WA ecologist to receive gold medal

UWA’s Professor Richard Hobbs is to be awarded the 2010 Ecological Society of Australia Gold Medal. The award recognises his research in theoretical and applied aspects of restoration ecology. Hobbs joined UWA in 2009 as professor of restoration ecology in the School of Plant Biology, and holds an Australian Laureate Fellowship. He leads the UWA Ecosystem Research Laboratory, which is involved in projects such as woodland restoration on former agricultural land, speeding the return of vertebrates to rehabilitated bauxite mines, and understanding the impacts of urbanisation on native plant communities. The award will be presented at the Ecological Society of Australia’s annual conference to be held in Canberra in December.