Griffith University

Full member, Environmental Futures Centre
Associate Professor, Griffith School of Environment

Contact details for Associate Professor Catherine Pickering

Research Expertise

Associate Professor Pickering has over 25 year's research experience in alpine ecology, particularly in the Australian Alps. This includes her original PhD and subsequent research into plant reproductive biology including gender differentiation in hermaphrodites, sex selection theory, fertilisation and resource limitation, gender, timing of maternal investment, and pollinator limitation. It also includes assessing the response of mountain ecosystems to different types of disturbance including from grazing, native herbivory, fire, tourism, climate change and weeds. This includes international collaborative research on climate change including participation in the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) program.  

Associate Professor Pickering is a world leader in the area of recreation ecology which assesses the impacts of different tourism and recreational use on natural ecosystems. This includes conducting original research and reviews on impacts associated with hiking, camping, mountain bike riding, horse riding, on the role of tourists in the spread of weeds, impacts on vegetation, soils and birds including rare species, and the interaction between climate change and tourism in the Australian Alps. She is a founding member of the International the Recreation Ecology Research Network, and for over 10 years was a member of the International Centre for Ecotourism Research at Griffith University.  

The third area examines the management of protected areas. This includes collaborating with parks agencies in Australia and overseas on methods to best develop policies for managing tourism, both from an ecological and social perspective, and for managing different types of disturbance such as climate change. This includes presenting training courses, workshops and seminars to protected area nationally and internationally and local government on the best ways to manage tourism.

Research Focus

• Plant ecology (alpine ecology, plant reproductive ecology, weed ecology, biological invasion ecology, climate change, disturbance, fire, trampling, herbivory, recreation ecology)
• Climate change (environmental and social impacts in the Australian Alps including the natural environment and tourism industry)
• Sustainable tourism (recreation ecology, management of nature based tourism, park management, climate change, visitor monitoring)

Research Team

PhD Candidates

• Agustina Barros (Principal Supervisor)
• Sebastian Rossi (Principal Supervisor)
• Sudipto Roy (Associate Supervisor)
  

Honours Candidates

• Daniela Guitart (Co-supervisor)

Curent Projects

• Provision of scientific and technical services to develop and test a program to monitor social impacts of the South East Queensland Horse trails Network (SEQ-HTN)
• Work Page 2 - Limits to Adaptation of Australian alpine areas
• Determining high risk vegetation communities and plant species in relation to climate change in the Australian alpine region
  

Awards, Appointments and Honours

• Member - Ecological Society of Australia
• Member - Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments
• Member - Recreation Ecology Research Network
• Member - International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Commission on Protected Areas, Australia and New Zealand
  

Publications

• View Associate Professor Pickering's publications on Griffith Research Online
• View Associate Professor Pickering's full list of publications (PDF)