Alejandro de la Fuente

Research

My research measures how climate change erodes tropical biodiversity, and turns that evidence into protection decisions. In my PhD I modelled three decades of Wet Tropics monitoring to explain rainforest bird and possum declines. As a postdoctoral fellow I forecast heatwave risk for the endangered spectacled flying fox, so managers can act before the next mass mortality event.

Publications

See the threatened species nomination record this research supported.

Editorial service
  • Functional Ecology
  • PeerJ
  • Biodiversity and Conservation
  • One Earth
  • Ecology and Evolution
  • Emu - Austral Ornithology
  • Diversity and Distributions
  • Ecography

Talks

  • 2025

    Why Canopy Microclimate Matters for Understanding Flying Fox Heat Vulnerability?

    20th National Flying Fox Forum, Cairns, Australia

  • 2025

    Microclimatic drivers of thermoregulatory behaviour in Spectacled Flying Foxes

    International Bat Research Conference, Cairns, Australia

  • 2024
  • 2024

    An uphill battle: the story of ringtail possums

    Cairns - Wet Tropics Management Authority, Brisbane, Australia

  • 2023

    Possums in Peril: The Urgent Need to Address Climate Change Impacts on Tropical Montane SpeciesSecond best presentation

    TESS conference, Palm Cove, Australia

  • 2023

    Songs of disappearance: Rainforest Montane Birds and Climate ChangeBest talk prize

    Zoology and Ecology North Queensland, Mission Beach, Australia

  • 2023

    Crisis in the tropics: Signs of an imminent collapse

    CBCS - University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

  • 2022

    Predicted alteration of vertebrate communities in response to climate-induced elevational shiftsBest postgraduate presentation

    ESA-SCBO conference, Wollongong, Australia · Presented earlier as a poster at the ESA conference, March 2021

  • 2022

    Climate change threatens the future of rainforest ringtail possumsPeople's Choice award

    Zoology and Ecology North Queensland Conference, Mission Beach, Australia · Also presented at the Climate and Metabolic Ecology Lab, University of Melbourne, December 2022

  • 2022

    Introduction to hierarchical models for abundance

    CodeR, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia

  • 2021

    Predicting species abundance by implementing the ecological niche theorySecond best talk

    Annual conference of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia · Also presented at the Tropical conservation conference, British Ecological Society, November 2021

  • 2017

    Seasonal variation in the richness, relative frequency and diversity of birds in urban wetlands of Llanquihue, southern Chile

    XXII Congress of Chilean Ornithology, Santa Cruz, Chile

Teaching

Teaching: James Cook University

James Cook University · Townsville, Australia

My teaching experience includes tutoring and lecturing on ecological courses and advanced statistics.

2025

  • Climate Change and Biodiversity.
    • Course: Undergraduate.
    • Role: Demonstrator.

2023

  • Fundamentals of Ecology.
    • Course: Undergraduate.
    • Role: demonstrator.

2022

  • Conservation Biology.
    • Course: Master’s degree.
    • Role: Guess lecturer.
    • Title: “Targeted conservation actions under climate change”.
  • Population and Community Ecology.
    • Course: Undergraduate.
    • Role: Tutor and field demonstrator.
  • Advanced statistics.
    • Course: Master’s degree.
    • Role: demonstrator and tutor.
  • Fundamentals of Ecology.
    • Course: Undergraduate.
    • Role: demonstrator and course development.

2021

  • Fundamentals of Ecology.
    • Course: Undergraduate.
    • Role: demonstrator and course development.
  • Population and Community Ecology.
    • Course: Undergraduate.
    • Role: Tutor and field demonstrator.
  • Toolkit for the Field Biologist
    • Course: Undergraduate.
    • Role: Demonstrator and marking.

2020

  • Population and Community Ecology.
    • Course: Undergraduate.
    • Role: Tutor and field demonstrator.

2019

  • Climate Change and Biodiversity.
    • Course: Undergraduate.
    • Role: Demonstrator.

Mentoring

James Cook University · Cairns, Australia

Olivia Bond

2025

Johns Hopkins University

School for International Training
Project: Microclimate drivers of thermoregulatory behaviors in spectacled flying-foxes (Pteropus conspicillatus)

Abstract
As climate change makes heat waves more frequent and intense, vulnerable species are pushed closer to their limits of thermal tolerance. The spectacled flying-fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) is an endangered megabat that plays a crucial role in pollination and seed dispersal for rainforest trees in northeast Australia. These bats are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat because they roost high in the canopy during the day.

Several studies have documented their thermoregulatory responses to high ambient temperatures, but temperature is only one factor influencing thermal stress, and the role of other microclimate drivers remains understudied.

This project combined focal behavioral observations with microclimate measurements to identify the conditions that exacerbate heat stress. Behavioral responses were modeled using boosted regression trees, revealing that high temperatures alone did not always trigger active thermoregulation. The most extreme responses occurred when high temperatures coincided with high solar exposure, highlighting solar exposure as a critical but often overlooked driver of thermal stress.

These findings emphasize the need to consider the complexity of microclimate in predicting species’ vulnerability to extreme heat events.

Book chapters

I co-authored 14 species accounts in The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020, published by CSIRO Publishing. The story behind them is in this post.

  1. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Freeman AND, Craig M, Frith DW, Frith CB, Garnett ST. (2021). Grey-headed Robin Heteremyias cinereifrons. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 744-746. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  2. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Frith CB, Frith DW, Garnett ST. (2021). Victoria’s riflebird Lophorina victoriae. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 737-739. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  3. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Garnett ST. (2021). Wet Tropics Eastern Whipbird Psophodes olivaceus lateralis. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 722-724. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  4. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Harrington GN, Frith CB, Frith DW, Chaplin D, Freeman AND, Craig M, Garnett ST. (2021). Tooth-billed Bowerbird Scenopoeetes dentirostris. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 483-486. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  5. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Frith CB, Frith DW, Chaplin D, Garnett ST. (2021). Wet Tropics Satin Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 489-491. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  6. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Garnett ST. (2021). Little Treecreeper Cormobates leucophaea minor. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 495-497. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  7. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Frith CB, Frith DW, Chaplin D, Garnett ST. (2021). Golden Bowerbird Prionodura newtoniana. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 486-488. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  8. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Grant JDA, Garnett ST. (2021). Fernwren Oreoscupus gutturalis. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 644-646. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  9. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Freeman AND, Garnett ST. (2021). Wet Tropics Brown Gerygone Gerygone mouki mouki. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 649-651. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  10. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Garnett ST. (2021). Atherton Scrubwren Sericornis keri. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 672-674. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  11. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Freeman AND, Craig M, Garnett ST. (2021). Wet Tropics Large-billed Scrubwren Sericornis magnirostra viridior. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 676-678. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  12. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Garnett ST. (2021). Mountain Thornbill Acanthiza katherina. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 695-697. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  13. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Freeman AND, Craig M, Garnett ST. (2021). Bower’s Shrike-thrush Colluricincla boweri. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 744-746. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
  14. Williams S.E., de la Fuente A., Freeman AND, Craig M, Garnett ST. (2021). Wet Tropics Australian King-Parrot Alisterus scapularis minor. In The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. (Eds ST Garnett and GB Baker) pp. 467-469. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.