I started the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity & Climate Change research (CTBCC) in 2006 and was the inaugural Director for six years. I convene the National Adaptation Network for Natural Ecosystems hosted by James Cook University for the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF). I currently run the biodiversity and Global Change program within the CTBCC and teach biodiversity and climate change science. Over the last 5 years I ran the Rainforest Biodiversity program in the National Environmental Research Program (Terrestrial Ecosystems hub) and I was the Director of the Australian National Climate Change Adaptation research Facility Adaptation Research Network - Terrestrial Biodiversity. I am the Chair of the IUCN Climate Change & Biodiversity Specialist Group and Wet Tropics Management Authority Science Advisory Committee.

My research is focused on understanding biodiversity, assessing the vulnerability of biodiversity to global climate change and using this knowledge to maximise the positive benefits of conservation management and adaptation. My research group is currently examining a diverse range of research topics on climate change and biodiversity (vertebrates, invertebrates, plants and ecosystem processes) including biodiversity patterns and processes, population genetics, thermal physiology, paleo-modelling of habitats and species distributions, extinction proneness, phenology, nutrient cycling, climatic seasonality, trophic interactions, net primary productivity, vegetation structure, resilience and estimating the relative vulnerability of species and habitats

My research was one of the first to identify global climate change as a severe threatening process in the tropics and that we may be facing many species extinctions in mountain systems around the world. This work resulted in the Australian Wet Tropics being internationally recognized by the IPCC as one of the world’s most vulnerable ecosystems. Papers in PLoS Biology, PNAS, Nature, American Naturalist, Global Change Biology, Diversity & Distributions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of London have made significant contributions to the high profile of climate change biology in the literature. My research is highly cited and has produced significant outcomes in research, policy and management at all levels from regional to international.  

 

Teaching

• BS2460: Fundamentals of Ecology (Level 2; TSV)
• BS5460: Fundamentals of Ecology (Level 5; TSV)
• BZ2490: Toolkit for the Field Biologist (Level 2; TSV)
• BZ3220: Population and Community Ecology (Level 3; TSV)
• BZ3755: Biodiversity and Climate Change: Impact, Mitigation and Adaptation (Level 3; TSV)
• BZ5210: Rainforest Ecology in the Amazon (Level 5; TSV)
• BZ5220: Population and Community Ecology (Level 5; TSV)
• BZ5755: Biodiversity and Climate Change: Impact, Mitigation and Adaptation (Level 5; TSV)
• BZ5990: Toolkit for the Field Biologist (Level 5; TSV)
• SC1101: Science: Nature, Knowledge and Understanding (Level 1; TSV)

Interests

Research

• Global Climate Change
• Biodiveristy
• Conservation of species and habitat

Research Disciplines

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

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Climate and Climate Change (9603)
• Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity (9608)

Awards

• Earthwatch Institute Principal Investigator of the year awarded for an “outstanding contribution to conservation research and public education”.
• JCU Faculty of Science & Engineering Deans award for “Excellence in Research
• The Wet Tropics Management Authority “Cassowary Award” for contributions to science

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

• Peel G, Araújo M, Bell J, Blanchard J, Bonebrake T, Chen I, Clark T, Colwell R, Danielsen F, Evengård B, Falconi L, Ferrier S, Frusher S, Garcia R, Griffis R, Hobday A, Janion-Scheepers C, Jarzyna M, Jennings S, Lenoir J, Linnetved H, Martin V, McCormack P, McDonald J, Mitchell N, Mustonen T, Pandolfi J, Pettorelli N, Popova E, Robinson S, Scheffers B, Shaw J, Sorte C, Strugnell J, Sunday J, Tuanmu M, Vergés A, Villanueva C, Wernberg T, Wapstra E and Williams S (2017) Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: impacts on ecosystems and human well-being. Science, 355. pp. 1-9
• Scheffers B, Shoo L, Phillips B, Macdonald S, Anderson A, VanDerWal J, Storlie C, Gourret A and Williams S (2017) Vertical (arboreality) and horizontal (dispersal) movement increase the resilience of vertebrates to climatic instability. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 26 (7). pp. 787-798
• Leitão R, Zuanon J, Villeger S, Williams S, Baraloto C, Fortunel C, Mendonça F and Mouillot D (2016) Rare species contribute disproportionately to the functional structure of species assemblages. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 283 (1828). pp. 1-9
• Muñoz M, Langham G, Brandley M, Rosauer D, Williams S and Moritz C (2016) Basking behavior predicts the evolution of heat tolerance in Australian rainforest lizards. Evolution, 70 (11). pp. 2537-2549
• Staunton K, Nakamura A, Burwell C, Robson S and Williams S (2016) Elevational distribution of flightless ground beetles in the tropical rainforests of north-eastern Australia. PLoS ONE, 11 (5). pp. 1-21
• Xing S, Bonebrake T, Tang C, Pickett E, Cheng W, Greenspan S, Williams S and Scheffers B (2016) Cool habitats support darker and bigger butterflies in Australian tropical forests. Ecology and Evolution, 6 (22). pp. 8062-8074
• Anderson A, Marques T, Shoo L and Williams S (2015) Detectability in audio-visual surveys of tropical rainforest birds: the influence of species, weather and habitat characteristics. PLoS ONE, 10 (6). pp. 1-24
• Pacifici M, Foden W, Visconti P, Watson J, Butchart S, Kovacs K, Scheffers B, Hole D, Martin T, Akçakaya H, Corlett R, Huntley B, Bickford D, Carr J, Hoffman A, Midgley G, Pearce-Kelly P, Pearson R, Williams S, Willis S, Young B and Rondinini C (2015) Assessing species vulnerability to climate change. Nature Climate Change, 5. pp. 215-225
• Parsons S, Valdez-Ramirez V, Congdon R and Williams S (2014) Contrasting patterns of litterfall seasonality and seasonal changes in litter decomposability in a tropical rainforest region. Biogeosciences, 11 (18). pp. 5047-5056
• Parsons S, Congdon R, Shoo L, Valdez-Ramirez V and Williams S (2014) Spatial variability in litterfall, litter standing crop and litter quality in a tropical rain forest region. Biotropica, 46 (4). pp. 378-386
• Reside A, Welbergen J, Phillips B, Wardell-Johnson G, Keppel G, Ferrier S, Williams S and Vanderwal J (2014) Characteristics of climate change refugia for Australian biodiversity. Austral Ecology, 39 (8). pp. 887-897
• Scheffers B, Edwards D, Diesmos A, Williams S and Evans T (2014) Microhabitats reduce animal's exposure to climate extremes. Global Change Biology, 20 (2). pp. 495-503

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 110+ research outputs authored by Prof Stephen Williams from 1993 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

• Diversity, Habitat Use and Movements of Small Mammals in Fragmented Landscapes (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Climatic seasonality in the Australian Wet Tropics: birds, insects and dry season bottlenecks. (PhD , Associate Advisor)
• Climatic variability and resilience: spatio-temporal climate variability and vulnerability of ant species to climate change in an Australian tropical rainforest (PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Ecology and Behaviour of Feral Cats in the Wet Tropics (PhD , Secondary Advisor)

Completed

• Locating adaptive diversity in the face of climate change (2016, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Systematic conservation planning for the Paranã River Basin, Brazil, under climate change (2016, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• A song of fire and water: will climate change interacting with fire affect the distribution of vegetation in the Australian Wet Tropics? (2016, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Balancing the costs and benefits of increasing information in ecological models (2015, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Understanding patterns of endemic dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) biodiversity in the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest: implications of climate change (2015, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• The ecology of an arboreal rainforest gecko: Saltuarius cornutus (2017, Masters , Secondary Advisor)
• Host-parasite interactions: bird immune genes, blood parasites and climate change implications (2014, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Biogeography of Bats in the Australian Wet Tropics: Current Distribution and Response to Future Climate Change. (2017, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• The vulnerability of microhylid frogs, Cophixalus spp., to climate change in the Australian Wet Tropics (2018, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Assessing the vulnerability of Thailand's forest birds to global change (2017, PhD , Primary 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.

• Williams, S. (2013) Vertebrate monitoring in the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest at WU9A5 (145.08914133, -16.28555172, 900.0m above MSL) collected by Reptile Surveys. James Cook University
• Williams, S. (2013) Vertebrate monitoring in the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest at CU8A5 (145.30148584, -16.58382136, 800.0m above MSL) collected by Microhylid survey. James Cook University
• Williams, S. (2013) Invertebrate monitoring in the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest at AU10A1 (145.52380124, -17.69954396, 1000.0m above MSL) collected by Malaise, FIT and Pitfall sampling. James Cook University
• Williams, S. (2013) Vertebrate monitoring in the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest at SU10A3 (146.1609012, -19.01622116, 968.0m above MSL) collected by Transect surveys for birds. James Cook University
• Williams, S. (2013) Vertebrate monitoring in the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest at AU4A4 (145.76978113, -17.60822594, 400.0m above MSL) collected by Transect surveys for birds. James Cook University
• Williams, S. (2013) Vertebrate monitoring in the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest at CU10A1 (145.27667991, -16.55662546, 1000.0m above MSL) collected by Reptile Surveys. James Cook University
• Williams, S. (2013) Vertebrate monitoring in the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest at SU350A2 (146.26540374, -19.01484047, 330.0m above MSL) collected by Microhylid survey. James Cook University
• Williams, S. (2013) Vertebrate monitoring in the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest at CU6A2 (145.3057005, -16.57764758, 600.0m above MSL) collected by Transect surveys for birds. James Cook University
• Williams, S. (2013) Vertebrate monitoring in the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest at CU6A6 (145.31275922, -16.57840977, 600.0m above MSL) collected by Reptile Surveys. James Cook University
• Williams, S. (2013) Microclimate monitoring of the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest at AU6A2 (145.71673578, -17.67066916, 600.0m above MSL) collected by iButton Thermochron. 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.