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Robinson, Sharon Professor

Senior Professor

  • Senior Professor - Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health
  • Challenge Leader - Sustaining Coastal and Marine Zones - UOW Global Challenges Program 2018 -
  • Leader On Board Science Faculty - Homeward Bound 2018 -
  • Associate Dean Graduate Research - RAID 2016 - 2018

Top Publications

Research Overview

  • Sharon Robinson researches how Antarctic plants respond to climate change. She uses radiocarbon signatures, left behind in the atmosphere by nuclear testing, to date mosses and track environmental change around the coast of Antarctica.  Her group identifies the sunscreens plants make to protect themselves from elevated UV-B radiation due to ozone depletion. She is also applying new technologies, including the use of drones in Antarctica, to monitor plant health and productivity, and developing novel sensors that will help to track crop and forest health in future. 

    Sharon was educated in the UK. After completing her PhD at University College London in 1990, she held postdoc positions in the USA and Australia. She is currently a member of the United Nations Environment Programme Environmental Effects Assessment Panel,onboard Science Faculty for the Homeward Bound 2019 Women’s leadership Program and a former member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts. She first visited East Antarctica in 1996 and has been on 12 expeditions to continental Antarctic and sub- and maritime Antarctic islands with the Australian and Chilean Antarctic programs. She is a custodian for the only Antarctic State of the Environment Indicator concerned with Antarctic vegetation and is passionate about conserving Antarctic biodiversity. She was formerly UOWs Associate Dean Graduate Research and is currently Challenge Leader for the Sustaining Coastal and Marine Zones within the Global Challenges Program.

Selected Publications

Investigator On

Impact Story

  • Plants in Antarctica are changing at a more alarming rate than first anticipated. There is well documented greening in the Arctic and on the Antarctic peninsula as ice retreats exposing more land. These regions are amongst the most rapidly warming on the planet. Warmer temperatures and increasing melt promote plant growth. Meanwhile on the continent, so far, there has been little evidence of warming so plant responses were expected to be slow and difficult to detect, until now.<br /><br />Alarmingly after only 13 years monitoring plant ecosystems we observed significant changes in the moss beds near Australia’s Casey station in East Antarctica. We have recently shown that these lush moss beds of the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica are rapidly drying due to cooler, windier summers caused by ozone depletion and climate change. We have developed advanced ways to analyse preserved climate records captured within these old-growth moss shoots establishing these miniature plants as accurate proxies to detect climate change in coastal East Antarctica. Our research has provided a history of the region's changing climate and these novel techniques can be used to determine sites in Antarctica where mosses are at risk of drying and dying.<br /><br />Our results show for the first time that climate change and ozone depletion are drying East Antarctic moss beds and demonstrate that Antarctic communities are already being affected despite a relatively small change so far. How these plant communities fare in future depends on implementation of and compliance with the Montreal Protocol and Paris Climate Agreement. Continued monitoring of these moss beds is important so that Antarctic Environmental Managers can protect these fascinating plant communities for the future.

     Detail View
  • Under The Antarctic Treaty, Australia and other nations which operate in Antarctica have a responsibility to conserve and protect Antarctica’s unique environment. Through the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, adopted in 1991, the Contracting Parties “commit themselves to the comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems”. Research undertaken by the University of Wollongong over more than 20 years has had a significant and wide-reaching impact on Australia's environmental, economic, legal and political responsibilities and leadership role in Antarctica.   Monitoring and management: UOW research outcomes have informed Antarctic Environmental Managers on the health of Antarctic terrestrial and near shore ecosystems, highlighting which species may be at risk from climate change or disturbance from Antarctic station activities. I have provided expert advice to AAD Environmental Managers on proposed activities around Antarctic stations and contributed to development of Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) management plans. While our research has had most application to the Australian Antarctic Territories, methodologies developed have increasingly been of interest to environmental managers from other nations, as we are considered to be developing best practice in this area. As a result, in 2016 I was invited to join the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) Antarctic Near-shore and Terrestrial Observing System (ANTOS) Expert Group and to develop an East Antarctic ANTOS node.   UOW researchers Robinson and then HDR student Jane Wasley were invited by Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) Environmental Managers to develop a State of the Environment (SOE) Indicator for Antarctic terrestrial vegetation dynamics. Robinson's group had earlier established the first long-term monitoring sites near the Australian Antarctic Casey Station in 2003, from an initial pilot [1-2]. Robinson, Wasley and Dr Catherine King (AAD) went on to develop, and are the current custodians of, SOE Indicator 72 [3] with UOW the responsible organisation. This is currently the only long-term monitoring system in place for Antarctic terrestrial vegetation on the continent, and informs both the Management Plans for Antarctic Specially Protected Area 135 as well as the Antarctic Assessment in Australia’s SOE Reports 2011 and 2016 [4-5]. The project was presented as a case study in the 2011 SOE report and is acknowledged in the 2016 report for contributing valuable data to help fulfill Australia’s national reporting requirements under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act. Furthermore, this project contributes to Australia’s international obligations under the Antarctic Treaty System as it delivers robust data on environmental change on one of Australia’s Antarctic Specially Protected Areas”. As such this work is vital for the continued conservation of terrestrial values.   <br /><b><br /></b>

     Detail View
  • In 2016 I gave a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4PsZlTGedU" title="YouTube: Antarctic Plants In A Time Of Change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TEDX Antarctic plants in a time of change</a>.<br /><br />In 2017, this was featured in a story on <a href="https://ideas.ted.com/the-extraordinary-antarctic-plants-with-superhero-powers/" title="Featured Story: Extraordinary Antarctic Plants with Superhero Powers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ideas.ted.com.</a>

     Detail View

Advisees

  • Graduate Advising Relationship

    Degree Research Title Advisee
    Doctor of Philosophy Microhabitat, microclimate and multi-stress response as drivers of urban biodiversity using moss as a model taxa Haynes, Alison
    Doctor of Philosophy Remote techniques for determining carbon sequestration and storage by mangrove. Braga Salum De Abreu, Maria Rafaela
    Doctor of Philosophy A novel high-resolution model of moss-bed microclimate in maritime Antarctica: importance of understanding microclimate for understanding species distributions Randall, Krystal
    Doctor of Philosophy A helping hand: understanding the role of facilitation as a contributor to survivability of urban plants Aguiar, Axton

Professional Service Activities

Awards And Honors

Keywords

  • Antarctic mosses | Climate Change Biology | Antarctic mosses | Ozone depletion | Ozone hole | UV radiation | Ecosystem modelling | Plant Ecophysiology | Plant Biology

Full Name

  • Professor Sharon A. Robinson

Mailing Address

  • School of Biological Sciences

    University of Wollongong

    NSW

    2522

    Australia

Fax

  • +61 2 4221 4135

Web Of Science Researcher Id

  • B-2683-2008

Top Publications

Research Overview

  • Sharon Robinson researches how Antarctic plants respond to climate change. She uses radiocarbon signatures, left behind in the atmosphere by nuclear testing, to date mosses and track environmental change around the coast of Antarctica.  Her group identifies the sunscreens plants make to protect themselves from elevated UV-B radiation due to ozone depletion. She is also applying new technologies, including the use of drones in Antarctica, to monitor plant health and productivity, and developing novel sensors that will help to track crop and forest health in future. 

    Sharon was educated in the UK. After completing her PhD at University College London in 1990, she held postdoc positions in the USA and Australia. She is currently a member of the United Nations Environment Programme Environmental Effects Assessment Panel,onboard Science Faculty for the Homeward Bound 2019 Women’s leadership Program and a former member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts. She first visited East Antarctica in 1996 and has been on 12 expeditions to continental Antarctic and sub- and maritime Antarctic islands with the Australian and Chilean Antarctic programs. She is a custodian for the only Antarctic State of the Environment Indicator concerned with Antarctic vegetation and is passionate about conserving Antarctic biodiversity. She was formerly UOWs Associate Dean Graduate Research and is currently Challenge Leader for the Sustaining Coastal and Marine Zones within the Global Challenges Program.

Selected Publications

Investigator On

Impact Story

  • Plants in Antarctica are changing at a more alarming rate than first anticipated. There is well documented greening in the Arctic and on the Antarctic peninsula as ice retreats exposing more land. These regions are amongst the most rapidly warming on the planet. Warmer temperatures and increasing melt promote plant growth. Meanwhile on the continent, so far, there has been little evidence of warming so plant responses were expected to be slow and difficult to detect, until now.<br /><br />Alarmingly after only 13 years monitoring plant ecosystems we observed significant changes in the moss beds near Australia’s Casey station in East Antarctica. We have recently shown that these lush moss beds of the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica are rapidly drying due to cooler, windier summers caused by ozone depletion and climate change. We have developed advanced ways to analyse preserved climate records captured within these old-growth moss shoots establishing these miniature plants as accurate proxies to detect climate change in coastal East Antarctica. Our research has provided a history of the region's changing climate and these novel techniques can be used to determine sites in Antarctica where mosses are at risk of drying and dying.<br /><br />Our results show for the first time that climate change and ozone depletion are drying East Antarctic moss beds and demonstrate that Antarctic communities are already being affected despite a relatively small change so far. How these plant communities fare in future depends on implementation of and compliance with the Montreal Protocol and Paris Climate Agreement. Continued monitoring of these moss beds is important so that Antarctic Environmental Managers can protect these fascinating plant communities for the future.

     Detail View
  • Under The Antarctic Treaty, Australia and other nations which operate in Antarctica have a responsibility to conserve and protect Antarctica’s unique environment. Through the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, adopted in 1991, the Contracting Parties “commit themselves to the comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems”. Research undertaken by the University of Wollongong over more than 20 years has had a significant and wide-reaching impact on Australia's environmental, economic, legal and political responsibilities and leadership role in Antarctica.   Monitoring and management: UOW research outcomes have informed Antarctic Environmental Managers on the health of Antarctic terrestrial and near shore ecosystems, highlighting which species may be at risk from climate change or disturbance from Antarctic station activities. I have provided expert advice to AAD Environmental Managers on proposed activities around Antarctic stations and contributed to development of Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) management plans. While our research has had most application to the Australian Antarctic Territories, methodologies developed have increasingly been of interest to environmental managers from other nations, as we are considered to be developing best practice in this area. As a result, in 2016 I was invited to join the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) Antarctic Near-shore and Terrestrial Observing System (ANTOS) Expert Group and to develop an East Antarctic ANTOS node.   UOW researchers Robinson and then HDR student Jane Wasley were invited by Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) Environmental Managers to develop a State of the Environment (SOE) Indicator for Antarctic terrestrial vegetation dynamics. Robinson's group had earlier established the first long-term monitoring sites near the Australian Antarctic Casey Station in 2003, from an initial pilot [1-2]. Robinson, Wasley and Dr Catherine King (AAD) went on to develop, and are the current custodians of, SOE Indicator 72 [3] with UOW the responsible organisation. This is currently the only long-term monitoring system in place for Antarctic terrestrial vegetation on the continent, and informs both the Management Plans for Antarctic Specially Protected Area 135 as well as the Antarctic Assessment in Australia’s SOE Reports 2011 and 2016 [4-5]. The project was presented as a case study in the 2011 SOE report and is acknowledged in the 2016 report for contributing valuable data to help fulfill Australia’s national reporting requirements under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act. Furthermore, this project contributes to Australia’s international obligations under the Antarctic Treaty System as it delivers robust data on environmental change on one of Australia’s Antarctic Specially Protected Areas”. As such this work is vital for the continued conservation of terrestrial values.   <br /><b><br /></b>

     Detail View
  • In 2016 I gave a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4PsZlTGedU" title="YouTube: Antarctic Plants In A Time Of Change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TEDX Antarctic plants in a time of change</a>.<br /><br />In 2017, this was featured in a story on <a href="https://ideas.ted.com/the-extraordinary-antarctic-plants-with-superhero-powers/" title="Featured Story: Extraordinary Antarctic Plants with Superhero Powers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ideas.ted.com.</a>

     Detail View

Advisees

  • Graduate Advising Relationship

    Degree Research Title Advisee
    Doctor of Philosophy Microhabitat, microclimate and multi-stress response as drivers of urban biodiversity using moss as a model taxa Haynes, Alison
    Doctor of Philosophy Remote techniques for determining carbon sequestration and storage by mangrove. Braga Salum De Abreu, Maria Rafaela
    Doctor of Philosophy A novel high-resolution model of moss-bed microclimate in maritime Antarctica: importance of understanding microclimate for understanding species distributions Randall, Krystal
    Doctor of Philosophy A helping hand: understanding the role of facilitation as a contributor to survivability of urban plants Aguiar, Axton

Professional Service Activities

Awards And Honors

Keywords

  • Antarctic mosses | Climate Change Biology | Antarctic mosses | Ozone depletion | Ozone hole | UV radiation | Ecosystem modelling | Plant Ecophysiology | Plant Biology

Full Name

  • Professor Sharon A. Robinson

Mailing Address

  • School of Biological Sciences

    University of Wollongong

    NSW

    2522

    Australia

Fax

  • +61 2 4221 4135

Web Of Science Researcher Id

  • B-2683-2008

Visualisations

  Publication History
 

Research Areas

Geographic Focus