Associate Professor Ben Moore

Ben Moore is an ecologist broadly interested in plant-animal interactions, chemical ecology and the causes and consequences of variation in plant chemistry. He is particularly interested in the chemical, nutritional and physiological ecology of Australian marsupials, like the koala, that feed on Eucalyptus. What adaptations and strategies have these animals adopted that allow them to survive on this challenging diet? How is climate and landscape change altering the ecology of these interactions? And how does the quality of Eucalyptus as food for herbivores vary across the landscape and through time?

Ben completed his honours degree in zoology at the University of Melbourne and then obtained his Ph.D. from the Australian National University (Canberra). He then spent 2.5 years at James Cook University in Townsville and 5 years at the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Teaching, expertise

Bushfires (opens in a new window), Ecology, Nutritional and Chemical Ecology, Plant-animal interactions, Koala conservation, Fauna and biodiversity, ecosystem effects of plant secondary metabolites.

In first semester Ben coordinates AGRI3002 Animal Nutrition and Feeding and teaches in BIOS2041 Vertebrate Zoology. In second semester, he co-coordinates BIO3039 Ecology and contributes teaching to BIOS3037 Climate Change and Biodiversity Conservation and ENVL2008 Australian Ecosystems Threats and Solutions.

Awards and Recognition.

Contributed to the report of the NSW Legislative Council Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment, entitled ‘Koala populations and habitat in New South Wales’. The report was tabled with the Clerk of the Parliaments on 30 June 2020.
Invited to participate in an Office of Environment & Heritage Scientific Review Panel. The panel is developing a state-wide probability surface of Koala Habitat Suitability as part of the NSW Koala Strategy

Grants/Current Projects

Measuring the impacts of selective harvesting on foliar nutrition and biomass using unoccupied aerial vehicles
Co-Researchers: Justin Welbergen
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Natural Resources Commission
Period: 2023-2025

Understanding the confluence of Eucalyptus dieback and koala habitat in NSW - Stage 1
Co-Researchers: Rachael Nolan, Brendan Choat, Rachael Gallagher, Belinda Medlyn, Matthias Boer
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Department of Planning and Environment
Period: 2023-2024

Understanding the confluence of Eucalyptus dieback and koala habitat in NSW - literature review
Co-Researchers: Rachael Nolan, Brendan Choat, Rachael Gallagher, Belinda Medlyn, Matthias Boer
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Department of Planning and Environment
Period: 2023-2024

Spatial services to support the NSW koala strategy
Co-Researcher: -

Partner/funding body: NSW Department of Planning and Environment

Period: 2022

Partner/Funding Body: Horticulture Innovation Australia [via Plant & Food Research Australia Pty Limited]
Period: 2022-2026

Crop and varietal data to better understand the importance of pollination
Co-Researchers: James Makinson, Sally Power, Markus Riegler and James Cook
Partner/Funding Body: Horticulture Innovation Australia [via Plant & Food Research Australia Pty Limited]
Period: 2022-2026

Improving the feedbase for rescued and rehabilitation koalas
Co-Researchers: Bill Price, Allan Torres and Jeffrey Zou
Partner/funding body: Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
Period: 2022-2024

Impacts of climate extremes on the productivity, nutritional characteristics and persistence of perennial legumes and mixtures
Co-Researchers: Sally Power and Elise Pendall
Partner/funding body: MLA Donor Company Limited
Period: 2022-2025

Development of koala probiotics to improve rehabilitation success
Partner/Funding Body: Brisbane City Council [via The University of Queensland]
Period: 2022

Provision of advice regarding the protection of koala populations associated with the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan
Partner/Funding Body: Investment NSW
Period: 2021

Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan - Research Strategy and Implementation
Co-Researchers: Paul Rymer, Uffe Nielsen, Rachael Nolan, Elise Pendall, Jeff Powell, Yolima Carrillo, Catriona Macdonald, Ben Moore, Markus Riegler, Neil Perry and Juan Salazar
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Period: 2021-2025

Development of Blue-banded bees as managed buzz pollinators
Co-Researchers: Ben Moore, Markus Riegler, Robert Spooner-Hart and Michelle Mak
Partner/funding body: Horticulture Innovation Australia
Period: 2021-2026

Assessing the effects of regeneration harvesting on koala density using acoustics and faecal DNA
Partner/Funding Body: Natural Resources Commission
Period: 2020

Using molecular and chemical faecal analysis to understand koala diet composition and the contribution of regenerating forests to koala nutrition
Co-Researcher: Michaela Blyton
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Natural Resources Commission
Period: 2019-2021

Understanding and mapping how thermal and dietary constraints combine to restrict koala habitat and determine refugia
Co-Researcher: Chris Turbill
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Office of Environment and Heritage
Period: 2019-2021

Community Sustainability Action Grant ‘What do koalas really eat? Novel characterisation of koala diets and habitat quality using faecal molecular analysis
Co-Researcher: Michaela Blyton
Partner/Funding Body: Community Sustainability Action
Period: 2017-2019

Sustainable pasture systems under climate extremes
Co-Researchers: Sally Power, Mark Tjoelker, Elise Pendall, David Tissue, Jeff Powell, Ian Anderson, Catriona Macdonald, Brajesh Singh, Yolima Carrillo Espanol and Jonathan Plett
Partner/funding body: MLA Donor Company Limited and Dairy Australia
Period: 2017-2020

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) faecal bacterial microbiome; does change in diet impact community structure?
Co-Researcher: Kylie Brice
Partner/Funding Body: Royal Zoo Society
Period: 2015-2017

Rehabilitating a changing landscape: using the latest advances in koala ecology to direct adaptive management
Funding Body: Australian Research Council Linkage [via The University of Sydney]
Period: 2014-2017

Temperature-dependent toxicity of plant secondary compounds to mammalian herbivores
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Discovery [via The Australian National University]
Period: 2014-2016

Understanding the koala microbiome: unlocking the secrets of koala health and dietary specialisation, and successful husbandry and translocation
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Linkage
Period: 2014-2018

Get tough, get toxic or get a bodyguard: How root herbivores shape grass defences
Co-Researcher: Scott Johnson
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Discovery
Period: 2014-2016

Psyllid-induced dieback of Grey Box (Eucalyptus moluccana) on the Cumberland Plain
Co-researchers: Markus Riegler, James Cook and Paul Rymer
Partner/Funding Body: Environmental Trust, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust
Period: 2013-2015

High-throughput sample preparation robotics to enable emerging large-scale plant genomics, metabolomics and proteomics research
Co-researchers: David Tissue, David Ellsworth, Markus Riegler and Paul Rymer
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council LIEF [via The Australian National University]
Period: 2013-2014

Genotypic and chemotypic diversity of Eucalyptus moluccana and its role in psyllid caused dieback
Co-researchers: Markus Riegler and Paul Rymer
Partner/Funding Body: Bjarne K Dahl Trust
Period: 2013