I study invertebrate biodiversity in a variety of temporary waters across the inland. One focus is on the taxonomy of large branchiopods (fairy shrimps, clam shrimps and shield shrimps) and over the last few years I have described 26 new species. Furthermore, in collaboration with overseas geneticists, the evolutionary relationships among species and genera are being elucidated.
Another aspect of my research concerns the biogeography and seasonality of the fauna of gnammas (rock holes) in Australia. These small specialised habitats often support a bewildering variety of microorganisms in southwest Western Australia, but few in eastern Australia. I am trying to build on knowledge of factors which influence diversity in gnammas, with the ultimate aim of explaining the difference in diversity across Australia.
I have authored a book on the geomorphology of lakes and am presently active researching the geomorphology of gnammas.
I have long been interested in inland salt lakes, Australia having more salt lakes than any other country. Presently I am studying the survival of normally freshwater fairy and clam shrimps, in hyposaline lakes, both in Western Australia and the Paroo in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Another aquatic habitat that interests me is the ubiquitous clay pan. The extreme turbidity of these wetlands could be thought of restricting diversity and productivity, but nevertheless they often support rich and somewhat regionalised communities. With a knowledge base of Paroo clay pans, I am now venturing further afield with studies in southwest Western Australia and inland central Queensland.
Selected publications 1970-2008
1970. Timms, B.V. Chemical and zooplankton studies of lentic habitats in north-eastern New South Wales. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. 21: 11-33.
1973. Timms, B.V. A limnological survey of the freshwater coastal lakes of East Gippsland, Victoria. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. 24: 1-20.
1976. Timms, B.V. A comparative study of the limnology of three maar lakes in western Victoria I Physiography and physicochemical features. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 27: 35-60.
1978 Timms, B.V. The benthos of seven lakes in Tasmania. Archiv fur Hydrobiologie 81: 422-44.
1980 Lee-Manwar, G, Arthington, A.H. & Timms, B.V. Comparative studies of Brown Lake,Tortoise Lagoon and Blue Lake, North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. I Morphometry and origin of the lakes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 91: 53-60.
1982 Coastal dune waterbodies of north-eastern New South Wales. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 33: 203-22.
1983 Smirnov, N.N. & Timms, B.V. A revision of the Australian Cladocera (Crustacea). Records of the Australian Museum Supplement No 1 132pp.
1985 The structure of macrobenthic communities in Australian lakes. Proceedings of the Ecology Society of Australia 14: 51-9.
1986 The coastal dune lakes of eastern Australia in: 'Limnology in Australia' (Edit DeDeckker, P., and Williams, W.D.) (CSIRO/Junk: Melbourne/Dordrecht).
1986 Timms, B.V., Hammer, U.T. & and Sheard, J.W. A study of benthic communities in some saline lakes in Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada. International Revue gesatum Hydrobiologie 71: 759-77.
1987 Timms, B.V. Geomorphic and physicochemical features of floodplain waterbodies of the Lower Hunter Valley, N.S.W. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of N.S.W. 109: 311-24.
1988 Timms, B.V. & Morton, D.W. Crustacean zooplankton assemblages in freshwaters of tropical Australia. Hydrobiologia 164: 161-9.
1988 Timms, B.V. A study of the crustacean zooplankton of six floodplain waterbodies of the lower Hunter Valley, N.S.W. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of N.S.W. 110: 297-306.
1993 Timms, B.V. 'Lake Geomorphology' (Gleneagles Publishing: Adelaide) 180pp.
1993 Timms, B.V. Saline lakes of the Paroo, inland New South Wales, Australia. Hydrobiologia 267: 269-289.
1998. Timms, B.V. A Study of Lake Wyara, an episodically filled saline lake in southwest Queensland, Australia. International Journal of Salt Lake Research 7: 113-132.
2000 Loughran, R, Geary, P. and Timms B.V. Rivers, lakes and wetlands. In: Journeys. The making of the Hunter Region. (McManus, P., O’Neill, P., Loughran, R., & Rey Lescure, O. eds). pp 67-87. Allen & Unwin, St Leonards.
2000 Adlem L. & Timms, B.V. Biogeography of the freshwater Peracarida (Crustacea) from Barrington Tops, NSW. Proceedings of the Linnean Soceity of N.S.W. 121: 131-141.
2001. Timms, B.V. Large freshwater lakes in arid Australia: A review of their limnology and threats to their future. Lakes and Reservoirs: Research and Management 6: 183-196.
2001 Timms, B.V. & McDougall, A. The influence of turbid waters on waterbird numbers and diversity: A comparison of Lakes Yumberarra and Karatta, Currawinya National Park, south-west Queensland. Corella: 25(2): 25-31.
2001. Timms, B.V. Wetlands of Currawinya National Park: Conservation and Management. Pp 9-12 In Research needs for managing a Changed Landscape in the Hungerford/Eulo Region – A Workshop held at Currawinya National Park 16th May 2001 (Eds: M. Page, C. Evenson and A. Whittington) University of Queensland, Gatton.
2001. Timms, B.V. & Boulton, A. Typology of arid-zone floodplain wetlands of the Paroo River, inland Australia and the influence of water regime, turbidity, and salinity on their aquatic invertebrate assemblages. Archiv fur Hydrobiologie 153: 1-27.
2001. Timms, B.V. A study of the Werewilka Inlet of the saline Lake Wyara, Australia — a harbour of diversity for a sea of simplicity. Hydrobiologia 466: 245-254.
2002. Hancock, M. A. & Timms, B.V. Ecology of four turbid clay pans during a filling-drying cycle in the Paroo, semi-arid Australia. Hydrobiologia 479: 95-107.
2002. Timms, B.V. The Fairy Shrimp Genus Branchinella Sayce (Crustacea: Anostraca: Thamnocephalidae) in Western Australia, including a description of four new species. Hydrobiologia 486: 71-89.
2002. Timms, B.V. & Sanders, P. Biogeography and Ecology of Anostraca (Crustacea) in middle Paroo catchment of the Australian arid-zone. Hydrobiologia 486:225-238.
2002. Brown, Katie & Timms, B.V. The distribution of Austrocrangonyx new species (Crustacea:Amphipoda) on the eastern New England plateau, Australia, with reference to riparian clearing. Journal of Aquatic Ecosystem Stress and Recovery 9: 249-258.
2003. Timms, B.V. & Watts, C.H. S. ) Biodiversity of aquatic Coleoptera in the middle Paroo arid-zone Australia. Records of the South Australian Museum Monograph Series No 7: 111-117.
2004. Timms, B.V. The continued degradation of Lake Corangamite, Australia. In: Dying and Dead Seas Climatic verses Anthropic causes ed. J. C.J.Nihoul, P. O. Zavialov & P.P. Micklin.Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. pp 307-319.
2005. Timms, B.V. Salt lakes in Australia: present problems and prognosis for the future. Hydrobiologia 552: 1-15.
2005. Richter, S. & Timms, B.V. A catalogue of the Recent clam shrimps (Crustacea: Laevicaudata, Spinicaudata, Cyclestherida) of Australia, including a description of a new species of Eocyzicus Records of the Australian Museum 57: 341-354.
2006. Timms, B.V. The Geomorphology and Hydrology of Saline Lakes of the Middle Paroo, Arid-zone Australia. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 127: 157-174.
2006. Timms, B. V. The Large Branchiopods of Gnammas (rock holes) in Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 89: 163-173.
2007. H. Obregon-Barboza , Maeda-Martinez, A., Murugan, G., Timms, B.V., Gryger, M., Rogers, D. C., Rodriguez-Almaraz G., and Dumont, H. Morphology and systematic implications of the mystax, a hitherto undescribed cephalic structure of males in certain Notostraca (Branchiopoda) Journal of Crustacean Biology 27: 18-23.
2007. Jocque, M.. Brendonck, L. & Timms, B.V. A contribution on the biodiversity and conservation of the freshwater fauna of rocky outcrops in the central Wheatbelt of Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 90: 137-142.
2008. Jellison,R., Timms, B.V., Williams, W.D., Alcocer, J. & Aladin N. V.. Salt lakes: values, threats and future. Pp. 94-110 In: Aquatic Systems Trends and Global Prospects. Ed Nicholas Polunin, Cambridge University Press 482pp.
