Dr Kevin Bairos-Novak
Research Officer
School of the Environment
Researcher biography
Demographic and evolutionary dynamics of corals
Corals of the Great Barrier Reef are under immense selective pressures to evolve increased thermal tolerance due to heat stress from climate change - but will their evolution be able to keep pace with future climate change? My research focuses on modelling population dynamics of corals of the Great Barrier Reef, to simulate likely rates of coral evolution while incorporating realistic coral demography and trade-offs that may hamper their continued evolution to climate change.
Publications
Journal Articles
Twomey, Alice J., Hyman, Jayden, Indraswari, Karlina, Kotz, Maximilian, Morgans, Courtney L. and Bairos-Novak, Kevin R. (2025). From silos to solutions: navigating transdisciplinary conservation research for early career researchers. Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation, 23 (1), 26-31. doi: 10.1016/j.pecon.2024.12.002
Lagisz, Malgorzata, Bairos-Novak, Kevin R., Martinig, April Robin, Bertram, Michael G., Mizuno, Ayumi, Shafiei Sabet, Saeed, Paquet, Matthieu, Santana, Manuela S., Thoré, Eli S. J., Trubanová, Nina, Rutkowska, Joanna, Orr, James A., Takola, Elina, Yang, Yefeng, Pottier, Patrice, Gomes, Dylan G. E., Chan, Ying-Chi, Xian, Zhenzhuo, Akogwu, Caleb Onoja, Drobniak, Szymon M. and Nakagawa, Shinichi (2025). Priced out of belonging? Insufficient concessions on membership fees across international societies in ecology and evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 292 (2040) 20241430, 1-12. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1430
Noble, Daniel W. A., Xirocostas, Zoe A., Wu, Nicholas C., Martinig, April Robin, Almeida, Rafaela A., Bairos-Novak, Kevin R., Balti, Heikel, Bertram, Michael G., Bliard, Louis, Brand, Jack A., Byrne, Ilha, Chan, Ying-Chi, Clink, Dena Jane, Corbel, Quentin, Correia, Ricardo A., Crawford-Ash, Jordann, Culina, Antica, D'Bastiani, Elvira, Deme, Gideon G., de Souza Leite, Melina, Dhellemmes, Félicie, Dimri, Shreya, Drobniak, Szymek M., Elsy, Alexander D., Everingham, Susan E., Gascoigne, Samuel J. L., Grainger, Matthew J., Hossack, Gavin C., Hovstad, Knut Anders ... Lagisz, Malgorzata (2025). The promise of community-driven preprints in ecology and evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 292 (2039) 20241487, 1-9. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1487
Riginos, Cynthia, Popovic, Iva, Meziere, Zoe, Garcia, Vhon, Byrne, Ilha, Howitt, Samantha M., Ishida, Hisatake, Bairos-Novak, Kevin, Humanes, Adriana, Scharfenstein, Hugo, Richards, Thomas, Briggs, Ethan, Clark, Vanessa, Lei, Chuan, Khan, Mariam and Prata, Katharine E. (2024). Cryptic species and hybridisation in corals: challenges and opportunities for conservation and restoration. Peer Community Journal, 4 e106. doi: 10.24072/pcjournal.492
Ivimey-Cook, Edward R., Pick, Joel L., Bairos-Novak, Kevin R., Culina, Antica, Gould, Elliot, Grainger, Matthew, Marshall, Benjamin M., Moreau, David, Paquet, Matthieu, Royauté, Raphaël, Sánchez-Tójar, Alfredo, Silva, Inês and Windecker, Saras M. (2023). Implementing code review in the scientific workflow: insights from ecology and evolutionary biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 36 (10), 1347-1356. doi: 10.1111/jeb.14230
Lang, Bethan J., Donelson, Jennifer M., Bairos‐Novak, Kevin R., Wheeler, Carolyn R., Caballes, Ciemon F., Uthicke, Sven and Pratchett, Morgan S. (2023). Impacts of ocean warming on echinoderms: A meta‐analysis. Ecology and Evolution, 13 (8) e10307, 1-22. doi: 10.1002/ece3.10307
Crane, Adam L., Bairos‐Novak, Kevin R., Goldman, Jack A. and Brown, Grant E. (2022). Chemical disturbance cues in aquatic systems: a review and prospectus. Ecological Monographs, 92 (1) e01487. doi: 10.1002/ecm.1487
Bairos‐Novak, Kevin R., Hoogenboom, Mia O., van Oppen, Madeleine J. H. and Connolly, Sean R. (2021). Coral adaptation to climate change: Meta‐analysis reveals high heritability across multiple traits. Global Change Biology, 27 (22), 5694-5710. doi: 10.1111/gcb.15829
Bairos-Novak, Kevin R., Crane, Adam L., Achtymichuk, Gabrielle H., Hsin, Jonathan, Rivera-Hernández, Ita A. E., Simko, Olena M., Wrynn, Theresa E., Chivers, Douglas P. and Ferrari, Maud C. O. (2020). Forget the audience: tadpoles release similar disturbance cues regardless of kinship or familiarity. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 74 (12) 147. doi: 10.1007/s00265-020-02936-8
Freeman, Angela R., Wood, Thomas J., Bairos-Novak, Kevin R., Anderson, W. Gary and Hare, James F. (2019). Gone girl: Richardson's ground squirrel offspring and neighbours are resilient to female removal. Royal Society Open Science, 6 (9) 190904, 1-15. doi: 10.1098/rsos.190904
Crane, Adam L., Bairos-Novak, Kevin R., Jefferson, Dale M., Chivers, Douglas P. and Ferrari, Maud C. O. (2019). Survival, behaviour, and morphology of larval wood frogs, Lithobates sylvaticus, under threat from an exotic crayfish predator, Orconectes virilis. Aquatic Ecology, 53 (3), 383-392. doi: 10.1007/s10452-019-09696-2
Bairos‐Novak, Kevin R., Ferrari, Maud C. O. and Chivers, Douglas P. (2019). A novel alarm signal in aquatic prey: familiar minnows coordinate group defences against predators through chemical disturbance cues. Journal of Animal Ecology, 88 (9), 1281-1290. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.12986
Bairos-Novak, Kevin R, Crane, Adam L, Chivers, Douglas P and Ferrari, Maud C O (2018). Better the devil you know? How familiarity and kinship affect prey responses to disturbance cues. Behavioral Ecology, 30 (2), 446-454. doi: 10.1093/beheco/ary184
Crane, Adam L., Bairos-Novak, Kevin R., Sacco, Laurel H. and Ferrari, Maud C. O. (2018). The socially mediated recovery of a fearful fish paired with periodically replaced calm models. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285 (1888) 20180739, 20180739. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0739
Mitchell, Matthew D., Crane, Adam L., Bairos-Novak, Kevin R., Ferrari, Maud C. O. and Chivers, Douglas P. (2018). Olfactory cues of habitats facilitate learning about landscapes of fear. Behavioral Ecology, 29 (3), 693-700. doi: 10.1093/beheco/ary024
Bairos-Novak, Kevin R., Ryan, Calen P., Freeman, Angela R., Anderson, W. Gary and Hare, James F. (2018). Like mother, like daughter: heritability of female Richardson's ground squirrel Urocitellus richardsonii cortisol stress responses. Current Zoology, 64 (2), 153-163. doi: 10.1093/cz/zox014
Bairos-Novak, Kevin R., Mitchell, Matthew D., Crane, Adam L., Chivers, Douglas P. and Ferrari, Maud C. O. (2017). Trust thy neighbour in times of trouble: background risk alters how tadpoles release and respond to disturbance cues. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284 (1863) 20171465, 1-7. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1465
Mitchell, Matthew D., Bairos-Novak, Kevin R. and Ferrari, Maud C. O. (2017). Mechanisms underlying the control of responses to predator odours in aquatic prey. Journal of Experimental Biology, 220 (11), 1937-1946. doi: 10.1242/jeb.135137
Bairos-Novak, Kevin R., Crook, Kevin A. and Davoren, Gail K. (2015). Relative importance of local enhancement as a search strategy for breeding seabirds: an experimental approach. Animal Behaviour, 106, 71-78. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.05.002