Elizabeth Tasker

{{Short description|Australian fire ecologist}} {{About|the Australian ecologist|the British astrophysicist|Elizabeth J. Tasker}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Use Australian English|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Elizabeth Mary Tasker | honorific_suffix = | image =  | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date =  | birth_place = | death_date =  | citizenship = | nationality = | workplaces = | education = | alma_mater = University of Sydney | thesis_title = The ecological impacts of cattle grazing and associated grazier burning in the eucalypt forests of northern NSW | thesis_url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/223514705 | thesis_year = 2002 | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | awards = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | website =  }}

'''Elizabeth Mary Tasker''' is an Australian fire ecologist. She obtained a PhD in Science at the University of Sydney in 2002. She is a researcher at the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, and previously worked for the University of Wollongong and for The Australian Museum carrying out biological surveys in Melanesia. Her main area of expertise is the effects of fire and fire management on native animals and plants.<ref>Collins, Luke, Ross A. Bradstock, Elizabeth M. Tasker, and Robert J. Whelan. "Impact of fire regimes, logging and topography on hollows in fallen logs in eucalypt forest of south eastern Australia." Biological Conservation 149, no. 1 (2012): 23-31.</ref> She was a Vice-President, and subsequently (to 2015) Director, of the Ecological Society of Australia,<ref>{{cite web|title=Board of Directors|url=http://www.ecolsoc.org.au/about-us/board|publisher=Ecological Society of Australia|accessdate=15 August 2014|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819084404/http://www.ecolsoc.org.au/about-us/board|archivedate=19 August 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref> the largest professional association of scientists in Australia, and a published wildlife photographer.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

==Career== Tasker earned her PhD in 2002 at the University of Sydney and worked at the University of Wollongong on fire ecology projects before joining the New South Wales Office of Environment & Heritage (later NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service).<ref>{{cite web |title=Disturbance regimes – Research themes |url=https://www.uow.edu.au/science-medicine-health/research/cses/research-themes/disturbance-regimes/ |website=University of Wollongong |access-date=19 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Vegetation, fire and climate change in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area |url=https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/vegetation-fire-climate-change-greater-blue-mountains-world-heritage-area-100941.pdf |website=NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change & Water |date=2010 |access-date=19 August 2025}}</ref>

Her work has focused on fire regimes and biodiversity in south-eastern Australia, including projects for the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vegetation, fire and climate change in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/5364777 |website=National Library of Australia |date=2010 |access-date=19 August 2025}}</ref> She served on the Board of Directors of the Ecological Society of Australia in 2014, as Vice-President (Member Communications).<ref>{{cite web |title=Board of Directors |url=http://www.ecolsoc.org.au/about-us/board |website=Ecological Society of Australia (archived) |date=19 August 2014 |access-date=19 August 2025 |archive-date=19 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819084404/http://www.ecolsoc.org.au/about-us/board |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

== Selected publications == *{{Cite journal|last1=Tasker|first1=Em|last2=Dickman|first2=Cr|date=2001|title=A review of Elliott trapping methods for small mammals in Australia.|url=http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=AM01077|journal=Australian Mammalogy|language=en|volume=23|issue=2|pages=77|doi=10.1071/AM01077|issn=0310-0049|url-access=subscription}} *{{Cite journal|last1=Tasker|first1=Elizabeth M.|last2=Bradstock|first2=Ross A.|date=2006|title=Influence of cattle grazing practices on forest understorey structure in north-eastern New South Wales|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2006.01597.x|journal=Austral Ecology|language=en|volume=31|issue=4|pages=490–502|doi=10.1111/j.1442-9993.2006.01597.x|bibcode=2006AusEc..31..490T |issn=1442-9993|url-access=subscription}} *{{Cite journal|last=Tasker|first=Elizabeth M.|date=2004|title=Wildlife, Fire and Future Climate: A Forest Ecosystem Analysis|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2004.01411.x|journal=Austral Ecology|language=en|volume=29|issue=3|pages=361–362|doi=10.1111/j.1442-9993.2004.01411.x|bibcode=2004AusEc..29..361T |issn=1442-9993|url-access=subscription}}

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{google scholar id|nNkZDsQAAAAJ}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tasker, Elizabeth}} Category:Australian zoologists Category:Australian women scientists Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:University of Sydney alumni