Rob has a long history translating scientific research into effective management advice and policy. He has a BSc in Zoology, an Honours degree (1st Class) in Entomology and a PhD in Fisheries from the University of Queensland.

He has worked as an entomologist, a fisheries scientist, a fisheries manager in the Torres Strait, as environment and regional manager for the Queensland government and as a seagrass scientist and research administrator.

Rob was the founding secretary of the World Seagrass Association and has a long history of promoting seagrass and coastal management research in the Indo-Pacific region.

Research Disciplines

• Environmental management (4104)
• Ecology (3103)
• Ecological applications (4102)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Marine systems and management (1805)
• Coastal and estuarine systems and management (1802)

Fellowships

• 1996 - Churchill Fellow

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

• Carter A, McKenna S, Rasheed M, Taylor H, van de Wetering C, Chartrand K, Reason C, Collier C, Shepherd L, Mellors J, McKenzie L, Duke N, Roelofs A, Smit N, Groom R, Barrett D, Evans S, Pitcher R, Murphy N, Carlisle M, David M, Lui S, Torres Strait Indigenous Rangers and Coles R (in press) Seagrass spatial data synthesis from north-east Australia, Torres Strait and Gulf of Carpentaria, 1983 to 2022. Limnology and Oceanography Letters,
• Carter A, Coles R, Jarvis J, Bryant C, Smith T and Rasheed M (2023) A report card approach to describe temporal and spatial trends in parameters for coastal seagrass habitats. Scientific Reports, 13.
• Tol S, Carter A, York P, Jarvis J, Grech A, Congdon B and Coles R (2023) Vegetative fragment production as a means of propagule dispersal for tropical seagrass meadows. Marine Environmental Research, 191.
• Carter A, Collier C, Coles R, Lawrence E and Rasheed M (2022) Community-specific "desired" states for seagrasses through cycles of loss and recovery. Journal of Environmental Management, 314.
• Schlaefer J, Carter A, Choukroun S, Coles R, Critchell K, Lambrechts J, Rasheed M, Tol S and Grech A (2022) Marine plant dispersal and connectivity measures differ in their sensitivity to biophysical model parameters. Environmental Modelling & Software, 149.
• Carter A, Collier C, Lawrence E, Rasheed M, Robson B and Coles R (2021) A spatial analysis of seagrass habitat and community diversity in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Scientific Reports, 11.
• Carter A, McKenna S, Rasheed M, Collier C, McKenzie L, Pitcher R and Coles R (2021) Synthesizing 35?years of seagrass spatial data from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Queensland, Australia. Limnology and Oceanography Letters, 6 (4). pp. 216-226
• Tol S, Jarvis J, York P, Congdon B and Coles R (2021) Mutualistic relationships in marine angiosperms: enhanced germination of seeds by mega-herbivores. Biotropica, 53 (6). pp. 1535-1545
• Tol S, Harrison M, Groom R, Gilbert J, Blair D, Coles R and Congdon B (2021) Using DNA to distinguish between faeces of Dugong dugon and Chelonia mydas: non-invasive sampling for IUCN-listed marine megafauna. Conservation Genetics Resources, 13. pp. 115-117
• Collier C, Carter A, Rasheed M, McKenzie L, Udy J, Coles R, Brodie J, Waycott M, O’Brien K, Saunders M, Adams M, Martin K, Honchin C, Petus C and Lawrence E (2020) An evidence-based approach for setting desired state in a complex Great Barrier Reef seagrass ecosystem: a case study from Cleveland Bay. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, 7.
• Duffy J, Benedetti-Cecchi L, Trinanes J, Muller-Karger F, Ambo-Rappe R, Boström C, Buschmann A, Byrnes J, Coles R, Creed J, Cullen-Unsworth L, Diaz-Pulido G, Duarte C, Edgar G, Fortes M, Goni G, Hu C, Huang X, Hurd C, Johnson C, Konar B, Krause-Jensen D, Krumhansl K, Macreadie P, Marsh H, McKenzie L, Mieszkowska N, Miloslavich P, Montes E, Nakaoka M, Norderhaug K, Norlund L, Orth R, Prathep A, Putman N, Samper-Villarreal J, Serrao E, Short F, Pinto I, Steinberg P, Stuart-Smith R, Unsworth R, van Keulen M, van Tussenbroek B, Wang M, Waycott M, Weatherdon L, Wernberg T and Yaakub S (2019) Toward a coordinated global observing system for seagrasses and marine macroalgae. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6. pp. 1-26
• Grech A, Hanert E, McKenzie L, Rasheed M, Thomas C, Tol S, Wang M, Waycott M, Wolter J and Coles R (2018) Predicting the cumulative effect of multiple disturbances on seagrass connectivity. Global Change Biology, 24 (7). pp. 3093-3104

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 58+ research outputs authored by Dr Robert Coles from 2007 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

• A functional traits-based approach to improve understanding of seagrass resilience and disturbance effects on ecosystem services (PhD , Secondary Advisor)

Completed

• Relative importance of different seagrass re-establishment strategies in tropical Queensland, Australia (2021, PhD , Secondary Advisor)

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

• Tol, S. (2016) Biotic tropical seagrass seed dispersal by dugong and green sea turtles 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.