Dr Micheli Duarte de Paula Costa
Research Fellow
RMIT University, City Campus
STEM College, School of Science
Melbourne VIC 3001
Micheli's research
Micheli’s research career has focused on marine quantitative ecology and conservation, with the aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of how to better incorporate ecosystem dynamics into spatial optimisation and improve climate change predictions on species distribution and fisheries. Most of her work focuses on decision science and the impacts of environmental and climatic variability on coastal ecosystems and its conservation. Micheli also has a background in fieldwork on marine and estuarine ecosystems, including experience in oceanographic and plankton sampling, and ichthyoplankton taxonomy. She has developed strong skills in marine ecology, climate change, spatial modelling and decision science, which supported her research.
Micheli led the project ‘“Blue Carbon Opportunities in Queensland: how much and where?”, where she developed for the first time an assessment of potential land area amenable to Blue Carbon additionality. She is currently leading a project aiming to estimate the costs and benefits of mangrove and saltmarsh restoration along Victoria’s coastline.
Keywords
Spatial modelling, species distribution, decision science, climate change predictions, #QLDBlue
Career Highlights
- Research Fellow, Deakin University, Australia (2019 – current)
- Research Fellow, The University of Queensland, Australia (2015 – 2019)
- International Postdoctoral Fellowship, Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (2015)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brazil (2015)
- PhD in Biological Oceanography, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brazil (2015)
- Visiting PhD Candidate Scholarship, Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (2013)
- MSc Environmental Science, Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Brazil (2011)
- Graduate Certificate in Conservation Biology, Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Brazil (2009)
- BSc (with Honours) Marine Biology, Universidade da Região de Joinville, Brazil (2008)
Selected publications
Duarte de Paula Costa, M. and Macreadie, P.I., 2022. The Evolution of Blue Carbon Science. Wetlands, 42(8), pp.1-12.
Rosa, L.N., Duarte de Paula Costa, M., and de Freitas, D.M., 2022. Modelling spatial-temporal changes in carbon sequestration by mangroves in an urban coastal landscape. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 276, p.108031.
Duarte de Paula Costa, M., Lovelock, C.E., Waltham, N.J., Moritsch, M.M., Butler, D., Power, T., Thomas, E. and Macreadie, P.I., 2022. Modelling blue carbon farming opportunities at different spatial scales. Journal of Environmental Management, 301, p.113813.
Duarte de Paula Costa, M., Lovelock, C.E., Waltham, N.J., Young, M., Adame, M.F., Bryant, C.V., Butler, D., Green, D., Rasheed, M.A., Salinas, C., Serrano, O., York, P.H., Whitt, A.A. and Macreadie, P.I. 2021. Current and future carbon stocks in coastal wetlands within the Great Barrier Reef catchments. Global Change Biology.
Duarte de Paula Costa, M., Wilson, K.A., Dyer, P.J., Pitcher, R., Muelbert, J.H. & Richardson, A.J. 2021. Potential future climate-induced shifts in marine fish larvae and harvested communities in the subtropical southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Climatic Change, 165: 66.
Martinez‐Harms, M.J., Wilson, K.A., Duarte de Paula Costa, M., Possingham, H.P., Gelcich, S., Chauvenet, A., Pliscoff, P., Marquet, P.A., Bryan. B.A. 2021. Conservation planning for people and nature in a Chilean biodiversity hotspot. People and Nature, https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10200
Magris, R.A., Duarte de Paula Costa, M., Ferreira, C.E.L., Vilar, C.C., Joyeux, J.C., Creed, J.C., Copertino, M.S., Horta, P.A., Sumida, P.Y.G., Francini-Filho, R.B., Floeter, S. 2021. A blueprint for securing Brazil’s marine biodiversity and supporting the achievement of global conservation goals. Diversity and Distributions, 27: 198-215.
Duarte de Paula Costa, M., Gorddard, R., Fidelman, P., Helmstedt, K.J., Anthony, K.R.N., Wilson, K.A., Beyer, H.L. 2020. Linking social and biophysical systems to inform long-term, strategic management of coral reefs. Pacific Conservation Biology , https://doi.org/10.1071/PC20002.
Gulliver, A., Carnell, P., Trevathan-Tackett, S.M., Duarte de Paula Costa, M., Masqué, P. & Macreadie, PI. 2020. Estimating the potential blue carbon gains from tidal marsh rehabilitation a case study from south eastern Australia. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7: 403.
Prist, P.R., Levin, N., Metzger, J.P., de Mello, K., Duarte de Paula Costa, M., Castagnino, R., Cortes-Ramirez, J., Lin, D., Butt, N., Lloyd, T.J., López-Cubillos, S., Mayfield, H.J., Negret, P.J., Oliveira-Bevan, I., Reside, A.E., Rhodes, J.R., Simmons, B.A., Suárez-Castro, A.F., & Kark, K. 2019. Collaboration across boundaries in the Amazon. Science, 366: 699.
Duarte de Paula Costa, M., Mills, M., Richardson, A.J., Fuller, R., Muelbert, J.H., Possingham, H.P. 2018. Efficiently enforcing artisanal estuarine fisheries to protect estuarine biodiversity. Ecological Applications, https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1744.
Selected media
Blue Carbon opportunities in Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. ABC Far North Queensland – Breakfast, August 2020 (Interview at 2:39:30)
Whitsunday’s hidden trove key in climate change battle. Mercury Mail, Whitsunday Times. July 2020.
Carbon & Co-benefits webinar ‘Blue Carbon opportunities in Queensland’. Southern Gulf NRM. July 2020
Great Barrier Reef has critical role in fight against global warming. Deakin Media release. July 2020
