Why Australian tropical scientists should become international leaders

Following a recent public lecture at James Cook University in Cairns, I was asked my views of Australia's tropical biologists and environmental scientists, especially those working in the Wet Tropics of north Queensland. As a visiting biologist who has worked in tropical Queensland on and off for the past two decades, what, specifically, did I feel were their greatest strengths and weaknesses? Detailing the strengths of Australian tropical scientists is challenging only in that there are so many merits to list. They are, in my view, among the world's leaders in studies of tropical palaeoecology and phylogeography, in ecological and bioclimatic modelling, in fine-scale vegetation mapping, in the development of computerized species-identification keys, in forestcanopy biology, in fire ecology, in projecting the potential impacts of future climate change, in wildlife epidemiology, in studies of habitat fragmentation and landscape ecology, and in tropical restoration ecology, among others. A foundation for many of these advances is arguably the world's best and most complete databases on tropical species distributions, especially for terrestrial vertebrates, trees, fish, and some terrestrial and stream invertebrate groups. What about the weaknesses? Although one can always nit-pick, there is one deficiency that I believe overwhelms all others. Despite many strengths and an abundance of talent, Australian tropical science has failed to realize its true potential as an international research leader, partner and capacity builder, especially in the megadiversity centres of Melanesia, South-east Asia and the Pacific Islands that sit just on Australia's doorstep. Surmounting this deficiency would, I believe, not merely benefit Australia's developing-nation neighbours but could also greatly energize Australian tropical science.