Dr Frédérik Saltré

Dr Frédérik Saltré is a research scientist and joint appointment with the Australian Museum and the University of Technology, Sydney. Dr Saltré joins the Climate Solutions Centre team at the Australian Museum Research Institute.

Dr Frédérik Saltré is an ecologist leading the Biogeography, Ecology & Modelling (BEAM) Lab. Dr Saltré’s research focuses on understanding how species and communities interact with their environments across spatial scales (from local to global) and temporal contexts (past, present, and future). His work encompasses plants, animals (including humans), and ecosystems in both terrestrial and marine environments. By applying advanced statistical methods and modelling, he investigates how species respond to environmental changes and the drivers behind biogeographic patterns of species diversity. This helps him evaluate the effectiveness of conservation strategies, policy decisions, and biodiversity management scenarios.

After completing his PhD in Ecology with a specialty in Ecosystem Functioning in 2010, he was Lecturer at the Sorbonne (France) working on intra- and interspecific competition effects on plant species range shifts. In 2011, Dr Saltré moved to the Oregon State University (USA) as a Postdoctoral Scholar, where he assessed the vulnerability of species and ecosystems to projected future climate change in the Pacific Northwest. From 2013 to 2016, he held a research-intensive Research Associate position at the University of Adelaide (South Australia) to test and generalise hypotheses regarding species extinctions and appearances (including speciation) relative to major environmental events (e.g., large climatic fluctuations) but also how climate stability (or instability) affects contemporary patterns of biodiversity worldwide. Between 2016 and 2024, he co-directed the Global Ecology Lab at Flinders University, focusing on palaeo-ecological systems and forecasting future ecosystems.

Dr Saltré has built his career as a quantitative ecologist in developing new methodological frameworks and tools, adapting innovative concepts from other disciplines to address challenging questions in ecology. His most important contributions have been in applied ecology, biodiversity conservation, theoretical ecology, extinction dynamics, human demography, species responses to climate change, and applying ecological theory and modelling techniques to predict ecosystem changes.

Dr Saltré has published over 48 peer-reviewed journal articles and 2 book chapters and has presented > 50 scientific papers at major professional conferences and workshops in Australia and overseas. He is a passionate science communicator, promoting his research via radio, newspapers, public science events and lectures, and writes for not-for profit media outlets.

• PhD, Biology Geosciences Agro-resources and Environment, University Montpellier 2, France, 2010
• MSc, Biology Geosciences Agro-resources and Environment, University Montpellier 2, France, 2006
• BSc, Biology of Organisms, University Montpellier 2, France, 2004

• Current: Senior Lecturer in Ecology & Biogeography, University of Technology Sydney, NSW, Australia
• Current: Chief Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures
• 2023 – 2024: Visiting Fellow, School of Earth, Atmospheric & Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia
• Jan – May 2019: Visiting Fellow, Center for the Study of Origins, University Colorado Boulder, CO, USA
• 2017 – 2024: Research Fellow ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage and Coordinator of the Global Ecology Laboratory, Flinders University, Australia
• 2013 – 2017: ARC Research Associate, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia
• 2011 – 2013: Postdoctoral Scholar, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
• 2010 – 2011: Lecturer École Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Montpellier/Sorbonne University, Paris, France)

• 2022: Hyperion Research High Performance Computing Award in Innovation Excellence
• 2021: Best of the Best Award, Chief Scientist of South Australia
• 2019: Visiting Fellowship Award, University of Colorado Boulder (USA)
• 2017: Elected Fellow of Royal Society of South Australia