Griffith University

B Science (Hons), GCert Higher Education, PhD

Senior Lecturer, Griffith School of Environment, Nathan
Research Member, Australian Rivers Institute

Contact details for Associate Professor Fran Sheldon

Research Expertise

• Aquatic Ecosystem Health
• Arid stream and river ecology
• Freshwater invertebrate ecology
• Urban Streams

Potential PhD topics

• Spatially Targeted Restoration Efforts to Improve Ecosystem Health in Southeast Queensland
• Developing a Quantitative Spatio-temporal Health Index to Monitor, Report and Predict Aquatic Ecosystem Health
  

Research Projects

• Ecological responses to altered flow regimes
• Spatial scale of influence of riparian and catchment land use on stream ecosystem health
• Ecohydrological regionalisation of Australia: a tool for management and science
  

Publications

• Peterson, E.E., Sheldon, F., Darnell, R., Bunn, S.E. and Harch, B.D. (2011) A comparison of spatially explicit landscape representation methods and their relationship to seasonal stream conditions. Freshwater Biology 56:590 - 610.
• Newham, M.J., Fellows, C.S., and Sheldon, F. (On Line 2010) Stream and riparian zone ecosystem processes of an urban catchment.  Urban Ecosystems September 2010 doi 10.1007/s11252-010-0151-6
• Leigh, C., Sheldon, F., Kingsford, R.T., and Arthington, A.H. (2010). Sequential floods drive ‘booms’ and wetland persistence in dryland rivers: a synthesis.  Marine and Freshwater Research 61:896-908
• Sheldon, F. and Fellows, C.S. (2010) Water quality and water chemistry in two Australian dryland rivers: spatial and temporal variability and the role of flow Marine and Freshwater Research 61: 864-874
• Sheldon, F., Bunn, S.E., Hughes, J.M., Arthington, A.H., Balcombe, S.R. and Fellows, C.S. (2010) Dryland river waterholes: A review of the ecological roles and threats to aquatic refugia in arid landscapes.  Marine and Freshwater Research 61:885-895.
• Leigh, C., Burford, M., Sheldon, F. and Bunn, S.E. (2010) Evidence of ‘dynamic stability’ in dry season food webs within tropical floodplain rivers.  Marine and Freshwater Research 61:357-368
• Lutton, S., Sheldon, F. and Bunn, S.E. (2010) Morphological characteristics of on-farm water storages and their similarity to natural waterbodies in the Border Rivers Catchment, Australia.  Aquatic Conservation, Marine and Freshwater Research 20:47-57
• Bunn, S.E., Abal, E.G., Smith, M.J., Choy, S.C., Fellows, C.S., Harch, B.D., Kennard, M.J., Sheldon, F. (2010) Integration of science and monitoring of river ecosystem health to identify potential causal factors of degradation and guide investments in catchment protection and rehabilitation.  Freshwater Biology 55:223-240.
• Fellows, C.F., Bunn, S.E., Sheldon, F. and Beard, N.J. (2009) Benthic metabolism in two turbid dryland rivers. Freshwater Biology 54:236-253.
• Leigh, C. and Sheldon, F. (2009) Hydrological connectivity drives patterns of macroinvertebrate biodiversity in floodplain rivers of the Australian wet/dry tropics.  Freshwater Biology  54: 549-571.
• Leigh C. and Sheldon F. (2008). Hydrological changes and ecological impacts associated with water resource development in large floodplain rivers in the Australian tropics. River Research and Applications 24:1251-1270.
• Sheldon, F. and Thoms, M.C. (2006) Relationships between flow variability and invertebrate community composition: data from four Australian dryland rivers. River Research and Applications 22: 219-238
• Marshall, J.C., Sheldon, F., Thoms, M.C. and Choy, S. (2006) The macroinvertebrate fauna of an Australian dryland river system: spatial and temporal patterns and environmental relationships. Marine and Freshwater Research. 57: 61-74
• Sheldon, F. (2005) Incorporating natural variability into the assessment of ecological health in dryland rivers. Hydrobiologia 552: 45-56
• Thoms, M.C. and Sheldon, F . (2002) An ecosystem approach for determining environmental water allocations in Australian dryland river systems: the role of geomorphology. Geomorphology 47 (2-4): 153-168.
• Sheldon, F ., Boulton, A.J. and Puckridge, J.T. (2002) Conservation value of variable connectedness: Aquatic invertebrate assemblages of channel and floodplain habitats of a central Australian arid-zone river, Cooper Creek. Biological Conservation 103 :13-31
• Sheldon, F ., Thoms, M.C., Berry, O. and Puckridge, J.T. (2000) Using disaster to prevent catastrophe: Referencing the impacts of flow changes in large rivers. Regulated Rivers: Research and Management 16 : 403-420
• Thoms, M.C. and F. Sheldon (2000) Water resource development and hydrological change in a large dryland river: The Barwon-Darling River, Australia. Journal of Hydrology 228 : 10-21
• Sheldon, F . and K.F. Walker (1998) Spatial distribution of littoral invertebrates in the lower Murray-Darling River system, Australia, Marine and Freshwater Research 49: 171-182
• Puckridge, J.T., F. Sheldon, K.F. Walker and A.J. Boulton (1998) Flow variability and the ecology of large rivers, Marine and Freshwater Research 49: 55-72