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Foster, Scott

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About
Stories
Projects
Publications

Contact

GPO Box 1538 Castray Esplanade Hobart, TAS 7001

Email scott.foster@csiro.au

Mobile

Phone +61 3 62325178

About

Background

I am a ecological statistician with expertise in deveoping and applying statistical methods to answer emerging scientific questions, from novel data sources, and for providing useful information to natural resource managers. My work ranges from very general questions ("how to usefully quantify biodiversity?" and "what is a good representation of assemblage from data?") to more focussed ones ("what is the cumulative effect of trawling in Sout-East Australia?"). My area of interest has been expanding to include efficient and useful methods to acquire data -- after all, good data collection makes the analysis task much easier. I often work as part of collaborations with a broad range of scientists including: ecologists, fisheries scientists, geneticists, statisticians, and so on. My work is stimulating and I find it easy to get motivation from it.

Academic qualifications

Ph.D. in Biometrics, BiometricsSA, The University of Adelaide, Australia. 2003-2006.

Thesis title: “The LASSO Linear Mixed Model for Mapping Quantitative Trait Loci.”

B.Math. (Hons. 1 in mathematical statistics), Dept. of Mathematics, The University of Newcastle, Australia. 1999-1999.

Thesis title: “Is There an Association Between the Charlson Comorbidity Index and Health-Related Quality of Life?”

B.Sc. (major in mathematics) The University of Tasmania, Australia. 1996-1998.

Stories

7 February 2020

Request a free poster

5 June 2019

Our standards are spreading: from sampling the eels and sponges of St Lucia, to sorting Sydney's cryptic crabs

29 April 2019

Making the first national seafloor habitat map

30 April 2018

Marine sampling field manuals to support biodiversity monitoring at a national scale

5 September 2015

NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub final report published

17 October 2014

Remarkable reefs

Projects

Project D2 - Standard operating procedures for survey design, condition assessment and trend detection

Project 2: Integrating threats, values and assets for management

Predict Patterns of Continental Shelf Seabed Biodiversity from Physical Surrogates

Predict Patterns of Continental Slope Biodiversity from Physical Surrogates

Predict Patterns of Marine Biodiversity from Biological Surrogates

Predict Patterns of Temperate Shallow Reefs from Physical Surrogates

Publications

Marine Biodiversity Hub publications by: Foster, Scott

Impacts and Outcomes of Marine Sampling Best Practices (2021)

R. Przeslawski; S.D. Foster; B. Gibbons; T.J. Langlois; J. Monk
Designing a targeted monitoring program to support evidence-based management of Australian Marine Parks A pilot in the South-east Marine Park Network (2021)

K.R. Hayes; P.K. Dunstan; S.N.C. Woolley; N. Barrett; S. Howe; C.R. Samson; R. Bowling; M.P. Ryan; S.D. Foster; J. Monk; D. Peel; G.R. Hosack; S.O. Francis
MBHdesign: an R-package for efficient spatial survey designs (2021)

S.D. Foster
Monitoring the resilience of a no-take marine reserve to a range extending species using benthic imagery (2020)

N.R. Perkins; G.R. Hosack; S.D. Foster; J. Monk; N. Barrett
Data Discoverability and Accessibility: Report from July 2019 Workshop on Marine Imagery (2020)

R. Przeslawski; N. Barrett; N. Bax; A. Carroll; S.D. Foster; M.R. Heupel; J. Jansen; T.J. Langlois; T. Moltmann; J.B. Pocklington; R.D. Stuart-Smith; M. Wyatt
Field Manuals for Marine Sampling to Monitor Australian Waters, Version 2 (2020)

R. Przeslawski; S.D. Foster
An introduction to MBHdesign (2019)

S.D. Foster
A suite of field manuals for marine sampling to monitor Australian waters (2019)

R. Przeslawski; S.D. Foster; J. Monk; N. Barrett; P.J. Bouchet; A. Carroll; T.J. Langlois; V.L. Lucieer; J. Williams; N.J. Bax
Scoping of new field manuals for marine sampling in Australian waters (2019)

R. Przeslawski; L. Bodrossy; A. Carroll; A.J. Cheal; M. Depczynski; S.D. Foster; D. Hardesty; P. Hedge; A. Lara-Lopez; A. Lepastrier; S. Mancini; K.J. Miller; J. Monk; M. Navarro; S.L. Nichol; S. Sagar; R.D. Stuart-Smith; J. van de Kamp; J. Williams
Data discoverability and accessibility: report from workshops on marine imagery and biological specimen data (2019)

R. Przeslawski; I. Falkner; S.D. Foster; S. Mancini; S. Bainbridge; N. Bax; A. Carroll; E. Flukes; M. Gonzalez-Riviero; T.J. Langlois; K. Moore; M. Rehbein; K. Tattersall; D. Watts; A. Williams; M. Wyatt
Recreational fishing in Commonwealth waters (2019)

T.P. Lynch; C.B. Smallwood; F. Ochwada-Doyle; J. Williams; K.L. Ryan; C. Devine; B. Gibson; M. Burton; A. Hegarty; J. Lyle; S.D. Foster; A. Jordan
Designing Monitoring Programs for Marine Protected Areas Within an Evidence Based Decision Making Paradigm (2019)

K.R. Hayes; G.R. Hosack; E. Lawrence; P. Hedge; N. Barrett; R. Przeslawski; M.J. Caley; S.D. Foster
Field manuals for marine sampling to monitor Australian waters (2018)

R. Przeslawski; S.D. Foster; V.L. Lucieer; J. Monk; P.J. Bouchet; T.J. Langlois; A. Carroll; J. Williams; N. Barrett; F. Althaus; R.J. Beaman; P. Berents; T. Bridge; M.R. Clark; J. Colquhoun; L.M. Currey Randall; G.J. Edgar; M. Fellows; C. Frid; A. Friedman; D.C. Gledhill; J.S. Goetze; D. Harasti; K.R. Hayes; N.A. Hill; G.R. Hosack; C. Huveneers; D. Ierodiaconou; T. Ingleton; A. Jordan; G.A. Kendrick; D.M. Kennedy; E. Lawrence; T.B. Letessier; M. Linklater; M. Lowry; H.A. Malcolm; J.J. Meeuwig; S.L. Nichol; T. O'Hara; K. Picard; A. Post; M.J. Rees; J. Santana-Garcon; M. Scott; J.P.W. Siwabessy; J. Smith; M. Stowar; M. Taylor; C. Thompson; M. Tran; A. Tyndall; V. Laurent; S. Whitmarsh
Developing indicators and a baseline for monitoring demersal fish in data-poor offshore Marine Parks using probabilistic sampling (2018)

N.A. Hill; N. Barrett; J.H. Ford; D. Peel; S.D. Foster; E. Lawrence; J. Monk; F. Althaus; K. Hayes
Gear Up - Field manuals for marine sampling (2018)

R. Przeslawski; S.D. Foster
Comparative assessment of pelagic sampling methods used in marine monitoring (2018)

P.J. Bouchet; C. Phillips; Z. Huang; J.J. Meeuwig; S.D. Foster; R. Przeslawski
Comparative assessment of seafloor sampling platforms (2018)

R. Przeslawski; S.D. Foster; J. Monk; T.J. Langlois; V.L. Lucieer; R.D. Stuart-Smith
Spatial properties of sessile benthic organisms and the design of repeat visual survey transects (2018)

N.R. Perkins; G.R. Hosack; S.D. Foster; N.A. Hill; N. Barrett
Global patterns of change and variation in sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a (2018)

P.K. Dunstan; S.D. Foster; E. King; J. Risbey; T.J. ’ Kane; D. Monselesan; A.J. Hobday; J.R. Hartog; P.A. Thompson
Flyer - Field manuals for marine sampling to monitor Australian waters (2018)

R. Przeslawski; S.D. Foster
Scoping report: Comparative assessment of pelagic sampling platforms (2017)

P.J. Bouchet; J.J. Meeuwig; S.D. Foster; R. Przeslawski
Theme D Project showcase and future research prioritisation workshop report (2017)

N. Barrett; B.P. Brooke; Z. Huang; K.J. Miller; S.L. Nichol; S.D. Foster; R. Przeslawski; V.L. Lucieer; T. O'Hara
Spatially balanced designs that incorporate legacy sites (2017)

S.D. Foster; G.R. Hosack; E. Lawrence; R. Przeslawski; P. Hedge; M.Julian Caley; N. Barrett; A. Williams; J. Li; T.P. Lynch; J.M. Dambacher; H. Sweatman; K.R. Hayes
Seafloor biota, rock lobster and demersal fishes assemblages of the Tasman Fracture Commonwealth Marine Reserve Region: determining the influence of the shelf sanctuary zone on population demographics (2016)

J. Monk; N. Barrett; J. Hulls; L. James; G.R. Hosack; E.S. Oh; T. Martin; S. Edwards; A. Nau; B. Heaney; S.D. Foster
Image subsampling and point scoring approaches for large-scale marine benthic monitoring programs (2016)

N.R. Perkins; S.D. Foster; N.A. Hill; N. Barrett
The cumulative effect of trawl fishing on a multispecies fish assemblage in south-eastern Australia (2015)

S.D. Foster; P.K. Dunstan; F. Althaus; A. Williams
Identifying indicators and essential variables for marine ecosystems (2015)

K.R. Hayes; J.M. Dambacher; G.R. Hosack; N.J. Bax; P.K. Dunstan; E.A. Fulton; P.A. Thompson; J.R. Hartog; A.J. Hobday; R.W. Bradford; S.D. Foster; P. Hedge; D.C. Smith; C.J. Marshall
A hierarchical risk assessment framework for ecosystem based management (2015)

P.K. Dunstan; J.M. Dambacher; N.J. Bax; T. Smith; E.A. Fulton; P. Hedge; A.J. Hobday; S.D. Foster
Towards a blueprint for monitoring Key Ecological Features in the Commonwealth Marine Area (2015)

K.R. Hayes; J.M. Dambacher; P. Hedge; D. Watts; S.D. Foster; P.A. Thompson; G.R. Hosack; P.K. Dunstan; N.J. Bax
Multi-species distribution modeling using penalized mixture of regressions (2015)

F.K.C. Hui; D.I. Warton; S.D. Foster
Altered niche of an ecologically significant species, Centrostephanus rodgersii, in its extended range revealed using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (2015)

N.R. Perkins; N.A. Hill; S.D. Foster; N. Barrett
Twenty years of high-resolution sea surface temperature imagery around Australia: inter-annual and annual variability (2014)

S.D. Foster; D.A. Griffin; P.K. Dunstan
Tuning Parameter Selection for the Lasso Regression using ERIC (2014)

F.K.C. Hui; D.I. Warton; S.D. Foster
Model-based approaches to unconstrained ordination (2014)

F.K.C. Hui; S. Taskinen; S. Pledger; S.D. Foster; D.I. Warton
A climate of uncertainty: accounting for error and spatial variability in climate variables for species distribution models (2014)

J. Stoklosa; C. Daly; S.D. Foster; M.B. Ashcroft; D.I. Warton
Model-Based Thinking for Community Ecology (2014)

D.I. Warton; S.D. Foster; G. De'ath; J. Stoklosa; P.K. Dunstan
Do communities exist? Complex patterns of overlapping marine species distributions (2014)

R. Leaper; P.K. Dunstan; S.D. Foster; N. Barrett; G.J. Edgar
Mixture models for multi-species and environmental data (2014)

S.D. Foster; D.I. Warton; F.K.C. Hui; R. Darnell; G. Givens; G.J. Dornan
Choosing between strategies for designing surveys: autonomous underwater vehicles (2014)

S.D. Foster; G.R. Hosack; N.A. Hill; N. Barrett; V.L. Lucieer
To mix or not to mix: comparing the predictive performance of mixture models vs. separate species distribution models (2013)

F.K.C. Hui; D.I. Warton; S.D. Foster; P.K. Dunstan
Finite mixture of regression modeling for high-dimensional count and biomass data in ecology (2013)

P.K. Dunstan; S.D. Foster; F.K.C. Hui; D.I. Warton
Modelling biological regions from multi-species and environmental data (2013)

S.D. Foster; G.H. Givens; G.J. Dornan; P.K. Dunstan; R. Darnell
Uncertainty in spatially predicted covariates: is it ignorable? (2012)

S.D. Foster; H. Shimadzu; R. Darnell
Comparing large-scale bioregions and fine-scale community-level biodiversity predictions from subtidal rocky reefs across south-eastern Australia (2012)

R. Leaper; P.K. Dunstan; S.D. Foster; N. Barrett
Identifying hotspots for biodiversity management using rank abundance distributions (2012)

P.K. Dunstan; N.J. Bax; S.D. Foster; A. Williams; F. Althaus
RAD biodiversity: prediction of rank abundance distributions from deep water benthic assemblages (2011)

P.K. Dunstan; S.D. Foster
Model based grouping of species across environmental gradients (2011)

P.K. Dunstan; S.D. Foster; R. Darnell
Predicted patterns of seabed biodiversity in the East Marine Region (EMR) - Product Description (2010)

P.K. Dunstan; S.D. Foster
Predicted patterns of seabed biodiversity in the South-East Marine Region (SEMR) - Product Description (2010)

P.K. Dunstan; S.D. Foster
Predicted patterns of seabed biodiversity in the North Marine Region (NMR) - Product Description (2010)

P.K. Dunstan; S.D. Foster
Predicted patterns of seabed biodiversity in the North-West Marine Region (NWMR) - Product Description (2010)

P.K. Dunstan; S.D. Foster
Biodiversity analysis using rank abundance distributions (2009)

S.D. Foster; P.K. Dunstan
RAD biodiversity: modelling many species counts together (2009)

S.D. Foster; P.K. Dunstan
The analysis of biodiversity using rank abundance distributions (2009)

S.D. Foster
Predicted patterns of seabed biodiversity in the South-West Marine Region (SWMR) - Product Description (2009)

P.K. Dunstan; S.D. Foster