Dr Ryan Turner
Senior Research Fellow
School of the Environment
Researcher biography
Dr. Ryan Turner is currently the Interim Deputy Director of the Reef Catchments Science Partnership at the University of Queensland (a partnership with the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation). Ryan was previously the Principal Scientist for Water Quality and Investigations in the Department of Environment and Science, and held an Adjunct Associate Professor role at Queensland University of Technology in the Managing for Resilient Landscapes, Institute for Future Environments. For 14 years Ryan managed multimillion dollar water quality monitoring programs assessing the impacts of sediment, nutrient and pesticides loads in numerous catchments along the Queensland coast discharging to the Great Barrier Reef and Moreton Bay. Ryan has been on several steering committees and technical advisory panels, such as the Great Barrier Reef Foundations Technical Advisory Panel. He has published extensively (>60 papers and reports) and led several Queensland Government – Academic collaborative research projects. Ryan previously supervised analytical chemistry (water and soil) and microbiology laboratories in the private and public sector. Ryan has developed numerous methodology and standard operating procedures for analytical and monitoring techniques (water quality, sediments and soils). Ryan's passion for the future of water security is what keeps him going.
Publications
Book Chapter
Lewis, Stephen, McCloskey, Gillian, Bainbridge, Zoe, Davis, Aaron, Bartley, Rebecca and Turner, Ryan (2024). Sediment and nutrient flux from land. Oceanographic processes of coral reefs. (pp. 126-142) edited by Eric Wolanski and Michael J. Kingsford. Boca Raton, FL, United States: CRC Press. doi: 10.1201/9781003320425-10
Journal Articles
Mitchell, Hannah C., Warne, Michael St. J., Mann, Reinier M., Neelamraju, Catherine A. and Turner, Ryan D. R. (2024). Aquatic hazard and risk posed by four pesticides detected in waterways discharging to the Great Barrier Reef, Australia: Part 2. Hazard and risk assessment. Science of The Total Environment, 955 177040, 177040. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177040
McMahon, J.M., Turner, R.D.R., Smart, J.C.R., Shortle, J.S., Ramsay, I., Correa, D.F., Chamberlain, D., Mao, Y. and Warne, M.St.J. (2024). Offset integrity reduces environmental risk: Using lessons from biodiversity and carbon offsetting to inform water quality offsetting in the catchments of the Great Barrier Reef. Science of the Total Environment, 951 175786, 175786. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175786
Santos‐Fernandez, Edgar, Ver Hoef, Jay M., Peterson, Erin E., McGree, James, Villa, Cesar A., Leigh, Catherine, Turner, Ryan, Roberts, Cameron and Mengersen, Kerrie (2024). Unsupervised Anomaly Detection in Spatio‐Temporal Stream Network Sensor Data. Water Resources Research, 60 (11) e2023WR035707. doi: 10.1029/2023wr035707
Mao, Yongjing, Turner, Ryan D. R., McMahon, Joseph M., Correa, Diego F., Chamberlain, Debbie A. and Warne, Michael St. J. (2024). Predicting ground cover with deep learning models—an application of spatio-temporal prediction methods to satellite-derived ground cover maps in the great barrier reef catchments. Remote Sensing, 16 (17) 3193, 3193. doi: 10.3390/rs16173193
Mitchell, Hannah C., Warne, Michael St J., Mann, Reinier M., King, Olivia C. and Turner, Ryan D. R. (2024). Ecotoxicity threshold values for 4-hydroxychlorothalonil, carbendazim, dimethoate and methoxyfenozide in fresh and marine waters: Part 1. Derivation of threshold values. Science of the Total Environment, 948 174578, 174578. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174578
Warne, M.St.J., Neelamraju, C., Strauss, J., Turner, R. D.R., Smith, R. A. and Mann, R. M. (2023). Estimating the aquatic risk from exposure to up to twenty-two pesticide active ingredients in waterways discharging to the Great Barrier Reef. Science of the Total Environment, 892 164632, 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164632
Livsey, D. L., Turner, R. D. R and Grace, P. R. (2023). Combining optical and acoustic backscatter measurements for monitoring of fine suspended‐sediment concentration under changes in particle size and density. Water Resources Research, 59 (8) e2022WR033982. doi: 10.1029/2022wr033982
Livsey, D. L., Crosswell, J. R., Turner, R. D. R, Steven, A. D. L. and Grace, P. R. (2022). Flocculation of riverine sediment draining to the Great Barrier Reef, implications for monitoring and modelling of sediment dispersal across continental shelves. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127 (7) e2021JC017988, 1-21. doi: 10.1029/2021jc017988
Warne, Michael St.J., Turner, Ryan D.R., Davis, Aaron.M., Smith, Rachael and Huang, A. (2022). Temporal variation of imidacloprid concentration and risk in waterways discharging to the Great Barrier Reef and potential causes. Science of the Total Environment, 823 153556, 153556. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153556
Lambert, Victoria, Bainbridge, Zoe T., Collier, Catherine, Lewis, Stephen E., Adams, Matthew P., Carter, Alex, Saunders, Megan I., Brodie, Jon, Turner, Ryan D.R., Rasheed, Michael A. and O'Brien, Katherine R. (2021). Connecting targets for catchment sediment loads to ecological outcomes for seagrass using multiple lines of evidence. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 169 112494, 1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112494
Thomas, Colette R., Bennett, William W., Garcia, Clement, Simmonds, Andrew, Honchin, Carol, Turner, Ryan, Madden Hof, Christine A. and Bell, Ian (2020). Coastal bays and coral cays: multi-element study of Chelonia mydas forage in the Great Barrier Reef (2015–2017). Science of The Total Environment, 740 140042, 140042. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140042
Warne, M. St.J., Smith, R. A. and Turner, R. D.R. (2020). Analysis of pesticide mixtures discharged to the lagoon of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Environmental Pollution, 265 (Pt A) 114088, 1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114088
Turner, Ryan D.R., Warne, Michael St.J., Dawes, Les A., Thompson, Kristie and Will, Geoffrey D. (2019). Greywater irrigation as a source of organic micro-pollutants to shallow groundwater and nearby surface water. Science of the Total Environment, 669, 570-578. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.073
Leigh, Catherine, Alsibai, Omar, Hyndman, Rob J., Kandanaarachchi, Sevvandi, King, Olivia C., McGree, James M., Neelamraju, Catherine, Strauss, Jennifer, Talagala, Priyanga Dilini, Turner, Ryan D. R., Mengersen, Kerrie and Peterson, Erin E. (2019). A framework for automated anomaly detection in high frequency water-quality data from in situ sensors. Science of the Total Environment, 664, 885-898. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.085
Hook, Sharon E., Mondon, Julie, Revill, Andrew T., Greenfield, Paul A., Smith, Rachael A., Turner, Ryan D. R., Corbett, Patricia A. and Warne, Michael St J. (2018). Transcriptomic, lipid, and histological profiles suggest changes in health in fish from a pesticide hot spot. Marine Environmental Research, 140, 299-321. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2018.06.020
Hook, Sharon E., Kroon, Frederieke J., Greenfield, Paul A., Warne, Michael St J., Smith, Rachael A. and Turner, Ryan D. (2017). Hepatic transcriptomic profiles from barramundi, Lates calcarifer, as a means of assessing organism health and identifying stressors in rivers in northern Queensland. Marine Environmental Research, 129, 166-179. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2017.05.006
Smith, Rachael A., Warne, Michael St J., Mengersen, Kerrie and Turner, Ryan D. R. (2017). An improved method for calculating toxicity-based pollutant loads: part 2. application to contaminants discharged to the great barrier reef, Queensland, Australia. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 13 (4), 754-764. doi: 10.1002/ieam.1860
Smith, Rachael A., Warne, Michael St J., Mengersen, Kerrie and Turner, Ryan D. R. (2017). An improved method for calculating toxicity-based pollutant loads: part 1. method development. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 13 (4), 746-753. doi: 10.1002/ieam.1854
Hook, Sharon E., Kroon, Frederieke J., Metcalfe, Suzanne, Greenfield, Paul A., Moncuquet, Philippe, McGrath, Annette, Smith, Rachael, Warne, Michael St. J., Turner, Ryan D., McKeown, Adam and Westcott, David A. (2017). Global transcriptomic profiling in barramundi (Lates calcarifer) from rivers impacted by differing agricultural land uses. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 36 (1), 103-112. doi: 10.1002/etc.3505
Turner, Ryan D. R., Warne, Michael St. J., Dawes, Les A., Vardy, Suzanne and Will, Geoffrey D. (2016). Irrigated greywater in an urban sub-division as a potential source of metals to soil, groundwater and surface water. Journal of Environmental Management, 183 (3), 806-817. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.09.021
Gladish, Daniel W., Kuhnert, Petra M., Pagendam, Daniel E., Wikle, Christopher K., Bartley, Rebecca, Searle, Ross D., Ellis, Robin J., Dougall, Cameron, Turner, Ryan D. R., Lewis, Stephen E., Bainbridge, Zoe T. and Brodie, Jon E. (2016). Spatio-temporal assimilation of modelled catchment loads with monitoring data in the Great Barrier Reef. Annals of Applied Statistics, 10 (3), 1590-1618. doi: 10.1214/16-aoas950
O’Brien, Dominique, Lewis, Stephen, Davis, Aaron, Gallen, Christie, Smith, Rachael, Turner, Ryan, Warne, Michael, Turner, Scott, Caswell, Stewart, Mueller, Jochen F. and Brodie, Jon (2016). Spatial and temporal variability in pesticide exposure downstream of a heavily irrigated cropping area: application of different monitoring techniques. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 64 (20), 3975-3989. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5b04710
Wooldridge, Scott A., Brodie, Jon E., Kroon, Frederieke J. and Turner, Ryan D. R. (2015). Ecologically based targets for bioavailable (reactive) nitrogen discharge from the drainage basins of the Wet Tropics region, Great Barrier Reef. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 97 (1-2), 262-272. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.06.007
Kroon, Frederieke J., Hook, Sharon E., Jones, Dean, Metcalfe, Suzanne, Henderson, Brent, Smith, Rachael, Warne, Michael St. J., Turner, Ryan D., McKeown, Adam and Westcott, David A. (2015). Altered transcription levels of endocrine associated genes in two fisheries species collected from the Great Barrier Reef catchment and lagoon. Marine Environmental Research, 104, 51-61. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2015.01.002
Turner, Ryan D. R., Will, Geoffrey D., Dawes, Les A., Gardner, Edward A. and Lyons, David J. (2013). Phosphorus as a limiting factor on sustainable greywater irrigation. Science of the Total Environment, 456, 287-298. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.02.061
Smith, Rachael, Middlebrook, Rachael, Turner, Ryan, Huggins, Rae, Vardy, Suzanne and Warne, Michael (2012). Large-scale pesticide monitoring across Great Barrier Reef catchments - Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting Program. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 65 (4-9), 117-127. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.08.010
Joo, Marianna, Raymond, Myriam A. A., McNeil, Vivienne H., Huggins, Raethea, Turner, Ryan D. R. and Choy, Satish (2012). Estimates of sediment and nutrient loads in 10 major catchments draining to the Great Barrier Reef during 2006-2009. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 65 (4-9), 150-166. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.01.002
Kroon, Frederieke J., Kuhnert, Petra M., Henderson, Brent L., Wilkinson, Scott N., Kinsey-Henderson, Anne, Abbott, Brett, Brodie, Jon E. and Turner, Ryan D. R. (2012). River loads of suspended solids, nitrogen, phosphorus and herbicides delivered to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 65 (4-9), 167-181. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.10.018
Davis, Aaron M., Lewis, Stephen E., Bainbridge, Zoe T., Glendenning, Lionel, Turner, Ryan D. R. and Brodie, Jon E. (2012). Dynamics of herbicide transport and partitioning under event flow conditions in the lower Burdekin region, Australia. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 65 (4-9), 182-193. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.08.025
Conference Papers
Lambert, V., Adams, M. P., Collier, C., Carter, A., Saunders, M., Brodie, J., Bainbridge, Z., Rasheed, M., Turner, R. and O'Brien, K. R. (2019). Towards ecologically relevant targets: Impact of flow and sediment discharge on seagrass communities in the great barrier reef. 23rd International Congress on Modelling and Simulation - Supporting Evidence-Based Decision Making: The Role of Modelling and Simulation, MODSIM 2019, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 1 - 6 December 2019. Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand Inc. (MSSANZ). doi: 10.36334/modsim.2019.G1.lambert
Warne, Michael, Smith, Rachael, Turner, Ryan, Waters, David, Ellis, Rob, Shaw, Mel, Silburn, Mark D., Carroll, Chris, Martin, Katherine, Mueller, Jochen, Schaffelke, Britta, McCosker, Kevin, Wallace, Rohan, Huggins, Rae, Tindall, Dan, Bennett, John, Chinn, Chris, Henry, Nyssa, Gale, Kevin, Honchin, Carol and Yorkston, Hugh (2014). Reducing pesticide loads to help protect the Great Barrier Reef, Australia: An integrated endeavour to change land management practices on a massive scale. 248th National Meeting of the American-Chemical-Society (ACS), San Francisco, CA, United States, 10-14 August 2014. Washington, DC, United States: American Chemical Society.
O'brien, Dominique, Davis, Aaron, Nash, Michael, Di Bella, Lawrence, Turner, Ryan, Reghenzani, John and Brodie, Jon (2013). Water quality within the Herbert river catchment associated with specific land use. 35th Annual Conference of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, Townsville, QLD Australia, 16-18 April 2013. Mackay, QLD Australia: Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists.
Turner, R. D.R., Smith, R. A., Huggins, R. L., Wallace, R. M., Warne, M. St J. and Waters, D. K. (2013). Monitoring to enhance modelling - A loads monitoring program for validation of catchment models. 20th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, MODSIM 2013, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 1 - 6 December 2013. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Smith, R., Turner, R., Vardy, S. and Warne, M. (2011). Using a convolution integral model for assessing pesticide dissipation time at the end of catchments in the Great Barrier Reef Australia. 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation - Sustaining Our Future: Understanding and Living with Uncertainty, Perth, WA Australia, 12-16 December 2011. Canberra, ACT Australia: Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Lewis, S. E., Smith, R., Brodie, J. E., Bainbridge, Z. T., Davis, A. M. and Turner, R. (2011). Using monitoring data to model herbicides exported to the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM), Perth, WA, Australia, 12-16 December 2011. Christchurch, New Zealand: Modelling and Simulation Society Australia and New Zealand.
Smith, R., Turner, R., Vardy, S. and Warne, M. (2011). Using a convolution integral model for assessing pesticide dissipation time at the end of catchments in the Great Barrier Reef Australia. 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM), Perth, WA, Australia, 12-16 December 2011. Christchurch, New Zealand: Modelling and Simulation Society Australia and New Zealand.
Creative Work
O'Brien, Katherine R., Vilas, Maria P., Egger, Felix, Langsdorf, Hayley, Weber, Tony, Turner, Ryan, McCloskey, Gillian, Di Bella, Lawrence, Baird, Mark, Burford, Michele, Dean, Angela, Hamilton, David, Maier, Holger, Maxwell, Paul, O'Neill, Andrew, Shaw, Melanie and Adams, Matthew (2024). A guide to building informed trust in environmental models. Brisbane: School of Chemical Engineering. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.26925841.v1
Data Collection
McMahon, Joseph M., Turner, Ryan D. R. and Warne, Michael St. J. (2023). McMahon et al (2023) Estimating demand for water quality offsets from STPs in the GBR catchments by 2050 - Supplementary materials. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/429da4f
Generic Document
McMahon, J. M., Turner, R. D. R., Shortle, J. S., Adshead, M., Bigwood, R., Binney, J., Burford, M., Davis, G., Grundy, M., Linde, M., Marsh, N., Pruss, S., Reeves, L., Reyes-Nivia, C., Smart, J. C. R., Smolders, A., Sweatman, C., Wilson, C. and Warne, M. St. J. (2023). The St Lucia Declaration on Water Quality Trading in Queensland 2023. The University of Queensland.
Thesis
Turner, Ryan D. (2017). Environmental implications of greywater irrigation within an urban development. PhD Thesis, School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Queensland University of Technology. doi: 10.5204/thesis.eprints.106951
Research Reports
Roberts, C., Skelton, M., Glen, J., Souza Dias, F., Turner, R.D.R., Neelamraju, C., Ferguson, B., Fisher, S., Sinclair, M., Houseman, B., Goddard, G., Keenan, D., Gardiner, R., Marsh, A.P., Wilson, E. and Mann, R.M. (2024). Fine scale water quality monitoring in the Herbert catchment: communications report. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Department of Environment and Science, Queensland Government.
McMahon, Joseph, Turner, Ryan and Warne, Michael (2023). Estimates of demand for water quality offsets from sewage treatment plants in the Great Barrier Reef catchments by 2050. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/5867b37
Turner, R., Huggins, R., Wallace, R., Smith, R., Vardy, S. and Warne, M. St. J. (2013). Total suspended solids, nutrient and pesticide loads (2010-2011) for rivers that discharge to the Great Barrier Reef Great Barrier Reef Catchment Loads Monitoring 2010-2011. Brisbane, QLD Australia: Queensland Government.
Turner, R., Huggins, R., Wallace, R., Smith, R., Vardy, S. and Warne, M.St.J (2012). Sediment, nutrient and pesticide loads: Great Barrier Reef Catchment loads monitoring 2009-2010. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The State of Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts.