Associate ProfessorLeon Barmuta

Associate Professor Leon Barmuta will be retiring from the University in early 2026 and is unable to supervise any new Research and Higher Degree students. 

He is a freshwater ecologist who contributed to the development of rapid bioassessment protocols in Australian rivers and the development and implementation of the national Australian Water Quality Guidelines in 2000 and 2018. His research has focused on the impacts on headwater streams of changes in land use (chiefly forestry), factors affecting biodiversity in freshwaters and improved models for managing water levels in shallow lakes. He also led a pioneering multi-disciplinary project in 2012 assessing the impacts of climate change on freshwater biodiversity in Tasmania.

He was the 2020-21 Kansas State University Fulbright Scholar and was awarded the Hilary Jolly Gold Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Freshwater Ecology by the Australian Society for Limnology in 2013. He was awarded a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning by the Australian Government in 2013.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Tasmania in 1991, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Murdoch University (WA) designing and implementing impact assessments for small dams. He then moved on to researching the impacts of acid deposition on lakes and streams at the University of California Santa Barbara (USA) after which he worked for the Victorian Government on threatened species policy and procedures and at the Museum of Victoria. In 1990 he was an Australian Water Research Advisory Council Postdoctoral Fellow at Monash University and the University of Melbourne.

He is interested in the ecology of freshwater ecosystems and the application of this science to managing water quality and freshwater habitats and their biodiversity.


Qualifications

PhD "Community Structure of Macroinvertebrate Benthos in an Australian Upland Stream", Monash University, Australia 1987
BSc (Hons) "The Decomposition of Eucalyptus obliqua leaf packs in small stream ecosystems", University of Adelaide, Australia 1978

Memberships
Professional practice
Australian Society for Limnology / Australian Freshwater Sciences Society (past president and member of executive)
Ecological Society of Australia
Society for Freshwater Science
Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography
SIL International Society for Limnology

Administrative expertise
University Learning and Teaching Committees since 2000. Tasmanian node coordinator for the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility Freshwater Biodiversity Hub (2009 – 2012). Led major industry collaborations with Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, Forest Practices Authority and Hydro Tasmania.