Lorna Hernandez Santin

Lorna Hernandez Santin is a restoration ecologist whose research focuses on understanding, monitoring, and improving ecosystem recovery and biodiversity outcomes following disturbance. Her work integrates restoration ecology, fauna ecology, conservation biology, environmental monitoring, remote sensing, and spatial analysis to support evidence-based restoration and nature-positive outcomes.

As Acting Group Leader of the Ecosystem & Biodiversity Group within the Centre for Environmental Responsibility in Mining, Lorna contributes to research that assesses mining impacts on flora and fauna, develops approaches to restore ecosystem services, supports recolonisation by native species, and improves the long-term sustainability of disturbed landscapes. See the group’s website for more information: [smi.uq.edu.au].

Lorna collaborates with industry, government, and research partners to improve how restoration success is defined, measured, and achieved. Her research supports the application of the mitigation hierarchy and adaptive management, helping organisations avoid and minimise impacts, implement effective restoration strategies, and evaluate ecological recovery using robust monitoring approaches. This work aims to improve biodiversity outcomes throughout the mine life cycle, from project planning and impact mitigation to rehabilitation, mine closure, and post-closure recovery. Her research also explores the use of emerging technologies, including drone- and satellite-based remote sensing, hyperspectral imaging, and automated species detection, to improve environmental monitoring and restoration assessment.

Current research interests include:

• Mine rehabilitation and ecological restoration
• Fauna ecology and biodiversity conservation
• Restoration assessment and ecosystem recovery trajectories
• Restoration frameworks, standards, targets, and completion criteria
• Ecological indicators and monitoring frameworks
• Environmental monitoring using field-based methods and remote sensing technologies, including imagery collected from drones, aircraft, and satellites using RGB, multispectral, and hyperspectral sensors
• Species detection, habitat assessment, and spatial modelling using remote sensing approaches
• Landscape ecology and spatial analysis
• Evidence-based approaches to mine closure and environmental management

Her broader research experience includes wildlife ecology, conservation biology, habitat suitability modelling, species distributions, movement ecology, and biodiversity monitoring across Australia and the Americas.