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

• 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 Science and Management (0502)
• Ecological Applications (0501)
• Ecology (0602)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Expanding Knowledge (9701)
• Ecosystem Assessment and Management (9605)
• Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity (9608)

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

• Bellwood D, Pratchett M, Morrison T, Gurney G, Hughes T, Álvarez-Romero J, Day J, Grantham R, Grech A, Hoey A, Jones G, Pandolfi J, Tebbett S, Techera E, Weeks R and Cumming G (2019) Coral reef conservation in the Anthropocene: confronting spatial mismatches and prioritizing functions. Biological Conservation, 236. pp. 604-615
• Lapointe M, Cumming G and Gurney G (2019) Comparing Ecosystem Service preferences between urban and rural dwellers. BioScience, 69 (2). pp. 108-116
• Sambrook K, Hoey A, Andréfouët S, Cumming G, Duce S and Bonin M (2019) Beyond the reef: the widespread use of non‐reef habitats by coral reef fishes. Fish and Fisheries, 20 (5). pp. 903-920
• Clements H and Cumming G (2018) Traps and transformations influencing the financial viability of tourism on private-land conservation areas. Conservation Biology, 32 (2). pp. 424-436
• Cumming G and von Cramon-Taubadel S (2018) Linking economic growth pathways and environmental sustainability by understanding development as alternate social-ecological regimes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115 (38). pp. 9533-9538
• Cumming G (2018) A review of social dilemmas and social-ecological traps in conservation and natural resource management. Conservation Letters, 11 (1).
• Espinaze M, Hellard E, Horak I and Cumming G (2018) Domestic mammals facilitate tick-borne pathogen transmission networks in South African wildlife. Biological Conservation, 221. pp. 228-236
• Spijkers J, Morrison T, Blasiak R, Cumming G, Osborne M, Watson J and Österblom H (2018) Marine fisheries and future ocean conflict. Fish and Fisheries, 19 (5). pp. 798-806
• Ament J, Moore C, Herbst M and Cumming G (2017) Cultural ecosystem services in protected areas: understanding bundles, trade-Offs, and synergies. Conservation Letters, 10 (4). pp. 440-450
• Baum J, Cumming G and de Vos A (2017) Understanding spatial variation in the drivers of nature-based tourism and their influence on the sustainability of private land conservation. Ecological Economics, 140. pp. 225-234
• Blythe J, Nash K, Yates J and Cumming G (2017) Feedbacks as a bridging concept for advancing transdisciplinary sustainability research. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26-27. pp. 114-119
• Bowker J, De Vos A, Ament J and Cumming G (2017) Effectiveness of Africa's tropical protected areas for maintaining forest cover. Conservation Biology, 31 (3). pp. 559-569

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 108+ 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

• Spatial ecology and space use in browsing herbivorous reef fishes: ecological drivers and effects on ecosystem function. (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Beyond the Reef: The Influence of Seascape Structure on Fish Communities and Ecological Processes on Coral Reefs (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Navigating International Conflicts in the Governance of Shared Stocks (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Understanding the production of scosystem services and benefits through a socio-cultural approach (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Understanding ecosystem service preferences and wellbeing benefits along a rural-urban gradient (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• The temporal dynamics of coral reef-dependent small-scale fisheries as part of diversified coastal livelihoods (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• The resilience of ecologically-dependent human communities to disturbances within volatile social-ecological systems (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Understanding ecosystem service choices made by individual actors and their implications for social--ecological interactions (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

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.