biology

Hugh Possingham

Hugh Possingham is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hugh Possingham rather than just read about it. In short: Hugh Phillip Possingham, FAA FRS (born 21 July 1962), is the former Queensland Chief Scientist and is best known for his work in conservation biology, applied ecology, and population ecology. He is also a professor at the School of the Environment at The University of Queensland.

Key takeaways

Hugh Possingham belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hugh Possingham to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hugh Possingham from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hugh Phillip Possingham, FAA FRS (born 21 July 1962), is the former Queensland Chief Scientist and is best known for his work in conservation biology, applied ecology, and population ecology. He is also a professor at the School of the Environment at The University of Queensland.

Career Possingham received his bachelor's degree with Honours in 1984, from the department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Adelaide. He completed his D.Phil. at Oxford University under Michael Bulmer in 1987, on a Rhodes Scholarship. His thesis focused on optimal foraging theory. Possingham's first postdoctoral position was with Joan Roughgarden at Stanford University, working on the recruitment dynamics of intertidal communities. He then returned to Australia on a QEII Fellowship at the Australian National University, and undertook research on applications of population viability analysis to conservation biology. He moved to the University of Adelaide, first as a lecturer, then in 1995 as a professor. In 2000 Possingham moved to a chair in the departments of Mathematics and Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, where he was an ARC Professorial, Federation, and Laureate Fellow. He was Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, and the Australian government's Threatened Species Recovery Hub. In 2016 he joined The Nature Conservancy as its Chief Scientist. In September 2020 he was appointed the Queensland Chief Scientist During his academic career, Possingham has published over 650 peer-reviewed papers, and supervised 135 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. He co-developed the Marxan software for systematic conservation planning, which is considered "the most significant contribution to conservation biology to emerge from Australia's research community". It has been used to plan terrestrial and marine protected area networks for 5% of the Earth's surface, including Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Public roles Possingham was the Queensland Chief Scientist from 2020 to 2022, where he provided high-level strategic science, research and innovation advice to the Queensland Government and acted as an ambassador for science in Queensland. Possingham is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, chaired the Australian Government's committees on Biodiversity Hotspots, and on Biological Diversity, the Queensland Government's Smart State Council, and the Wilderness Society's Wild Country Science Council. Possingham co-authored "The Brigalow Declaration" with Dr Barry Traill, used by Queensland Premier Beattie to support an end to land-clearing in Queensland. Land clearance in Queensland was removing 500,000 hectares of native vegetation each year, and was responsible for 10% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions; its cessation enabled Australia to meet its Kyoto Protocol target. In 2009 he proposed devoting a proportionate fraction of gambling revenues to saving an endangered species, to be selected by a random drawing shown on television before the Melbourne Cup. From 2016 to 2020, Possingham was the Chief Scientist of The Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organisation with 400 scientists and 4000 staff, that has protected more than 40 million hectares of land and thousands of kilometres of rivers worldwide.

Awards Possingham won the Australian Mathematical Society Medal, the inaugural Fenner Medal for plant and animal biology from the Australian Academy of Science, and the 1999 and 2009 Eureka Prizes for Environmental Research. In 2016 he was awarded the Mahathir Science Award for Tropical Natural Resources, alongside Kerrie Wilson and Eric Meijard. He was elected to the Australian Academy of Science in 2005. In 2013, Possigham was the first Australian to be elected a fellow of the Ecological Society of America, and in 2016 he was elected a foreign associate of the USA National Academy of Sciences. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2025.

References

External links Website Curriculum Vitae Decision Point Magazine Archived 6 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine

Selected bibliography

Recruitment dynamics in complex life cycles. Roughgarden J, Gaines SD & Possingham HP. Science (1988) 241:1460-1466. Limits to the use of threatened species lists. Possingham HP. et al. (2002) Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17:503-507. Prioritising global conservation efforts. Wilson KA, McBride M, Bode M & Possingham HP. Nature (2006) 440:337-340. Active adaptive management conservation. McCarthy M & Possingham HP. Conservation Biology (2007) 21:956-963. Optimal allocation of resources among threatened species. Joseph L, Maloney R & Possingham HP. Conservation Biology (2009) 23:328-338. Six common mistakes in conservation priority setting. Game E, Kareiva P & Possingham HP. Conservation Letters (2013) 27:480-485. Optimal conservation outcomes require both restoration and protection. Possingham HP, Bode M, Klein CK. PLOS Biology (2015) e1002052.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hugh Possingham

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hugh Possingham claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hugh Possingham before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hugh Possingham ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hugh Possingham

In research: Hugh Possingham appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hugh Possingham in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hugh Possingham is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1962 births, Academic staff of the University of Queensland, Alumni of St John's College, Oxford, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hugh Possingham outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Hugh Possingham” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Hugh Possingham in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hugh Possingham means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hugh Possingham out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hugh Possingham in simple terms?

Why does Hugh Possingham matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hugh Possingham?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hugh Possingham.