James is an aquatic ecologist with 19 years’ experience professionally studying aquatic communities and habitat. He has worked in private consulting, academic and government institutions in Australia (ARI) and New Zealand (NIWA, now Earth Sciences NZ). His core training is as a quantitative ecologist, studying how aquatic organisms respond to introduced species and human-induced changes in water quality and flow dynamics. James’ work focuses on biodiversity monitoring, impact assessment, and applied conservation; in particular the impact of instream barriers and flow regulation on native aquatic communities.