Griffith University

B Science (Hons), PhD

Director, Australian Rivers Institute

Contact details for Professor Stuart Bunn

Research Expertise

• Pattern of energy and nutrient flux in aquatic ecosystems
• Structure of aquatic food webs
• Application of multiple stable isotope tracing in the study of aquatic ecosystems
• Development & application of cost-effective methods to assess aquatic ecosystem health

Full list of publications (PDF 407k)

Selected Publications

• Zhang,Y., Shao, Q., Xia, J., Bunn, S.E., Arthington, A.H., Mackay, S, Kennard, M. (in press).  Classification of natural flow regimes for environmental flow assessment in regulated rivers, Huai River Basin, China.  River Research and Applications.
• Jardine, T.D., Hunt, R.J., Pusey, B.J. and Bunn, S.E. (2011). A non-lethal sampling method for stable isotope studies of tropical fishes. Marine and Freshwater Research 62: 83-90.
  
• Pettit, N.E., Bayliss, P., Davies, P.M., Hamilton, S.K. Warfe, D.M. Bunn, S.E. and Douglas, M.M. (2011).  Seasonal contrasts in carbon resources and ecological processes on a tropical floodplain.  Freshwater Biology.
• Zhang,Y., Shao, Q., Xia, J., Bunn, S.E. and Zuo, Q. (2011).  Changes of flow regimes and precipitation in Huai River Basin in the last half century.  Hydrological Processes 25: 246–257.
• 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.
• Vörösmarty, C.J., McIntyre, P.B., Gessner, M.O., Dudgeon, D., Prusevich, A., Green, P.A., Glidden, S., Bunn, S.E., Sullivan, C.A., Reidy, C.A., Davies, P.M. (2010).  Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity. Nature 467: 555-561.
  
• Sheldon, F., Bunn, S.E., Hughes, J.M., Arthington, A.H., Balcombe, S.R. and Fellows, C.S. (2010).  Dryland river waterholes: Ecological roles and threats to aquatic refugia in arid landscapes.  Marine and Freshwater Research 61: 885–895.
  
• Jardine, T.D. and Bunn, S.E. (2010).  Northern Australia, whither the mercury?  Marine and Freshwater Research 61: 451-463. 
  
• Leigh, C., Burford, M.A., Sheldon, F. and Bunn, S.E. (2010).  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 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 guide investments in catchment protection and rehabilitation.  Freshwater Biology 55: 223-240.
• Stewart-Koster, B., Bunn, S.E., Mackay, S.J., Poff, N.L., Naiman, R.J. and Lake, P.S. (2010). The use of Bayesian networks to guide investments in flow and catchment restoration for impaired river ecosystems. Freshwater Biology 55: 243-260.
  
• Poff, N.L., Richter, B., Arthington, A.H., Bunn, S.E., Naiman, R.J., Apse, C., Kendy, E., Warner, A.T., Tharme, R., Bledsoe, B.P., Merritt, D., Jacobson, R.B., Freeman, M., Rogers, K., Henriksen, J.,  Olden, J., O’Keeffe, J. and Acreman, M.   (2010). The Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration: A Framework for Developing Regional Environmental Flow Standards.  Freshwater Biology 55: 147-170.
  
• Fellows, C.S., Bunn, S.E., Sheldon, and F.S. Beard, N. (2009).  Benthic metabolism in two dryland rivers.  Freshwater Biology 54: 236-253.
  
• Burford, M.A., Cook, A.J., Fellows, C.S., Balcombe, S.R. and Bunn, S.E. (2008). Sources of carbon fuelling production in an arid floodplain river system.  Marine and Freshwater Research 59: 224-234.
  
• Logan, J., Jardine, T., Miller, T., Bunn, S.E., Cunjak, R. and Lutcavage, M. (2008).  Lipid corrections in carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses:  comparison of chemical extraction and modelling methods. Journal of Animal Ecology 77: 838-846.
• Bunn, S.E., Abal, E.G., Greenfield, P.F. and Tarte, D.M.  (2007). Making the connection between healthy waterways and healthy catchments:  South East Queensland, Australia.  Water Science and Technology: Water Supply 7: 93–100.
  Balcombe, S.R., Bunn, S.E., Arthington, A.H., Fawcett, J.H, McKenzie-Smith, F.J. and Wright, A. (2007).  Fish larvae, growth and biomass relationships in an Australian arid zone river: links between floodplains and waterholes.  Freshwater  Biology 52: 2385-2398.
  Cook, B.D., Bunn, S.E. and Hughes, J.M. (2007).  A comparative analysis of population structuring and genetic diversity in sympatric lineages of freshwater shrimp (Atyidae: Paratya): concerted or independent responses to hydrographic factors?  Freshwater  Biology 52: 2156-2171.
• Davies, P.M., Bunn, S.E. and Hamilton, S.K. (2008).  Primary production in tropical rivers.  In:  D. Dudgeon (ed).  Tropical Stream Ecology.  Academic Press.
• Tockner, K., Bunn, S.E., Gordon, C., Naiman, R.J., Quinn, G.P. and Stanford, J.A. (2008).  Floodplains: Critically threatened ecosystems.  In: N. Polunin (ed).  Future of aquatic ecosystems.  Cambridge University Press.
• Treadwell, S., Koehn, J., Bunn, S. and Brooks, A. (2007). Wood and other aquatic habitat. In: Lovett, S. & Price, P. (eds.) Principles for riparian lands management. 117-140. Land and Water Australia, Canberra.
• Bunn, S., and Davies, P.M. (2007). Aquatic food webs. In: Lovett, S. & Price, P. (eds.) Principles for riparian lands management. 47-62. Land and Water Australia, Canberra.
  
• Davies, P.M,. Bunn, S., Mosisch, T., Cook, B. and Walshe, T. (2007). Temperature and light. In: Lovett, S & Price, P. (eds.) Principles for riparian lands management. 33-46. Land and Water Australia, Canberra.
  
• Cook, B.D., Bunn, S.E. and Hughes, J.M. (2007).  Molecular genetic and stable isotope signatures reveal complementary patterns of population connectivity in the regionally vulnerable southern pygmy perch (Nannoperca australis).  Biological Conservation 138: 60-72.
• Fellows, C.S., Wos, M., Pollard, P. and Bunn, S.E. (2007).  Ecosystem metabolism in a dryland river waterhole.  Marine and Freshwater Research 58: 250-262.
• Arthington, A.H., Bunn, S.E., Poff, N.L. & Naiman, R.J. (2006).  The challenge of providing environmental flow rules to sustain river ecosystems. Ecological Applications 16: 1311-1318.
• Fellows, C.S., Clapcott, J.E., Udy, J.W., Bunn, S.E., Harch, B.D. and Davies, P.M. (2006). Benthic metabolism as an indicator of stream ecosystem health. Hydrobiologia 572: 71-87.
• Brito, E.F., Moulton, T.P., de Souza, M.L. and Bunn, S.E. (2006). Stable isotope analysis indicates microalgae as the predominant food source of fauna in a coastal forest stream of southeast Brazil. Austral Ecology 31: 623-633.
• Bernhardt, E., Bunn, S.E., Hart, D.D., Malmqvist, B., Muotka, T., Naiman, R.J., Pringle, C., Reuss, M., and van Wilgen, B. (2006).  The challenge of ecologically sustainable water management.  Water Policy 8: 475-479.
• Bunn, S.E., Thoms, M.C., Hamilton, S.K. and Capon, S.J. (2006).  Flow variability in dryland rivers: boom, bust and the bits in between.  River Research and Applications 22: 179-186.
• Bunn, S.E., Balcombe, S.R., Davies, P.M., Fellows, C.S. and McKenzie-Smith, F.J. (2006).  Aquatic productivity and aquatic food webs of desert river ecosystems.  In: R.T. Kingsford (ed).  Ecology of Desert Rivers. 76-99.  Cambridge University Press.