Dr Ivor Growns

Postdoctoral Research Fellow - School of Environmental and Rural Science

Ivor Growns

Email: igrowns@une.edu.au

Biography

Dr Ivor Growns is Research Fellow with 30 years postdoctoral experience in primarily in macroinvertebrate and fish ecology. His research career has been concerned with understanding the effects of anthropogenic disturbances to aquatic ecosystems and the relationships between river and wetland fauna and flow regimes. These two paths have led to his interest and current research in the area of environmental management of aquatic ecosystems. He has produced over 120 scientific and oral papers and technical reports. His latest research, amongst other things, has involved understanding the potential benefits of river flows to rivers and wetlands.

On completing his Ph.D. in 1992 he was employed by NSW Fisheries to assess the effects of the Sydney Water Board’s activities on the fish and fisheries of the Hawkesbury Nepean River system. He moved to Sydney Water as an aquatic ecologist in 1994. The Unit he was in was made a consulting company in 1996 and he became a Senior Consultant. In 1999 he joined NSW Fisheries again to project manage the contribution of the Department to the Integrated Monitoring of Environmental Flows program. He joined the Department of Land and Water Conservation (DLWC) in 2002 to assist with the development of water sharing plans., where he led, directed and collaborated on research to provide new knowledge and to provide expert scientific advice to Government and Industry in the various Departments that evolved from DLWC. He joined the Aquatic Ecology and Restoration Research Group at UNE in 2017.

Career goal

To provide high quality advice and new knowledge in freshwater ecosystems to assist with adaptive and sustainable management of Australia’s natural resources.

Qualifications

1992   Doctor of Philosophy (Environmental Science), Murdoch University.

Thesis title: ‘Macroinvertebrate community structure in the streams of the southern forests of Western Australia: the influence of seasonality,  longitudinal gradients and forestry activities.’.

2016   Certificate IV in Training and Assessment

1998   Graduate Certificate in Biometrics (Charles Sturt Uni.)

1986   Bachelor of Science (Honours, Class 2A), Zoology - University of Tasmania :

‘Aspects of the feeding ecology of Parastacoides tasmanicus tasmanicus (Clark) (Decapoda :  Parastacidae).

1983 Bachelor of Science, University of Western Australia

Research Interests

  • Environmental flows
  • Aquatic ecology specialising in macroinvertebrate and fish ecology
  • Natural and water resource management
  • Biometrics and statistical analysis
  • Ecological monitoring and assessment and experimental design
  • GIS and Spatial Modelling

Publications

Wilson, B, King, D, Growns, I., and Veeragathipillai, M. Climatically driven change in soil carbon across a basalt landscape is restricted to non-agricultural land use systems. Soil research, in press.

Growns, I, Murphy, J and Jones, I.J. (2017). The effects of increased flow and fine sediment on benthic invertebrates in stream mesocosms. Marine and Freshwater Research, 68, 496-505.

Growns, I. (2016). The implementation of an environmental flow regimes results in ecological recovery of regulated rivers. Restoration Ecology, 24, 406-414.

Hitchcock, JN, Mitrovic S, Hadwen, W, Growns, I, Rohlfs A. (2016). Zooplankton responses to freshwater inflows and organic matter pulses in a wave-dominated estuary. Marine and Freshwater Research, 67, 1374-1386

Hitchcock, JN, Mitrovic S, Hadwen, W, Growns, I, Rohlfs A. (2016). Terrestrial dissolved organic carbon subsidizes estuarine zooplankton: an in-situ mesocosm study. Limnology and Oceanography, 61, 254-267.

Westhorpe DP, Mitrovic S, Growns I, Hadwen W, Rees GN (2015) Disruption in water quality patterns along the river continuum by a large bottom release dam, Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 22, 400-416.

Jones I, Growns I, Arnold A, McCall S, Bowes M (2015) The effects of increased flow and fine sediment on hyporheic invertebrates and nutrients in stream mesocosms. Freshwater Biology, 60, 813-826

Growns I, Ryder D, Kobayashi T, García A (2014). Freshwater macroinvertebrates of Lord Howe Island. Journal of Natural History 48, 2675-2687

Growns I, Reinfelds I (2014) Environmental flow management using transparency and translucency rules. Marine and Freshwater Research 65 (8), 667-673.

Growns I, Chessman B, Mitrovic S, Westhorpe D (2014) The effects of dams on longitudinal variation in river food webs. Journal of Freshwater Ecology 29, 69-83

Rolls RJ, Growns IO, Khan TA, Wilson GG, Ellison TL, Prior A, Waring CC (2013) Fish recruitment in rivers with modified discharge depends on the interacting effects of flow and thermal regimes. Freshwater Biology 58 (9), 1804-1819

Growns I, Rourke M. and Gilligan (2013) Towards river health assessment using species distributional modelling. Ecological Indicators, 29, 138-144

Reinfelds I.V., Walsh C., van der Meulen D., Growns I.O. and Gray C. (2013). Magnitude, frequency and duration of environmental flows to stimulate and facilitate catadromous fish migrations: Australian bass (Macquaria novemaculeata Perciformes, Percichthyidae). River Research and Applications, 29, 512-527