Stephen Murphy (he/him)

Stephen D. Murphy is a Professor in the School of Environment, Resources & Sustainability at the University of Waterloo. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Restoration Ecology. He has been on the boards of international conferences and dozens of provincial, national and international research and policy organizations. He has help mentor 200+ graduate students & 1500+ undergraduate students, teaching classes in the technical, business, ethics, and policy aspects of restoration ecology, ecological restoration, novel ecosystem threat assessment, conservation, socioecological systems analysis, ecological indicators, ecological monitoring & management for private and public lands. He has led or collaborated on many peer reviewed publications and high level strategic reports. This is tied to over $100 million lifetime in competitive funding as a leader or collaborator. He was the co-winner of the 2023 Bradshaw Medal from the Society for Ecological Restoration and a lead author on the First North American Biodiversity and Climate Change Assessment.

The above sounds really impressive but it is a bit tedious so let's do what I do best and that is let's cut to the chase. I've worked with a lot of wonderful people for a long time in ecology research and action. And working with people is what I love to do. I love the networking, I love the work, I love arranging a great meal with some modest amounts of nice wine or beer and talking science, art, politics - you name it; I am known as the jester of 'Smurph's Travelling Party' even by some pretty famous people who travel along with us. But you don't have to be famous to be someone I like working with. The fact that most people call me "Smurph" (S Murphy - get it?) pretty much tells you I don't have much use for formality; I take pride in not wearing a suit. I've worked in some great places around the world and seen a lot and done a lot. I especially love the Atlantic coast because the ocean sights and smell are bred into my bones (my mom was from the east coast). I love mentoring students and don't make them do my research - I help students find their best path. I don't demand students work beyond a regular work week and don't demand perfection because I am as imperfect as everyone. I love seeing students I teach suddenly realize that they are capable of so much and watch them thrive as they find their passion for learning and careers. I am an iconoclast and a bit of a rebel with a cause. I am Smurph the ecologist.

Here's a couple of our SERS blogs that elaborate a bit more:

https://uwaterloo.ca/environment-resources-and-sustainability/blog/conservation-and-restoration-ecology-care-you-break-it-we (most recent version - 2024)

https://uwaterloo.ca/environment-resources-and-sustainability/blog/you-break-it-we-fix-it (original version - 2019)

• restoration ecology

• ecological restoration

• conservation ecology

• novel ecosystems

• socioecological systems

• ecological monitoring

Prof. Murphy's research has most recently focused on the technical, business, ethics, and policy aspects of restoration ecology, ecological restoration, novel ecosystem threat assessment, conservation, socioecological systems analysis, ecological indicators, ecological monitoring & management for private and public lands. That spans different regions of Canada - but mainly southern Ontario in recent years. It has also spanned multiple types of ecosystems and species but Prof. Murphy often focuses on meadows, successional habitats after farm abandonment, urban ecosystems, and forests using plants and invertebrates as indicators of ecosystem responses.

Prof. Murphy's industrial research is rather literal - ecological restoration and occasionally remediation of post-industrial sites like quarries and decommissioned factories.

• 1992 (completed)/1993 (awarded), Doctorate, Biology, Queen's University, Canada

• 1988, Bachelor's of Science (Honours), Biology, Queen's University, Canada

• Multiple Outstanding Performance Awards, Faculty of Environment, U Waterloo

• Bradshaw Medal, Society for Ecological Restoration

• Quite a few others but I don't really want to bore people because it gets rather self-aggrandizing; let's just say I have enjoyed working with a lot of great people and we win some nice awards together for doing good work

• 2026-2027 Acting Associate Director, Undergraduate Studies, SERS

• 2019-2020 Acting Associate Director, Undergraduate Studies, SERS

• 2019 (6 months) Acting Associate Director, Graduate Studies, SERS

• 2009-2018 School Director, SERS

• 1999-2009 Associate Director, Undergraduate Studies, SERS

• 1997 (6 months) Acting Associate Director, Undergraduate Studies, SERS

• I've chaired several university committees, most recently the one on Policy Development Committee for Policy 57 (Faculty & Staff Accommodations)

• I've been on several university committees on Policy and Procedures development

• I've been on Senate and on the President's Senate Advisory Commitee

• I've been on many performance review and promotion/tenure committees

• I've been a peer reviewer for over 600 academic journal articles

• I've been an external reviewer for over 50 academic programs

• I am a member of the Science Advisory group for the Experimental Lakes Area

• Society for Ecological Restoration

• Ecological Society of America

• Way too many to list

• ENVS 444 - Ecosystem and Resource Management in Parks/Natural Areas
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025
• ERS 300 - Social Ecological Systems Analysis
  • Taught in 2024, 2025, 2026
• ERS 335 - Restoration Ecology
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
• ERS 337 - ReWilding and Ecological Restoration
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
• ERS 401 - Translational Ecology
  • Taught in 2022, 2023
• ERS 475 - Special Readings/Seminar on Select Topics
  • Taught in 2024, 2025
• ERS 669 - Research and Design Methods
  • Taught in 2026
• ERS 675 - Special Readings and Seminars on Selected Topics in Environment and Resource Studies
  • Taught in 2023, 2024, 2026
• GEOG 617 - Applied Statistics in Ecology and Environment
  • Taught in 2026

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Here's a pretty good sample of stuff I've helped write and research over the last 8 or 9 years. There's a ton more out there but you have to worry about the fact my surname and given names are common and there's a bunch that are listed by different variations of my name (SD Murphy, S Murphy, Stephen D Murphy and so on). I haven't even added the most recent dozen or so and even this list misses a bunch since 2018 because I keep forgetting to update my cv. Look, its been a good career; if you're keen, just send me an email if you want to know more.

• Higgs ES, Harris JA, Hobbs RJ, Murphy SD, Suding KN. 2024. Towards an agenda for restoration science, Restoration Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.14287

• Alamenciak T, Murphy SD. 2024. Motivations for volunteers to participate in ecological restoration: a systematic map. Restoration Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.14155.

• Alamenciak T, Murphy SD. 2024. What makes a convivial community tool? Investigating grassroots ecological restoration. Ecology & Society. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-15258-290303.

• Volpe J., Higgs ES, Jeschke JM, Barnhill K, Brunk K, Dudney J, Govers LL, Hobbs RJ, Keenleyside K, Murphy SD, Seddon PJ, Sudweeks J, Telhan O, Voicescu S. 2024. Bionovelty and ecological restoration. Restoration Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.14152.

• Hamberg J, Robinson D, Trant A, Murphy S. 2024. Direct topsoil transfer to already planted reforestation sites increases native plant understory and not ruderals. Restoration Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.14076. .

• Jones HP, Murphy SD. 2023. We asked and #GenerationRestoration delivered: The joint Special Feature between the British Ecological Society and the Society for Ecological Restoration. Restoration Ecology and Ecological Solutions and Evidence. https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12268

• Alamenciak T, Pomezanski D, Shackelford N, Murphy S, Cooke SJ, Rochefort L, Voicescu S,Higgs E. 2023. Ecological restoration research in Canada: who, what, where, when, why, and how? FACETS. https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/full/10.1139/facets-2022-0157.

• Gerwing TG, Hawkes VI, Murphy SD. 2023. Speaking the same language: Aligning project designations to clarify communication in restoration ecology. Environmental Reviews. https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/er-2022-0091.

• Kraus D, Enns A, Hebb A, Murphy S, Drake DAR, Bennet B. 2023. Prioritizing nationally endemic species for conservation. Conservation Science and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12845

• Gaudon JM, McTavish MJ, Hamberg J, Cray HA, Murphy SD. 2022. Noise attenuation varies by interactions of land cover and season in an urban/peri-urban landscape. Urban Ecosystems 25:811-818.

• McTavish MJ, Murphy SD. 2022. Rapid redistribution and long-term aggregation of mulch residues by earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris). Applied Soil Ecology 169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.104195 .

• Heger T, Jeschke JA, Febria C, Kollmann J, Murphy S, Rochefort L, Shackelford N, Temperton VM, Higgs E. 2022. Mapping and assessing the knowledge base of ecological restoration. Restoration Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13676.

• Voicescu SA, Lane J-F, Cooke SJ Higgs E, Fisher AC, Rochefort L, Shackelford N, Murphy SD. 2022. Awareness and use of the Society for Ecological Restoration's International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration in Canada. Restoration Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13789 .

• Jones HA, Murphy SD. 2021. Answering the call for #GenerationRestoration: The Special Feature from the Society for Ecological Restoration and British Ecological Society to meet the challenges under the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Restoration Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13343.

• McTavish MJ, Murphy SD. 2021. Three-dimensional mapping of earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) seed transport. Pedobiologia https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2021.150752 .Gerwing, TG, Hawkes VC, Gann GG, Murphy SD. 2021. Restoration, reclamation, and rehabilitation: on the need for, and positing a definition of, ecological reclamation. Restoration Ecology https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13461 .

• Cray HA, Gaudon JM, Murphy SD. 2021. Introduced earthworms (Lumbricidae) in restored and remnant tallgrass prairies of southern Ontario. Canadian Field Naturalist 135:234-244 .

• Kraus D, Murphy S, Armitage D. 2021. Ten Bridges on the Road to Recovering Canada’s Endangered Species. Facets. https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2020-0084 .

• Gaudon JM, McTavish MJ, Sivarajah S, Snyder EHU, Andrade SMM, Murphy SD. 2021. Effects of earthworms and warming on tree seedling growth: a small-scale microcosm experiment. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfr-2020-0097

• Hamberg J, Murphy S, Fraser R, Robinson D, Trant A. 2020. Relative surface temperature as an indicator of plant species diversity and restoration in oak woodland. Ecological Indicators. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106249

• Burilo S, McTavish MJ, Murphy SD. 2020. Consistent seed ingestion preferences of earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) between no-choice and choice feeding experiments. Pedobiologia https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2020.150643.

• Sutherland W and 44 co-authors (alphabetically after Bill Sutherland as first author; Murphy is 38th). 2020. Ensuring tests of conservation interventions build on existing literature. Conservation Biology 34:781-783.

• Prach K, Durigan G, Fennessy S, Overbeck GE, Torezan JM, Murphy SD. 2019. A primer on choosing goals and indicators to evaluate ecological restoration success. Restoration Ecology doi.org/10.1111/rec.13011.

• McTavish M, Murphy S. 2019. Assessing the relative importance of earthworms as granivores under field conditions. Applied Soil Ecology. doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2019.103428.

• McTavish M, Gorgolewski A, Murphy SD, Basiliko N. 2019. Anecic earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) facilitate the burial of surface-applied wood ash. Biology and Fertility of Soils doi.org/10.1007/s00374-019-01414-2.

• McTavish M, Murphy S. 2019. Seed density and previous egestion affect earthworm seed ingestion: Preliminary observations using granivory of Alliaria petiolata by Lumbricus terrestris. Applied Soil Ecology doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2019.01.019.

• McTavish M, Gorgolewski A, Murphy SD, Basiliko N. 2020. Field and laboratory responses of earthworms to use of wood ash as a forest soil amendment. Forest Ecology and Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118376

• McTavish M, Smenderovac E, Gunn J, Murphy SD. 2019. Insect defoliators in recovering industrial landscapes: Effects of landscape degradation and remediation near an abandoned metal smelter on gypsy moth (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) feeding, frass production, and frass properties. Environmental Entomology 48:1187–1196.

• Ashpole SA, Bishop C, Murphy S. 2018. Reconnecting Amphibian Habitat through small pond construction and ehancement, South Okanagan River Valley, British Columbia, Canada. Diversity 10 https://doi.org/10.3390/d10040108 (dated 2018; publisher delays caused it to come out in 2019)

• Higgs, E, Harris J, Heger T, Hobbs R, Murphy S, Suding K.2018. Keep restoration ecology open and flexible. Nature Ecology & Evolution doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0483-9.

• Higgs E, Harris J, Murphy SD. 2018. The evolution of SER’s principles and standards. Restoration Ecology doi/epdf/10.1111/rec.12821.

• Higgs E, Harris J, Murphy SD et al. 2018. On principles and standards in ecological restoration, Restoration Ecology doi/epdf/10.1111/rec.12691.

• Murphy SD, Allen E, Hobbs R. 2018. Restoration Ecology at 25 years. Restoration Ecology doi.org/10.1111/rec.12885.

• Murphy SD. 2018. Restoration Ecology’s silver jubilee: Meeting the challenges & forging opportunities. Restoration Ecology doi/epdf/10.1111/rec.12659.

• Henry H, Murphy S, McFarlane ML, Barna H, Dunning K, Hood A, Crosthwaite JC. 2018. Evaluating outcomes of restoration ecology projects on limited budgets: assessment of variation in sampling intensity and sampling frequency for four habitat types. Restoration Ecology. doi.org/10.1111/rec.12855.

• Some big fancy books I've helped with follow

• Allison S, Murphy SD. 2017. Handbook of Ecological and Environmental Restoration, Routledge. 691 pp.

• Hobbs R, Higgs E, Hall C (eds.). Novel Ecosystems: Intervening in the New Ecological World Order, Wiley. (I helped write about a half-dozen pieces for this book)

• Booth B, Murphy, SD, Swanton CJ. Invasive plant ecology (Oxford University/CABI Press, 2010). 329 pp.

• Cooke SJ, Heger T, Murphy SD, Shackelford S, Febria CM, Rochefort L, Higgs ES, 2023. Ecological restoration in support of sustainability transitions: Repairing the planet in the Anthropocene. Pages 93-112 in Hensel M, Hensel D, Binder CR, Ludwig F (eds.). Introduction to Designing Environments, Springer.

• McTavish M, Cray H, Murphy S, Bauer JT, Havirlla CA, Oelbermann M, Sayer EJ. 2020. Sustainable management of grassland soils. In Stanturf JA, Callaham MA (Jr.). Soil and Landscape Restoration, Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813193-0.00004-7.

• Yates CN, Wootton B, Murphy SD. 2020. Wastewater Treatment Wetlands: Use in Arctic Regions 5-Year Update. In: Fath, B.D. and S.E. Jørgensen. (eds.) Environmental Management Handbook, Volume IV, Second Edition. CRC Press.