Sean Connolly is a Program Leader of Dynamics of Coral Reef Ecosystems in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. Sean combines mathematical and statistical modelling with fieldwork and laboratory experiments to study the dynamics of biological turnover at all scales, including ecophysiology, population dynamics, species interactions and biodiversity, and macroevolution.

He received his doctorate in 1999 from Stanford University in California, USA, for research on the ecology of rocky shores. In 1999-2000, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Arizona, USA, where he examined global dynamics of marine biodiversity in the fossil record. In 2000, Sean came to JCU to develop and lead a research and research training program in ecological modelling applied to coral reefs. Sean has >100 publications in leading international journals, including 5 papers in Science or Nature, and he has supervised 38 Postgraduate and Honours students since 2001.

Recent awards include the Fenner Medal of the Australian Academy of Science (2009), which honours outstanding research in the biological sciences by a scientist under 40.

Interests

Research

• Theoretical and statistical modelling in ecology.
• Biodiversity
• Coral Reef Ecology
• Macroecology
• Population and Community Ecology
• Physiological Ecology

Teaching

• Development and application of innovative approaches to teaching the skills of model formulation and analysis to undergraduates, especially in biology.
• Statistical modelling in ecology for postgraduate students, with a focus on methods that allow confronting bespoke ecological models with empirical data.

Experience

• 2016 to present - Professor, Personal Chair, James Cook University
• 2010 to 2016 - Professorial Research Fellow, James Cook University
• 2008 to 2012 - Australian Professorial Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
• 2007 to 2009 - Associate Professor, James Cook University
• 2003 to 2006 - Senior Lecturer, James Cook University
• 2000 to 2002 - Lecturer, James Cook University
• 1998 to 2000 - Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Arizona

Research Disciplines

• Ecology (3103)
• Environmental management (4104)
• Climate change impacts and adaptation (4101)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Marine systems and management (1805)

Awards

• 2014 - Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (Office of Learning and Teaching, Australia)
• 2009 - Fenner Medal (Australian Academy of Science)
• 2006 - Carrick Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (Carrick Institute, Australia)
• 2005 - Dean's Excellence in Research Award for Early Career Research (James Cook University)

Fellowships

• 2008 to 2012 - Australian Professorial Fellowship (Australian Research Council)
• 1998 to 2000 - Postdoctoral Fellowship (Research Training Group in the Analysis of Biological Diversification, University of Arizona)
• 1994 to 1998 - Pre-doctoral Fellowship (National Science Foundation, USA)

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

• Zamborain-Mason J, Cinner J, MacNeil M, Graham N, Hoey A, Beger M, Brooks A, Booth D, Edgar G, Feary D, Ferse S, Friedlander A, Gough C, Green A, Mouillot D, Polunin N, Stuart-Smith R, Wantiez L, Williams I, Wilson S and Connolly S (2023) Sustainable reference points for multispecies coral reef fisheries. Nature Communications, 14 (1).
• Figueiredo J, Thomas C, Deleersnijder E, Lambrechts J, Baird A, Connolly S and Hanert E (2022) Global warming decreases connectivity among coral populations. Nature Climate Change, 12 (1). pp. 83-87
• Tsai C, Sweatman H, Thibaut L and Connolly S (2022) Volatility in coral cover erodes niche structure, but not diversity, in reef fish assemblages. Science Advances, 8 (24).
• Turschwell M, Connolly S, Schäfer R, De Laender F, Campbell M, Mantyka-Pringle C, Jackson M, Kattwinkel M, Sievers M, Ashauer R, Côté I, Connolly R, van den Brink P and Brown C (2022) Interactive effects of multiple stressors vary with consumer interactions, stressor dynamics and magnitude. Ecology Letters, 25 (6). pp. 1483-1496
• Bairos-Novak K, Hoogenboom M, van Oppen M and Connolly S (2021) Coral adaptation to climate change: meta-analysis reveals high heritability across multiple traits. Global Change Biology, 27 (22). pp. 5694-5710
• Dietzel A, Bode M, Connolly S and Hughes T (2021) The population sizes and global extinction risk of reef-building coral species at biogeographic scales. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 5. pp. 663-669
• Dietzel A, Connolly S, Hughes T and Bode M (2021) The spatial footprint and patchiness of large-scale disturbances on coral reefs. Global Change Biology, 27 (19). pp. 4825-4838
• Hughes T, Kerry J, Connolly S, Alvarez-Romero J, Eakin C, Heron S, Gonzalez M and Moneghetti J (2021) Emergent properties in the responses of tropical corals to recurrent climate extremes. Current Biology, 31 (23). pp. 5393-5399
• Dietzel A, Bode M, Connolly S and Hughes T (2020) Long-term shifts in the colony size structure of coral populations along the Great Barrier Reef. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 287 (1936).
• Madin J, Baird A, Baskett M, Connolly S and Dornelas M (2020) Partitioning colony size variation into growth and partial mortality. Biology Letters, 16 (1).
• Morais R, Connolly S and Bellwood D (2020) Human exploitation shapes productivity–biomass relationships on coral reefs. Global Change Biology, 26 (3). pp. 1295-1305
• Crandall E, Riginos C, Bird C, Liggins L, Treml E, Beger M, Barber P, Connolly S, Cowman P, DiBattista J, Eble J, Magnuson S, Horne J, Kochzius M, Lessios H, Liu S, Ludt W, Madduppa H, Pandolfi J, Toonen R, Diversity of the Indo?Pacific Network and Gaither M (2019) The molecular biogeography of the Indo-Pacific: testing hypotheses with multispecies genetic patterns. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 28 (7). pp. 943-960

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 124+ research outputs authored by Prof Sean Connolly from 2001 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

• Biogeographic Analysis to Guide Better Marine Management: A Case Study of the Great Barrier Reef (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Temporal dynamics driving reef fish biodiversity: Combining community ecology, phylogenetics and species traits (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

Completed

• The functional ecology of fish predation on coral reefs (2022, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Assessing the sustainability of multispecies coral reef fisheries around the globe (2022, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Competition and coexistence of reef-corals (2019, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• The productivity of coral reef fishes (2020, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Applying ecological coexistence theory to improve management (2020, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• The viability of coral populations in the Anthropocene (2020, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Variation in relative species abundance of reef fishes: drivers and ecosystem impacts (2020, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Thermal performance of scleractinian corals (2019, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• The functioning of future coral reefs: fishes, sediments and productivity (2022, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Demographic and evolutionary responses of reef-building corals to climate change (2023, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• The trophic ecology of reef fishes: the cnidarian challenge (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.

• Blowes, S. (2017) Data from: Heterospecific aggression and dominance in a guild of coral-feeding fishes: the roles of dietary ecology and phylogeny. James Cook University
• Casey, J. (2017) Coral metagenome: uncultured bacterium random survey. James Cook University
• Keith, S. (2017) Marine macroalgal genus richness [data used in Keith et al. 2014]. James Cook University
• Connolly, S. (2017) Data from: A unified model explains commonness and rarity on coral reefs. James Cook University
• Figueiredo, J. (2017) Data from: Increased local retention of reef coral larvae as a result of ocean warming. James Cook University
• Malerba, M. (2016) Nitrate-ammonium utilisation for the green alga species Desmodesmus armatus reared in laboratory batch culture conditions . 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.