John R Ford

University of Melbourne | MSD · School of BioSciences

Human-driven climate change and habitat modification are negatively impacting coastal ecosystems and the species that reside within them. Uncovering how individuals of key species respond to environmental influences is crucial for effective and responsive coastal resource and fisheries management. Here, using an otolith based analysis, we recreated...

In response to consumer concerns about the sustainability of Australian-sourced seafood we derive a set of criteria within an explicit decision-process that can be used to determine whether locally farmed and wild-caught Australian seafood products meet standards of ecological sustainability and Ecologically Sustainable Development. These criteria...

How landscape context influences density-dependent processes is important, as environmental heterogeneity can confound estimates of density dependence in demographic parameters. Here we evaluate 19 populations in a shoaling temperate reef fish (Trachinops caudimaculatus) metapopulation within a heterogeneous seascape (Port Phillip Bay, Australia) t...

Victoria has lost vast areas (>95%) of native flat oyster (Ostrea angasi, Sowerby 1871) and blue mussel (Mytilus edulis galloprovinicialis, Lamarck 1819) reefs from estuarine and coastal waters since European settlement. We document the decline of these reefs by examining indigenous use of shellfish, the decimation of oyster reefs by dredge fishing...

Population connectivity, which is essential for the persistence of benthic marine metapopulations, depends on how life history traits and the environment interact to influence larval production, dispersal and survival. Although we have made significant advances in our understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of these individual processes,...

Marine scientists and environmental managers engaged in a roundtable discussion at the Australian Marine Sciences Association conference in July 2014 to identify areas where linkages could be improved between the two groups. Here, we summarize the key themes and outcomes from the discussion, including the need to clearly define management objective...

The REEF project was established to examine the effect of sea urchins and potential anthropogenic stressors (sediment and nutrients) associated with urbanisation on the local and system-wide dynamics of rocky reefs in Port Phillip Bay (PPB), Victoria. The project explicitly addressed implications for management of resilience of PPB reefs. The REEF...

Australians have a profound love for coastal and marine environments. Whilst iconic destinations such as the Great Barrier Reef, The Twelve Apostles and Rottnest Island annually attract millions of international visitors, Australians on weekends and over the summer holidays flock towards lesser-known, family destinations such as Lakes Entrance, Nam...

Identifying how density and number-dependent processes regulate populations is important for predicting population response to environmental change. Species that live in groups, such as shoaling fish, can experience both direct density-dependent mortality through resource limitation and inverse number-dependent mortality via increased feeding rates...

Predicting the consequences of predator biodiversity loss on prey requires an understanding of multiple predator interactions. Predators are often assumed to have independent and additive effects on shared prey survival; however, multiple predator effects can be non-additive if predators foraging together reduce prey survival (risk enhancement) or...

Although recruitment is often influenced by microhabitat characteristics that affect larval settlement and post-settlement growth and survival, the influence of some habitat features, such as the presence of conspecifics and the accessibility of food, are poorly understood, particularly on temperate reefs. We investigated the ecological determinant...

Identifying and conserving sites with consistently high settlement is necessary for protecting recruitment of coastal fish populations. We investigated the initial settlement patterns of coastally spawned juvenile fish entering 4 temperate estuaries with narrow entrances ( < 500 m wide) on the eastern coast of Australia. Habitat structure (seagrass...