Dr Catherine Leigh
Faculty of Science,
School of Mathematical Sciences
Biography
Cath is a quantitative community ecologist, scientific communicator and teacher, with a research focus on rivers and reservoirs. Her work seeks to understand ecological responses to natural and human-induced changes in the environment by incorporating population- to ecosystem- level science with state-of-the-art, data-driven analytical approaches, and to find innovative solutions to real world environmental problems. She is currently working on projects to improve water quality monitoring and data-driven modelling for enhanced environmental protection. Her expertise is sought widely across state, national and international levels, spanning government, professional, industry and community organisations. Cath was a key participant in the international Intermittent River Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis project, the ACIAR Improving the Sustainability of Rice-shrimp Farming Systems in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam project, the Australian National Water Commission Low Flows project, and the AusAID River Health and Environmental Flows in China project. She is highly productive and an excellent communicator, having produced over 80 research outputs, including 30+ journal articles, 6 invited book chapters, online databases, and multiple conference proceedings and technical reports. She enjoys convening special sessions and workshops and delivering plenary and keynote presentations at national and international conferences and at public outreach events. Cath served as Guest Editor for the 2016 special issue of the journal Freshwater Biology on intermittent river ecology and management and joined the Editorial Board of Freshwater Biology in 2018. She is the Secretary of Australia's peak professional body for freshwater scientists and managers, the Australian Freshwater Sciences Society (AFSS), and is the proud recipient of the 2017 AFSS Early Career Excellence Award.Personal details
Positions
- Adjunct Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Science,
School of Mathematical Sciences
Keywords
Community and Quantitative Ecology, Freshwater Ecology, Ecohydrology, Aquatic Invertebrates, Water Quality, Ecosystem Health, Global Change Ecology, Environmental Science and Management, Climate Change, Applied statistics
Discipline
Ecological Applications, Environmental Science and Management, Statistics
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD (Griffith University)
Professional memberships and associations
- Secretary, Australian Freshwater Sciences Society (formerly Australian Society for Limnology)
- Editorial Board, Freshwater Biology
Teaching
I led the Data Management and Analytical Skills module of the 2019 Honours course STB410 Advance Techniques in Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences in QUT’s School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences. This involved:
I was Lecturer at Griffith University's School of Environment 2016-2018, convening, lecturing and instructing on the following undergraduate courses:
I have supervised to completion First Class Honours (BSc) student Kurtis Nisbet (Griffith University) undertaking ecological research in addition to three Master students while resident post-doctoral researcher at Irstea, France. I currently mentor several Higher Degree Research candidates at QUT and ACEMS.
- design and delivery of seminars and active learning activities
- coordination with course conveyor and instructors
- design and marking of assessment items.
I was Lecturer at Griffith University's School of Environment 2016-2018, convening, lecturing and instructing on the following undergraduate courses:
- Applied Statistics
- Biological Systems
- Ecology
- Ecology and Conservation of Communities
- Emerging Issues in Aquatic Ecology
- Rivers and Catchments
- Science Capstone: Urban Streams (Supervised Research)
- Special Topics (Supervised Research)
- Urban Ecology and Biodiversity
- Zoology
I have supervised to completion First Class Honours (BSc) student Kurtis Nisbet (Griffith University) undertaking ecological research in addition to three Master students while resident post-doctoral researcher at Irstea, France. I currently mentor several Higher Degree Research candidates at QUT and ACEMS.
Experience
My research delivers real world solutions to industry, government and third sectors for environmental, economic and social benefits.
Current partners and projects include:
Partners on prior projects include:
Read more
Current partners and projects include:
- Queensland Department of Environment and Science
- Healthy Land and Water
- Anomaly detection in streaming water-quality data
- Use of water-quality surrogates for sediment and nutrient prediction
- Uncertainty in pollutant loads prediction
Partners on prior projects include:
- Seqwater
- Commonwealth Environmental Water Office
- Department of Environment and Energy
- Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)
- AusAID
- Australia China Environment Development Partnership
- International WaterCentre
- National Water Commission
Publications
- Leigh C, Alsibai O, Hyndman R, Kandanaarachchi S, King O, McGree J, Neelamraju C, Strauss J, Talagala P, Turner R, Mengersen K, Peterson E, (2019) A framework for automated anomaly detection in high frequency water-quality data from in situ sensors, Science of the Total Environment, 664 () p885
- Marshall J, Acuna V, Allen D, Bonada N, Boulton A, Carlson S, Dahm C, Datry T, Leigh C, Negus P, Richardson J, Sabater S, Stevenson R, Steward A, Stubbington R, Tockner K, Vander Vorste R, (2018) Protecting U.S. temporary waterways (Letter), Science p856
- Datry T, Foulquier A, Corti R, von Schiller D, Tockner K, Mendoza-Lera C, Clement J, Gessner M, Moleon M, other a, Leigh C, (2018) A global analysis of terrestrial plant litter dynamics in non-perennial waterways, Nature Geoscience, 11 () p497
- Datry T, Boulton A, Bonada N, Fritz K, Leigh C, Sauquet E, Tockner K, Hugueny B, Dahm C, (2018) Flow intermittence and ecosystem services in rivers of the Anthropocene, Journal of Applied Ecology, 55 (1) p353
- Soria M, Leigh C, Datry T, Mauricio Bini L, Bonada N, (2017) Biodiversity in perennial and intermittent rivers: a meta-analysis, Oikos, 126 (8) p1078
- Leigh C, Hiep L, Stewart-Koster B, Vien D, Condon J, Van Sang N, Sammut J, Burford M, (2017) Concurrent rice-shrimp-crab farming systems in the Mekong Delta: Are conditions (sub) optimal for crop production and survival?, Aquaculture Research, 48 (10) p5251
- Leigh C, Datry T, (2017) Drying as a primary hydrological determinant of biodiversity in river systems: a broad-scale analysis, Ecography, 40 (4) p487
- Leigh C, Laporte B, Bonada N, Fritz K, Pella H, Sauquet E, Tockner K, Datry T, (2017) IRBAS: An online database to collate, analyze, and synthesize data on the biodiversity and ecology of intermittent rivers worldwide, Ecology and Evolution, 7 (3) p815
- Leigh C, Boulton A, Courtwright J, Fritz K, May C, Walker R, Datry T, (2016) Ecological research and management of intermittent rivers: An historical review and future directions, Freshwater Biology, 61 (8) p1181
- Leigh C, Bonada N, Boulton A, Hugueny B, Larned S, Vander Vorste R, Datry T, (2016) Invertebrate assemblage responses and the dual roles of resistance and resilience to drying in intermittent rivers, Aquatic Sciences, 78 (2) p291
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Catherine, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- Recipient of the 2017 Early Career Excellence Award for the Australian Freshwater Sciences Society, the peak professional body for Australia's freshwater scientists and managers
- Type
- Editor of a Prestigious Work of Reference
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- Editorial Board member of Q1 Journal Freshwater Biology
- Type
- Editor of a Prestigious Work of Reference
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- Freshwater Biology Special Issue "Intermittent River Ecology as a Maturing, Multi-Disciplinary Science: Challenges, Developments and Perspectives" (volume 61, issue 8)