George’s College. He studied Zoology and Entomology to the honours level at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. He then moved to Oxford University, U.K., on a Rhodes Scholarship. While at New College, Oxford, Graeme completed his doctorate on ‘The Evolutionary Ecology of African Ticks’ under the supervision of Drs. Sarah Randolph and David Rogers. From Oxford he moved to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, funded by a D. H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellowship from The Nature Conservancy (TNC). In Madison he worked with TNC and Professor Steve Carpenter at the Center for Limnology on applying species-based models to management and conservation-related problems in freshwater systems. After two years as a postdoc, he was hired as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida. Graeme returned to Africa at the end of 2005 and occupied the Pola Pasvolsky Chair in Conservation Biology at the University of Cape Town until end June 2015, when he moved to his current position.

Graeme has a wide range of interests, centering around understanding spatial aspects of ecology and the relevance of broad-scale pattern-process dynamics for ecosystem (and social-ecological system) function and resilience. He is also interested in the applications of landscape ecology and complexity theory to conservation and the sustainable management of natural resources.    

Interests

Research

• landscape ecology community ecology social-ecological systems

Experience

• 2020 to 2022 - Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University (Townsville, QLD, Australia)
• 2015 to 2020 - Professor, James Cook University (Townsville, QLD, Australia)
• 2006 to 2015 - Pola Pasvolsky Chair, Percy FitzPatrick Institute (University of Cape Town)
• 2001 to 2005 - Assistant Professor, University of Florida (Gainesville, FL, USA)
• 1999 to 2001 - David H. Smith Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, WI, USA)

Research Disciplines

• Environmental management (4104)
• Ecology (3103)
• Sociology (4410)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Adaptation to climate change (1901)
• Marine systems and management (1805)
• Expanding knowledge (2801)

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

• Bartelet H, Barnes M and Cumming G (2024) Estimating and comparing the direct economic contributions of reef fisheries and tourism in the Asia-Pacific. Marine Policy, 159.
• Graham E, Apetrei C, Baggio J, Chawla S, Cumming G, Gurney G, Morrison T, Unnikrishnan H and Villamayor Tomas S (2024) The problem of institutional fit: Uncovering patterns with boosted decision trees. International Journal of the Commons, 18 (1). pp. 1-16
• Bartelet H, Barnes M, Bakti L and Cumming G (2023) Testing the reliability of adaptive capacity as a proxy for adaptive and transformative responses to climate change. Global Environmental Change, 81.
• Bartelet H, Barnes M and Cumming G (2023) Microeconomic adaptation to severe climate disturbances on Australian coral reefs. Ambio, 52. pp. 285-299
• Biggs R, Reyers B, Blanchard R, Clements H, Cockburn J, Cumming G, Cundill G, de Vos A, Dziba L, Esler K, Fabricius C, Hamann M, Henriksson R, Kotschy K, Lindborg R, Luvuno L, Masterson V, Nel J, O’Farrell P, Palmer C, Pereira L, Pollard S, Preiser R, Roux D, Scholes R, Selomane O, Shackleton C, Shackleton S, Sitas N, Slingsby J, Spierenburg M and Tengö M (2023) The Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society: an emergent community of practice. Ecosystems and People, 19 (1).
• Cumming G, Adamska M, Barnes M, Barnett J, Bellwood D, Cinner J, Cohen P, Donelson J, Fabricius K, Grafton R, Grech A, Gurney G, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Hoey A, Hoogenboom M, Lau J, Lovelock C, Lowe R, Miller D, Morrison T, Mumby P, Nakata M, Pandolfi J, Peterson G, Pratchett M, Ravasi T, Riginos C, Rummer J, Schaffelke B, Wernberg T and Wilson S (2023) Research priorities for the sustainability of coral-rich western Pacific seascapes. Regional Environmental Change, 23 (2).
• Cumming G and Bellwood D (2023) Broad-scale analysis of fish community data suggests critical need to support regional connectivity of coral reefs. Ecological Applications, 33 (4).
• Morrison T, Bodin O, Cumming G, Lubell M, Seppelt R, Seppelt T and Weible C (in press) Building blocks of polycentric governance. Policy Studies Journal,
• Song S, Wang S, Wu X, Wei Y, Cumming G, Qin Y, Wu X and Fu B (2023) Identifying Regime Transitions for Water Governance in the Yellow River Basin, China. Water Resources Research, 59 (12).
• Zoeller K and Cumming G (2023) Cultural functional groups associated with birds relate closely to avian ecological functions and services. Ecosystem Services, 60.
• Anderies J, Cumming G, Clements H, Lade S, Seppelt R, Chawla S and Müller B (2022) A framework for conceptualizing and modeling social-ecological systems for conservation research. Biological Conservation, 275.
• Bartelet H, Barnes M and Cumming G (2022) Determinants, outcomes, and feedbacks associated with microeconomic adaptation to climate change. Regional Environmental Change, 22 (2).

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 168+ research outputs authored by Prof Graeme Cumming from 2011 onwards.

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

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.

Current

• Computational and Experimental Biology to characterise and understand Symbiodiniaceae; Biodiversity and fitness across 4 Australian Heritgae Sites (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• FORAGING RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN TROPICAL SEABIRDS (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

Completed

• Space use by fishes on coral reefs: establishment, fidelity and reef resilience (2020, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Beyond the reef: the influence of seascape structure on the composition and function of tropical fish communities (2021, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Urbanization and human-nature relationships: a comparison of urban and rural dwellers' perceptions of ecosystem services in the Solomon Islands (2021, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Seasonal dynamics in ecosystem services: a case study of small-scale fisheries (2021, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Global patterns of international fisheries conflict (2020, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Understanding the production of cultural ecosystem services and benefits (2022, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Microeconomic adaptation in social-ecological systems (2023, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• An investigation of the spatial influences and governance implications of social-ecological heterogeneity, connectivity, and scale on landscape change (2022, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

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

• Lapointe, M. (2020) Household surveys on ecosystem service preferences and urbanization in the Solomon Islands. 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.