Damian Michael

Dr Damian Michael

Landscape Ecologist and Herpetologist, Senior Research Fellow, Gulbali Institute

Gulbali Institute

Biography

Dr Damian Michael is a Landscape Ecologist and Herpetologist with expertise in designing and implementing long-term ecological monitoring programs, evaluating biotic responses to agri-environment schemes, and conducting conservation-related research projects on frogs, snakes, lizards, woodland birds, small mammals and arboreal marsupials in south-eastern Australia. Damian completed his PhD at The Australian National University in 2010, which focused on quantifying the ecological roles and conservation value of granite outcrops (inselbergs) in agricultural landscapes. Dr Michael is author of Reptiles in the NSW Murray Catchment: A Guide to their Identification, Ecology and Conservation and award-winning Rocky Outcrops in Australia: Ecology, Conservation and Management. He has served as project lead within the National Environmental Science Programme’s Threatened Species Hub, participated in IUCN and EPBC conservation assessments for Australian reptiles, is currently a member of the IUCN Skink and Snake Specialist Groups and vice-chair and Board Director to the Albury Conservation Company. He currently leads the Squamate Conservation and Landscape Ecology (SCALE) group within the Gulbali Institute.

Research
  • Landscape ecology
  • Wildlife conservation in human modified landscapes
  • Applied and theoretical herpetology
  • Rocky outcrop (inselberg) ecology and conservation
  • Restoration ecology and adaptive management
  • Ecological and biophysical monitoring
Publications
Full publications list on CRO

Recent publications

  • Sanders, E., Nimmo, D. G., Turner, J. M., Wassens, S. & Michael, D. R. (2024). Putting rakali in spotlight: innovative methods for detecting an elusive semi-aquatic mammal. Wildlife Research 51, WR24002. https://doi.org/10.1071/WR24002
  • Doyle, K., McGregor, C., Pearce, L., & Michael, D. (2024). Terrestrial reptiles in the diet of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Salmonidae; Walbaum, 1792). Australian Zoologist. https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2024.009
  • Linley, G. D., Geary, W. L., Jolly, C. J., Spencer, E. E., Ashman, K. R., Michael, D. R., Westaway, D. M., & Nimmo, D. G. (2024). Wombat burrows are hotspots for small vertebrates in a landscape subject to gigafire. Journal of Mammalogy. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyae034
  • Michael, D. (2024). A survey for herpetofauna in Pheasant Creek Flora Reserve. Commissioned Report.
  • Sanders, E., Wassens, S., Michael, D. R., Nimmo, D. G., & Turner, J. M. (2024). Extinction risk of the world's freshwater mammals. Conservation Biology, 38, e14168. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14168