Dr Richard (Rick) Davies

Experience

• 

  Private botanical consultant

  Jun 1980 - now

  Botanical Consultant

  Botanical survey & EIS reporting; vegetation management and threatened plant species recovery planning; revegetation and regeneration of aquatic and dryland vegetation; vegetation and significant plant species monitoring; plant identification.

• 

  Olympic Dam Project

  Nov 1987 - Mar 1989

  Botanist, Environment Laboratory

  Designing and implementing vegetation monitoring programs and reporting results to government. Researching and implementing revegetation programs to stabilise disturbed dunes.

• 

  Victorian Department of Conservation & Environment

  Jan 1989 - Jan 1990

  Flora and Fauna Guarantee Officer

  Providing advice to government and non-government agencies concerning Victoria’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, and its interpretation, including on native forest harvesting and fire management practices. Writing management plans for conservation reserves.

• 

  Biosis Research Pty Ltd

  Jan 1990 - Jan 1992

  Botanist

  Surveying vegetation and writing EISs for transport, construction and mining developments. Writing vegetation management plans and inventories of National Estate values.

• 

  Botanic Gardens of South Australia

  Jan 1992 - Jan 1996

  Botanist, Black Hill Flora Centre

  Researching weed management strategies for heavily invaded examples of box grassy woodlands and temperate native grasslands. Setting up monitoring programs and writing management plans for threatened plant species in National Parks and Wildlife Act Reserves in South Australia

• 

  SA Department of Environment & Natural Resources

  Jan 1993 - Jan 1994

  Botanist, Pastoral Management Branch

  Setting up monitoring programs and writing management plans for threatened plant species in the arid pastoral zones of South Australia

• 

  Nature Conservation Society of South Australia

  Aug 1998 - Aug 1999

  Biodiversity Extension Officer, Bushcare Support Program

  Planning and coordinating biodiversity workshops for rural landowners on biodiversity conservation and management. Presenting talks along with contracted expert fauna and wetland ecologists.

• 

  Department of Environment & Natural Resources, South Australia

  Jan 2003 - Jul 2003

  Threatened Orchid Recovery Project Officer

  Undertaking monitoring and recovery of nationally threatened orchid species

• 

  CSIRO

  Apr 2006 - Apr 2008

  Post Doctoral Researcher

  Researching the effect of distance-from-water and frequency-of-stocking on species composition, including in the soil seed bank, of ephemeral gilgai wetland in the arid pastoral zone; undertaking a review of biodiversity incentive metrics

• 

  Flinders University

  Jul 2008 - Jan 2009

  Research Development Officer

  Administering the FU Bioknowledge ASRI (Area of Strategic Research Investment), organising high level meetings between Flinders University and its MoU partners, and facilitating research partnerships

• 

  Flinders University

  Mar 2009 - Jul 2009

  Research Fellow

  Studying the soil seed bank of small, fragmented, long-unburnt remnants of endangered mallee communities on Kangaroo Island and their potential to regenerate after fire

• 

  Outback Ecology (MWH Australia Ltd)

  Jan 2011 - Nov 2012

  Senior Botanist (Level 4 Scientist) with Flora Services Group

  Tendering for & managing contracts with mining companies in Western Australia and South Australia; coordinating & participating in vegetation & significant flora assessments & monitoring

• 

  Flinders University

  Jan 2013 - now

  Witchelina Soil Seed Bank Project: studying the soil seed bank of degraded flood plain vegetation communities in the arid zone, and the ability of these communities to regenerate from the extant soil seed bank, and from soil & litter translocated from intact sites.

  • Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences

    Dec 2014 - now

  • Research Fellow

    Jan 2013 - Dec 2014
• 

  South Australian Department of Environment Water and Natural Resources

  Sept 2015 - Jan 2019

  Threatened Flora Ecologist
• 

  University of NSW

  Mar 2020 - now

  Research Fellow

  Co-supervising PhD student studying effect of fire season on orchids and their associated mycorrhizal fungi

• 

  Nature Conservation Society Of South Australia

  Sept 2020 - Nov 2021

  Project Leader and Senior Botanist

  Enhancing bushfire recovery of Kangaroo Island’s rare and threatened, endemic flora on private land and roadsides