Alan Andersen

Prof Andersen is a University Professorial Fellow with Charles Darwin University. He was previously a Chief Research Scientist with CSIRO Land & Water, and Officer-in-Charge of CSIRO’s Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre in Darwin from 1995 to 2016, leading a team of up to 30 ecologists, socio-ecologists, economists, students and support staff with a mission to deliver environmental, social and economic benefits to northern Australia.

Prof Andersen’s primary research interests are in the global ecology of ant communities, where he integrates community ecology, historical and contemporary biogeography, and systematics to gain a predictive understanding of ant diversity, behavioural dominance and functional composition in relation to environmental stress and disturbance. He also has broad research interests in the ecology of tropical savannas, and the ecology and management of fire.

In 2018 Prof Andersen was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.