People

Emeritus Professor Hughes is the former Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (2005-2020). He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2001. From 2002 to 2017 he held two ARC Federation Fellowships and a Laureate Fellowship. Terry has been awarded numerous prizes and awards, including the Centenary Medal of Australia, the quadrennial Darwin Medal of the International Society for Coral Reef Studies, and an Einstein Professorship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has received two Honorary Doctorates, from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (2014), and Trinity College, Dublin (2019). Hughes is a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher; According to Google Scholar, his lifetime citations exceed 65,000. He has published so far 28 papers in Science, Nature, and Nature Climate Change.

In December 2016, Emeritus Professor Terry Hughes was recognized by Nature as one of the “10 people who mattered this year” for his leadership in responding to the global coral bleaching event caused by climate change. Nature’s 10 dubbed him “Reef Sentinel”, for the global role he plays in applying multi-disciplinary science to securing reef sustainability. In 2018, he was awarded the Sir John Maddox Prize “for standing up for science”, the Huntsman Medal for Excellence in Marine Science, from the Royal Society of Canada, and the Climate Change Award, from the Prince Albert II Foundation, in Monaco. In 2020, he was recognized by the Spanish BBVA Foundation, as recipient of a Frontiers in Knowledge Award.

Research Interests

Terry Hughes’s research has enabled him to translate fundamental and innovative science into practical solutions that improve the management and governance of marine environments. In the past five years, his research has increasingly evolved to encompass the interface between biology and the social sciences, enabling a broader evaluation of the linkages between coral reef ecosystems, the goods and services they provide to people, coral reef governance, and the welfare of human societies.

The ARC Centre is developing further research capacity in this area by strategic recruitment of social scientists, creating a unique multi-disciplinary team of the highest calibre. Terry’s recent work has focussed on climate change, understanding the complexities of multiple cumulative impacts, market drivers of ecological change, missing institutions, identifying safe planetary boundaries for human development, avoiding social traps, and transformative governance of the sea (e.g. in Australia, Chile, China, the Galapagos Islands, Gulf of Maine and the Coral Triangle).

His future research will focus on the linkages between coral reef ecosystems, the goods and services they provide to people, and the welfare of human societies. The objective is to improve the governance and management of natural systems and enhance their capacity to sustain human and natural capital. The overarching goal is to integrate the science of coral reef resilience with decision-making and management.

Publications online (since 1999)

Selected Publications

• Morrison TH, Adger N, Barnett J, Brown K, Possingham H and Hughes TP. (2020). Advancing coral reef governance into the Anthropocene. One Earth 2, 64-74.
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• Hughes TP, et al. (2019). Ecological memory modifies the cumulative impact of recurrent climate extremes. Nature Climate Change 9: 40-43. Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP, et al. (2019). Global warming impairs stock-recruitment dynamics of corals. Nature 568, 387–390. Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP, et al. (2018). Spatial and temporal patterns of mass bleaching of corals in the Anthropocene. Science, 359:80-83. Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP, et al. (2018). Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages. Nature 556: 492-496.Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP, et al. (2017). Coral Reefs in the Anthropocene. Nature 546: 82-90 Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP, et al. (2017). Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals. Nature 543: 373-377 Link to full text or pdf
• Zhang K, Dearing JA, Tong SL and Hughes TP. (2016). China’s degraded environment enters a new normal. Trends in Ecology Evolution 31: 175-177.Link to full text or pdf
• Cumming GS, Morrison TH and Hughes TP. (2016). New directions for understanding the spatial resilience of social-ecological systems. Ecosystems 20: 649-664.Link to full text or pdf
• Van de Leemput IA, Hughes TP, Van Nes E and Scheffer M. (2016). Multiple feedbacks and the prevalence of alternate stable states in Coral Reefs. 35: 857-865. Link to full text or pdf
• Schaeffer M, Barrett S, Carpenter SR, Folke C, Green AJ, Holmgren M, Hughes TP, Kosten S, van de Leemput IA, Nepstad DC, Van Nes EH, Peeters ETHM and Walker B. (2015). Creating a safe operating space for iconic ecosystems. Science 347: 1317-1319.Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP, Day J and Brodie J. (2015). Securing the future of the Great Barrier Reef. Nature Climate Change 5: 508-511.Link to full text or pdf
• Barrett S, Hughes TP et al. (2014). Climate engineering reconsidered. Nature Climate Change 4: 527-529.Link to full text or pdf
• Craig R and Hughes TP. (2014). Marine protected areas, marine spatial planning, and the resilience of marine ecosystems. In: Garmestani, AS and Allen, C. (eds). Social-Ecological Resilience and Law, Columbia University Press, 416 pp. Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP, Bellwood DR, Connolly SR, Cornell HV and Karlson RH. (2014). Double jeopardy and global extinction risk in corals and reef fishes. Current Biology 24: 1-6.
• Bridge T, Hughes TP, Guinotte JM and Bongaerts P. (2013). The need to protect all Coral Reefs. Nature Climate Change 3: 528-530.
• Graham N, Bellwood DR, Cinner JE, Hughes TP, Norström AV and Nyström M. (2013). Managing resilience to reverse phase shifts in Coral Reefs. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11: 541-548.
• Hughes TP, Huang H and Young MAL. (2013). The wicked problem of China’s disappearing coral reefs. Conservation Biology 27(2): 261-269.Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP, Linares C, Dakos V, Van De Leemput IA and Van Nes EH. (2013). Living dangerously on borrowed time during slow, unrecognized regime shifts. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 28(3): 149-155.Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP, Carpenter SR, Rockström J, Scheffer M and Walker B. (2013). Multi-scale regime shifts and planetary boundaries. Trends in Ecology Evolution l. 28: 389-395.
• Bellwood, DR, Hoey AS and Hughes TP. (2012). Human activity selectively impacts the ecosystem roles of parrotfishes on coral reefs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences 279 (1733) 1621-1629.Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP, Baird AH, Dinsdale EA, Moltschaniwskyj NA, Pratchett MS, Tanner JE and Willis BL. (2012). Assembly rules of reef corals are flexible along a steep climatic gradient. Current Biology 22(8): 736-741.Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP, Bellwood D, Baird A, Brodie J, Bruno J and Pandolfi J. (2011). Shifting base-lines, declining coral cover, and the erosion of reef resilience. Coral Reefs 30(3): 653-660.Link to full text or pdf
• Hughes TP. (2011). The future of marine governance in Solutions: for a sustainable and desirable future, 2(1) 3-5.Link to full text or pdf
• Karlson RH, Connolly SR and Hughes TP. (2011). Spatial variance in abundance and occupancy of corals across broad geographic scales. Ecology 92(6): 1282-1291.Link to full text or pdf
• Steneck, RS, Hughes, TP, Cinner JE, Adger WN, Arnold SN, Boudreau SA,  Brown K, Berkes F, Folke C, Gunderson L, Olsson P, Scheffer M, Stephenson E, Walker B, Wilson J and Worm B. (2011). High economic value creates a gilded trap for the Maine lobster fishery.  Conservation Biology 25(5): 904-912.Link to full text or pdf
• Gelcich S, Hughes TP, Olsson P, Folke C, Defeo O, Fernández M, Foale S, Gunderson LH, Rodríguez-Sickert C, Scheffer M, Steneck R and Castilla JC. (2010). Navigating transformations in governance of Chilean marine coastal resources.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107: 16751-16799.Link to full text or pdf 
• Hughes TP, Graham N, Jackson JBC, Mumby PJ and Steneck RS. (2010). Rising to the challenge of sustaining coral reef resilience. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 25: 633-642.
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• McCook LJ, Ayling T, Cappo M, Choat JH, Evans RD, De Freitas DM, Heupel M, Hughes TP, Jones GP, Mapstone B, Marsh H, Mills M, Molloy FJ,  Pitcher CR, Pressey RL, Russ GR, Sutton S, Sweatman H, Tobin R, Wachenfeld DR and Williamson, DH. (2010). Adaptive management of the Great Barrier Reef: A globally significant demonstration of the benefits of networks of marine reserves. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107: 18278-18285.Link to full text or pdf 
• Rockstrom J, Steffen W, Noone K, Persson A, Chapin FS, Lambin EF, Lenton TM, Scheffer M, Folke C, Schellnhuber HJ, Nykvist B, de Wit CA, Hughes T, van der Leeuw S, Rodhe H, Sorlin S, Snyder PK, Costanza R, Svedin U, Falkenmark M, Karlberg L, Corell RW, Fabry VJ, Hansen J, Walker B, Liverman D, Richardson K, Crutzen P and Foley JA. (2009). A safe operating space for humanity. Nature 461(7263): 472-475.(This article was the topic of the Editorial in the same issue, along with seven Commentaries solicited by Nature).
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• Hughes TP, Rodrigues MJ, Bellwood DR, Ceccarelli D, Hoegh-Guldberg O, McCook L, Moltschaniwskyj N, Pratchett MS, Steneck RS and Willis B. (2007). Phase shifts, herbivory, and the resilience of coral reefs to climate change. Current Biology 17(4): 360-365.
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• Hughes TP, Gunderson LH, Folke C, Baird AH, Bellwood D, Berkes F, Crona B, Helfgott A, Leslie H, Norberg J, Nystrom M, Olsson P, Osterblom H, Scheffer M, Schuttenberg H, Steneck RS, Tengo M, Troell M, Walker B, Wilson J and Worm B. (2007). Adaptive management of the Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon World Heritage areas. Ambio 36(7): 586-592.
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• Karlson RH, Cornell HV and Hughes TP. (2007). Aggregation influences coral species richness at multiple spatial scales. Ecology 88: 170-177.
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• McCook LJ, Marshall P, Folke C, Hughes TP, Nystrom M, Obura D and Salm R. (2007). Ecological resilience, climate change, and the Great Barrier Reef: An introduction. In: Johnson, J and Marshall, P (eds). Climate Change and the Great Barrier Reef,  GBRMPA, Townsville, 1-29 pp.
  Link to full text or pdf
• Lebel L, Anderies JM, Campbell B, Folke C, Hatfield-Dodds S, Hughes TP and Wilson J. (2006). Governance and the capacity to manage resilience in regional social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society 11(1): 19.
  Link to Full text or pdf
• Berkes F, Hughes TP et al. (2006).  Policy forum: Globalization, roving bandits, and marine resources. Science 311: 1557-1558.
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• Dornelas M, Connolly SR, and Hughes TP. (2006). Coral reef diversity refutes the neutral theory of biodiversity. Nature 440: 80-82.
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• Hughes TP, Bellwood DR, Folke C, Steneck RS, and Wilson J. (2005). New paradigms for supporting the resilience of marine ecosystems.  Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20: 380-386.
  Link to Full Text or pdf
• Adger WN, Hughes TP, Folke C, Carpenter SR, and Rockstrom J. (2005). Social-ecological resilience to coastal disasters. Science 309: 1036-1039.
  Link to Full Text or pdf
• Bellwood DR, Hughes TP, Folke C, and Nyström M. (2004). Confronting the coral reef crisis. Nature 429: 827-833.
• Ayre DJ, and Hughes TP. (2004). Climate change, genotypic diversity and gene flow in reef-building corals. Ecology Letters 7: 273-278.
• Hughes TP, Baird AH, Bellwood DR, Card M, Connolly SR, Folke C, Grosberg R, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Jackson JBC, Kleypas J, Lough JM, Marshall P, Nystrom M, Palumbi SR, Pandolfi JM, Rosen B and Roughgarden R. (2003). Climate change, human impacts, and the resilience of coral reefs. Science 301: 929-933.
• Pandolfi JM, Hughes TP, et al. (2003). Global trajectories of the long-term decline of coral reef ecosystems. Science 301: 955-958.
• Jackson JBC,  Hughes TP, et al. (2001). Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems. Science 293: 629-638.
• Hughes TP, Baird AH, Dinsdale EM, Moltschaniwskyj NA, Pratchett MS, Tanner JE and Willis BL. (1999).  Patterns of recruitment and abundance of corals along the Great Barrier Reef. Nature 397:59-63.
• Hughes TP and Connell JH. (1999). Multiple stresses on coral reefs. Limnology & Oceanography 44(3):932-940.
• Hughes TP. (1994). Catastrophes, phase-shifts, and large-scale degradation of a Caribbean coral reef. Science 265: 1547-1551.
• Hughes TP and Jackson, JBC  (1985). Population dynamics and life histories of foliaceous corals.  Ecological Monographs 55: 141-166.