Dr Brooke Williams

Biography

Brooke is a Research Fellow who focuses on finding innovative solutions to conservation problems at the environment–human interface at both global and local scales. Balancing conservation with human needs is an increasingly important area of science, and she addresses these challenges in two ways. The first is through strategic planning where she designs tools to effectively allocate conservation action, largely through mathematical optimisation. The second is by developing metrics and assessments to quantify how human activities impact biodiversity and ecosystem services (the services that nature provides to people such as fresh drinking water), and how to improve outcomes.

Currently she is working on developing new tools to improve conservation outcomes across two broad themes. The first is to improve outcomes for ecosystem services that are impacted by global trade, and the second is to help guide decision-making on private lands. Please reach out if you are interested in collaborating  brooke.a.williams@qut.edu.au.

Policy impact: https://policyprofiles.sagepub.com/profile/8476/brooke-williams

Scientific publications

Williams B A*, López-Cubillos S*, Ochoa-Quintero J M, Crouzeilles R , Villa-Piñeros M, Isaacs Cubides P J, Schmoeller M, Marin W, Tedesco A, Bastos A, Suárez-Castro A F, Romero Jiménez L H, Broadbent E N, Almeyda Zambrano A M, Vincent J, Yi Y, Chazdon R, Watson J E M, Noguera Urbano E A, Cruz Rodriguez C A, Beyer H B. (2024) Bringing the forest back: restoration priorities in Colombia, Diversity and Distributions, 00, e13821. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.13821

Watson J E M, Ellis E C, Pillay R, Williams B, Venter O. (2023) Mapping Industrial Influences on Earth’s Ecology. Annual Reviews, 48, 289–317. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-112420-013640

Williams B A, Morgans C, Rhodes J R. (2023) Beyond protected areas for koala conservation. Science, 379, 6638. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh4128

Williams B A, Watson J E M, Beyer H L, Grantham H S, Simmonds J S, Alvarez S J, Venter O, Strassburg B N N, Runting R K. (2022) Global drivers of change across tropical savannah ecosystems and insights into their management and conservation. Biological Conservation, 276, 109786.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109786

Pillay R, Watson J E M, Hansen A J, Jantz P A, Aragon-Osejo J, Armenteras D, Atkinson S C, Burns P, Ervin J, Goetz S J, González-del-Pliego P, Robinson N P, Supples C, Virnig A L S, Williams B A, Venter O. (2022) Humid tropical vertebrates are at lower risk of extinction and population decline in forests with higher structural integrity. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 6, 1840–1849. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01915-8.

Allan J R, Possingham H P, Atkinson S C, Waldron A, Di Marco M, Butchart S H, Adams V M, Kissling W D, Worsdell T, Sandbrook C, Gibbon Gwili, Kumar Kundan, Mehta Piyush, Maron M, Williams B A, Jones K R, Visconti P, Wintle B A, Reside A E, Watson J E M. (2022) Conservation attention necessary across at least 44% of Earth's terrestrial area to safeguard biodiversity. Science, 376, 1094-1101. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abl9127

Williams B A, Grantham H S, Watson J E M, Shapiro A C, Plumptre A J, Ayebare S, Goldman E, Tulloch A. (2022) Reconsidering priorities for forest conservation when considering the threats of mining and armed conflict. Ambio. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-022-01724-0

López-Cubillos S, Runting R K, Suárez-Castro F, Williams B A, Armenteras D, Ochoa-Quinteroc J M, E  McDonald-Madden. (2022) Spatial prioritization to achieve the triple bottom line in Payment for Ecosystem Services design. Ecosystem Services, 55, 101424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2022.101424

Williams B A, Watson, J. E.M., Beyer, H. L., Klein, C. J., Montgomery, J., Runting, R. K., Roberson, L. A., Halpern, B. S., Grantham, H. S., Kuempel, C. D., Frazier, M., Venter, O., & Wenger, A. (2022) The global rarity of low pressure coastlines. Conservation Biology, e138374. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13874

Elsen P R, Saxon E C, Simmons A, Ward M, Williams B A, Grantham H S, Kark S, Levin, Perez-Hammerle KV, Reside A, Watson J E M. (2021) Accelerated shifts in terrestrial life zones under rapid climate change. Global Change Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15962

Williams B A, Simmons A B, Ward M, Beher J, Dean A J, Nou T, Kenyon T, Davey M, Melton C, Stewart Sinclair P, Hammond N, Massingham, Klein C. (2021)The potential for applying ‘nonviolent communication’ in conservation science. Conservation Science and Practice, e540. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.540

Roberson L A, Beyer H L, O’Hara C, Watson J E M, Dunn D C, Halpern B S, Klein C J, Frazier M R, Kuempel C D, Williams B A, Grantham H S, Montgomery J C, Kark S, Runting R K. (2021). Multinational coordination required for conservation of over 90% of marine species. Global Change Biology, 00, 1– 11. http://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15844

Uba de Andrade Junior M A, Watson J, Williams B A, Allan J, O’Bryan C, Allan J R, Maxwell S. (2021) How to halve the carbon and biodiversity impacts of biofuel-driven land-use change in Brazil. Biological Conservation, 260, 109214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109214

Ward M, Barmand S, Watson J E M, Williams B A. (2021) Australia faces environmental crisis. Science, 371,  1115-1116.https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg9225

Williams B A, Watson J E M, Butchart S H M, Ward M, Brooks T M, Butt N, Bolam F C, Stuart S N, Mair L, McGowan P J K, Gregory R, Hilton-Taylor C, Mallon D, Harrison I, Simmonds J S. (2020). A robust goal is needed for species in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Conservation Letters, e12778. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12778

Ward M S, Saura S, Williams B A, Ramirez-Delgado J P, Arafeh-Dalmau N, Allan J R, Venter O, Dubois G, Watson J E M. (2020). Only ten percent of the global terrestrial protected area network is connected via intact land. Nature communications, 11, 4563.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18457-x

Williams B A, Venter O, Allan J A, Atkinson S C, Rehbein J A, Ward M S, Di Marco M, Grantham H S, Ervin J, Goetz S, Hansen A J, Jantz P, Pillay R, Rodríguez-Buriticá S, Supples C, Virnig A L S, Watson J E M. (2020) Change in terrestrial human footprint drives continued loss of intact ecosystems. One Earth, 3, 371–382.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.08.009

Ward M, Tulloch A, Radford J Q, Williams B A, Reside A, Macdonald S L, Mayfield H, Maron M, Possingham H P, Vine S, O’Connor J, Massingham E, Greenville A C, Woinarski J C Z, Garnett S T, Lintermans M, Scheele B C, Carwardine J, Nimmo D, Lindenmayer D, Kooyman R, Simmonds J S, Sonter L S, Watson J E M. (2020) Impact of 2019–2020 mega-fires on Australian fauna habitat. Nature Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1251-1

Watson J E M, Keith D A, Strassburg B B N, Venter O, Williams B, Nicholson E. (2020) Set a global target for ecosystems. Nature, 578, 360-362. https://doi:10.1038/d41586-020-00446-1

Williams B A, Grantham H S, WatsonJ E M, AlvarezS J, SimmondsJ S, RogélizC A, Da SilvaM, ForeroMedinaG, EtterA, NogalesJ, WalschburgerT, HymanG, BeyerH L.(2020)Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development. Environmental Research Letters, 15, 014001.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5ff7

Locke H, Ellis E C, Venter O, Schuster R, Ma K, Shen X, Woodley S, Kingston N, Bhola N, Strassburg B B, Paulsch A, Williams B, Watson J E M. (2019) Three Global Conditions for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use: an implementation framework. National Science Review, 6, 80 - 1082. https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwz136

McIntosh E J, Chapman S, Kearney S G, Williams B, Althor G, Thorn J P R, Pressey R L, McKinnon M C, Grenyer R. (2018) Absence of evidence for the conservation outcomes of systematic conservation planning around the globe: A systematic map. Environmental Evidence, 7, 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-018https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-018-0134-20134-2

Allek A, Assis A, Eiras N, Amaral T, Williams B, Butt N, Renwick A, Bennett J, Beyer H L. (2018) The threats endangering Australia's at-risk fauna. Biological Conservation, 222, 172-179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.03.029

Watson J E M, Evans T, Venter O, Williams B, Tulloch A, Stewart C, Thompson I, Ray J C, Murray K, Salazar A, McAlpine C, Potapov P, Walston J, Robinson J G, Painter M, Wilkie D, Filardi C, Laurance W F, Houghton R A, Maxwell S, Grantham H, Samper C, Wang S, Laestadius L, Runting R K, Silva-Chávez G A, Ervin J, Lindenmayer D. (2018) The exceptional value of intact forest ecosystems. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2, 599–610. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0490-x

Williams B A, Shoo L, Wilson K, Beyer H L. (2017) Optimising the spatial planning of prescribed burns to achieve multiple objectives in a fire-dependent ecosystem. Journal of Applied Ecology, 54, 1699–1709. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12920

Other publications

Williams, B, Wenger, A, Watson, JEM. (2022) Just 16% of the world’s coastlines are in good shape – and many are so bad they can never fully recover. https://theconversation.com/just-16-of-the-worlds-coastlines-are-in-good-shape-and-many-are-so-bad-they-can-never-fully-recover-176445#Echobox=1643951681-1

Williams, B. (2021) Sustainability and Biodiversity Conservation – a brief overview of global and individual actions needed for a sustainable future. Redress – Journal of The Association of Women Educators, 30, 10-13. https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.452030215160250

Serra N, Kockel A, Williams, B, Watts, M, Klein, C, Stewart, R, Ball, I, Game, E, Possingham, H, McGowan J. (2020) Marxan with Zones User Manual. For Marxan with Zones version 1.0.1 and above. The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Arlington, Virginia, United States and Pacific Marine Analysis and Research Association (PacMARA), Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. https://marxansolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/MarxanZ_User_Manual_2021.pdf

Watson, J E M, Venter O, Williams, B A. (2020) Section 6 Mapping the last wilderness areas on Earth, Chapter 2: Lifestyles of the 21st Century, WWF Living Planet Report 2020. https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-us/

Waldron, A, Adams, V, Allan, J, Arnell, A, Asner, G, Atkinson, S, Baccini, A, Baillie, J E M, Balmford, A, Beau, A J, Brander, L, Brondizio, E, Bruner, A, Burgess, N, Burkart, K, Butchart, S, Button, R, Carrasco, R, Cheung, W, Christensen, V, Clements, A, Coll, M, di Marco, M, Deguignet, M, Dinerstein, E, Ellis, E, Eppink, F, Ervin, J, Escobedo, A, Fa, J, Fernandes-Llamazares, A, Fernando, S, Fujimori, S, Fulton, B, Garnett, S, Gerber, J, Gill, D, Gopalakrishna, T, Hahn, N, Halpern, B, Hasegawa, T, Havlik, P, Heikinheimo, V, Heneghan, R, Henry, E, Humpenoder, F, Jonas, H, Jones, K, Joppa, L, Joshi, A.R, Jung, M, Kingston, N, Klein, C, Krisztin, T, Lam, V, Leclere, D, Lindsey, P, Locke, H, Lovejoy, T E, Madgwick, P, Malhi, Y, Malmer, P, Maron, M, Mayorga, J, van Meijl, H, Miller, D, Molnar, Z, Mueller, N, Mukherjee, N, Naidoo, R, Nakamura, I, Nepal, P, Noss, R F,

O’Leary, B, Olson, D, Palcios Abrantes, J, Paxton, M, Popp, A, Possingham, H, Prestemon, J, Reside, A, Robinson, C, Robinson, J, Sala, E, Scherrer, K, Spalding, M, Spenceley, A, Steenbeck, J, Stehfest, E, Strassburg, B, Sumaila, R, Swinnerton, K, Sze, J, Tittensor, D, Toivonen, T, Toledo, A, Negret Torres, P, Van Zeist, W, Vause, J, Venter, O, Vilela, T, Visconti, P, Vynne, C, Watson, R, Watson, J, Wikramanayake, W, Williams, B, Wintle, B, Woodley, S, Wu, W, Zander, K, Zhang, Y, Zhang, Y P. (2020) Protecting 30% of the planet for nature: costs, benefits and economic implications - Working paper analysing the economic implications of the proposed 30% target for areal protection in the draft post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. https://www.conservation.cam.ac.uk/files/waldron_report_30_by_30_publish.pdf

Ward, M S, Reside, A E, Tulloch, A, Possingham, H P P, Williams, B, Sonter, L, Mayfield, H, Radford, J, Massingham, E, Watson, J E M. (2020) Six million hectares of threatened species habitat up in smoke. The conversation. https://theconversation.com/six-million-hectares-of-threatened-species-habitat-up-in-smoke-129438

Spencer-Smith, T, Cochrane, P, Trezise, J, Spindler, R, Grant, C, Howling, G, Ward, M, Williams, B, Pierrick Chalaye. (2019) Starting the conversation on Australia’s priorities for the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework A synthesis of views, AIUCN. http://aciucn.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Post-2020-Biodiversity-Framework-workshop-synthesis_FINAL.pdf

Watson, J, Reside, A, Williams, B, Possingham, H, Maron, M, Ward, M, Fuller, R, Consaul Atkinson, S, Kearney, S. (2017) Just ten MPs represent more than 600 threatened species in their electorates. The conversation. https://theconversation.com/just-ten-mps-represent-more-than-600-threatened-species-in-their-electorates-83500

Williams, B. (2017) Fire management for asset protection and the environment. Research Brief https://wilsonconservationecologylab.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/uoq-research-brief.pdf

Williams, B, Shoo, L, Wilson, K and Beyer, H. (2016 - Honours Thesis) Navigating asset protection and conservation objectives associated with fire management in a fire-dependent ecosystem. The University of Queensland.

Selected Media

For full list please visit:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MpLU1t2YCuoIzQzc16Dd1ZxvSZUNnL0xNuOcD-WP4i4/edit?usp=sharing

• 2022 - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/04/barely-15-of-the-worlds-coastal-regions-remain-ecologically-intact-study-says
• 2022 - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-coastal-regions-in-danger-human-industrial-pressure/
• 2022 - https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/we-should-be-pretty-concerned-study-shows-only-15-of-coastal-regions-still-intact/
• 2022 - https://eos.org/articles/just-15-5-of-global-coastline-remains-intact
• 2022 - https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/coast-environmental-damage-wildlifeseas-b2009305.html
• 2022 - https://revistagalileu.globo.com/Um-So-Planeta/noticia/2022/02/apenas-15-das-areas-costeiras-do-mundo-estao-intactas-diz-estudo.html
• 2020 - https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1307001318347878402?s=20
• 2020 - https://weather.com/news/news/2020-09-25-wilderness-area-size-of-mexico-lost
• 2020 - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/19/shocking-wilderness-the-size-of-mexico-lost-worldwide-in-just-13-years-study-finds
• 2020 - https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/study-finds-a-mexico-sized-swath-of-intact-land-lost-to-human-pressure/
• 2020 - https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/humans-destroyed-ecosystem-mexico-2000-2013/
• 2020 - https://stories.uq.edu.au/research/2020/conserving-our-future/index.html
• 2020 - https://g1.globo.com/fantastico/noticia/2020/09/20/planeta-em-chamas-ate-na-gelada-siberia-os-incendios-florestais-estao-fora-do-controle.ghtml
• 2020 - https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/biodiversity/posts/scientists-call-for-a-robust-goalfor-species-in-the-post-2020-global-biodiversity-framework