Dr Neil Collier

Research Fellow

Current Projects
Completed Projects
Grants
Publications

Contact details
Email: neil.collier@cdu.edu.au
Phone: +61 8 8946 7725
Fax: +61 8 8946 7720
Office: Red 1, Level 2, Room 36

Research interests

Neil has a background in environmental science and invertebrate ecology, with a focus on applied outcomes of research. Neil's PhD research investigated the landscape ecology and conservation of butterflies in South Australia. He continues to work on projects that use butterflies as model taxa for investigating ecological and evolutionary processes at landscape and continental scales. He is involved in using scenario modelling as a tool for decision-making in natural resource management with emphasis on sustainability and climate change. He is involved in several new projects operating in the Northern Territory and Internationally. Internationally, he collaborates with the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and IUCN on projects that use scenario modeling to explore the trade-offs between sustainable livelihoods and conservation of nature.

Current projects

Evolution of the Australian monsoon tropics: Butterflies as models. Collaboration with Dr Michael F. Braby, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Government.
Sex-specific growth characterisation of buffalo using biometric modelling.
Phylogeography, taxonomy and conservation of the endangered Gove Crow butterfly. Collaboration with Dr Michael F. Braby, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Government.

Publications

Book chapters

Collier, N. & Garnett, S.T. (2009). Using models for landscape planning: scale, complexity and utility In: Ainsworth, G.B and Garnett, S.T. (Editors). Rimba: Sustainable Forest Livelihoods in Malaysia and Australia. Institute for Environment and Development (Lestari), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

Peer-reviewed journal publications

Collier, N., Gardner, M., Adams, M., McMahon, C.R., Benkendorff, K., Mackay, D.A. (In Press). Contemporary habitat loss reduces genetic diversity in an ecologically specialized butterfly (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Journal of Biogeography
Sandker M., Nyame S.K., Förster J., Collier N., Shepherd, G., Yeboah, D., Ezzine-de Blas, D., Machwitz, M., Vaatainen, S., Garedew, E., Etoga, G., Ehringhaus, C., Anati, J., Quarm, O.D.K., Campbell, B.M. (Accepted Article). REDD payments as incentive to reduce forest loss: a case from Ghana. Conservation Letters DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2010.00095.x
McMahon, C.R., Brook, B.W., Collier, N., Bradshaw, C.J.A. (2010). Spatially explicit spreadsheet modelling for optimizing the efficiency of reducing invasive animal density. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. DOI: 10.1111/j.2041-210X.2009.00002.x
Collier, N., Sandker M., Garnett S., Campbell B.M., Sayer J. (Accepted pending revision). Science for Action: The use of throw-away models in conservation and development. Environmental Science and Policy
Collier N., Mackay, D.A., Benkendorff, K. (2008). Is relative abundance a good indicator of population size? Evidence from fragmented populations of a specialist butterfly, Theclinesthes albocincta (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Population Ecology 50: 17-23.
Collier N. (2007). Identifying potential evolutionary relationships within a facultative lycaenid-ant system: ant association, oviposition and butterfly-ant conflict. Insect Science 14, 313-322.
Collier N., Mackay D.A., Benkendorff K., Austin A.D. and Carthew S.M. (2006). Butterfly communities in South Australian urban reserves: Estimating abundance and diversity using the Pollard walk. Austral Ecology 31 (2), 282-290.

Peer-reviewed conference publications

Puig, C.J., Huchery, C., Greiner, R., Collier, N., Garnett, S., Bowen, L. and Perkins, I. (2009). Beef, biodiversity and burning: modelling pastoral futures for the Northern Territory cattle industry. The 2009 ANZSEE Conference, The Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics, Darwin, NT, Australia, 27-30 October 2009.
Collier N., Boedhihartono A.K., and Sayer J. (2009). Indigenous livelihoods and the global environment: Understanding relationships In Anderssen, R.S., R.D. Braddock and L.T.H. Newham (eds) 18th World IMACS Congress and MODSIM09 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand and International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, July 2009, pp. 2833-2839. ISBN: 978-0-9758400-7-8. http://www.mssanz.org.au/modsim09/H1/collier.pdf

Reports

Garnett S.T., Collier N., Puig C.J., Huchery C., Scenario planning for climate change in tropical landscapes. Final report to the Natural Resource Management Board of the Northern Territory, January 2009.
Collier, N. and Garnett, S.T. (2009). Community-based natural resource management and environmental impact assessment. Environmental Protection Authority, Northern Territory Government (2009).
Collier N., & Garnett S.T. (2009) Environmental footprints: the science, current practices, and their application in the Northern Territory. Consultancy for the Environmental Protection Authority (Northern Territory, Australia).