Professor Ross Thompson

10 Mar Professor Ross Thompson

Professor Ross Thompson is Director of the Centre for Applied Water Science and the institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra. Ross’ research interests are biodiversity and restoration of landscapes, mainly in freshwater ecosystems. The fundamental part of his research program is in food-web ecology; seeking the rules that determine how natural communities assemble and persist. Ross’ applied research addresses the ways in which food webs can be influenced by anthropogenic factors including urbanisation, land clearance, pharmaceutical contamination, invasion and river flow management. He has an active research program on aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem function in urban and rural landscapes. Over his 15y academic career to date he has published >100 papers, 11 book chapters and >150 scientific reports. Ross sat on the Australian Research Council College of Experts and is immediate past President of the Australian Freshwater Sciences Society (formerly Australian Society for Limnology). His work has strong links to government and industry, and Ross sits on advisory panels for local, state and federal research programs.