This special issue brings together the stories of a range of women in conservation science to showcase the great work being done to develop and improve our knowledge and understanding of Australian plants, animals and ecosystems, across a range of disciplines and sectors. In this overview we highlight several exemplary women who have paved the way for those of us who have come after them, and present a brief snapshot of the careers of these women to acknowledge their contributions to the development of conservation science, and its associated disciplines. We also distil some common themes that have been identified and note the stories highlight resilience and determination and a desire to inspire other young women to take up the challenge of a career in conservation science.

A personal account of the author’s career in plant ecological research is given. Boom-and-bust support for ecological research has been countered by personally maintained research themes in grassland ecology and conservation. Tips are provided on a variety of topics relating to professional development and practice.

Australia’s deserts can appear to be desolate and harsh environments but they are extremely dynamic places that support a range of species adapted to the boom and bust conditions. Katherine Moseby is a conservation biologist who lives and works in the Australian arid zone, with a particular focus on threatened species and reintroductions. She provides a brief background on arid zone ecology in Australia and the story of how she went from city slicker to desert dweller.

A successful science career does not have to follow the traditional path from university to a research position. Here I describe how a journey from university to the finance sector and back to university led to a significant career milestone in restoration science.

This is the story of how I came to realise my dreams, albeit by way of an unplanned and unconventional route. I kept going through the setbacks and the ups and downs, and gained experience in diverse skills along the way that ultimately led to a successful and fulfilling career.

This paper describes methods for prioritising where, when, and how to invest funds for protecting biodiversity. It outlines examples from the fields of ecosystem services, prioritisation, and environmental evaluation. It is concluded with suggestions for the role we can all play in improving the future for women science.

The balancing act of work and life is one that made me stumble and find my feet (well, almost) with the help of prioritisation. In this perspective I place the complexity of work/life balance in the context of environmental decision analysis and highlight how my research in this field helped me work towards a better process of decision-making to support my choices.

This paper describes a project, initiated in 1998, to describe the diversity of dragonflies in Kakadu National Park, in northern Australia. Almost 20 years later, the development of an app and a citizen science project, ‘Dragonflies and the Dry’, has produced a large, image-based dataset on tropical dragonflies and demonstrated the value of digital media for communicating wetland science and biodiversity conservation.

This opinion piece is a personal reflection on the legacy of a seminal paper in conservation biology. Drawing on paleoecology, community ecology and biogeography, the review by Peters and Darling (1985) laid out many concepts about species vulnerability to climate change that we now take for granted. Further, the paper explored many adaptation strategies that are only now starting to become implemented in natural area management.

Conservation genetics typically only includes an assessment of genetic diversity at the DNA level. Our work on marsupials highlights the importance of including cytogenetics, the study of the chromosomes into which the DNA is packaged, in the conservation genetics toolbox.

We used a prioritisation framework as a tool to bring managers and scientists together to discuss and agree on current priorities and relevant questions for research on marine mammals in WA. Scientists and managers agreed on priority species and an associated set of research questions that would best inform ongoing conservation and management of marine mammals in WA. We provide an example of how these priorities can be used to develop a research program with targeted funding.

Conservation of coastal and marine ecosystems is in growing demand globally, as cumulative impacts are threatening the function and services provided by these ecosystems. This perspective provides recent insight into some of the pressures and developments in research and policy pertaining to coastal and marine conservation and restoration. A personal reflection on a pathway in conservation science is included.

Rates of habitat loss have been accelerating dramatically in Australia, with intensification of land clearing and unprecedented urban growth. I reflect on the impacts of rapidly changing landscapes I have documented through my research, highlighting the impacts of rapid landscape change and the urgent need for appropriate regulation and planning.

Australia’s tropical savannas are vast ancient landscapes containing internationally significant biodiversity and cultural values. Increasingly large areas are being invaded by non-native grass species, with consequential impacts being so substantial that they required significant policy and on-ground management response. Here, we share our insights into the role of scientific evidence in enacting policy guiding invasive grass management in tropical Australia.

The identification of Grevillea williamsonii after a century of presumed extinction was an exciting conservation prospect and triggered concerted efforts to ensure its survival. It also revived earlier controversies regarding its origin and taxonomy. This study highlights the benefit of undertaking genetic analyses where questionable taxonomic status biases conservation prioritisation and management decisions.