Rate My Professor Mariana Cruz Rodrigues De Campos

Dr. Mariana Cruz Rodrigues de Campos, professionally known as Mariana Campos, is an adjunct senior lecturer in Environmental Science at Murdoch University's Harry Butler Institute. She earned her PhD in Plant Ecophysiology from the University of Western Australia in 2011, with a thesis on phosphorus-acquisition and phosphorus-conservation mechanisms of plants native to south-western Australia and Brazilian rupestrian fields. Her earlier qualifications include an MSc in Plant Ecology from Universidade de Campinas, Brazil, in 2006, and BSc Honours and Licenciate degrees in Biological Sciences from Universidade de São Paulo in 2004.

Following her doctoral studies, de Campos worked in environmental consultancies in Western Australia, conducting baseline ecological studies, targeted species searches, and vegetation monitoring. She advanced to roles as lecturer and biosecurity researcher at the Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University. Since 2021, she has served as an adjunct senior lecturer there while leading the Ecosystem Change Ecology Team as a research scientist at CSIRO Health and Biosecurity. Her research focuses on biosecurity pathways and surveillance, invasive species ecology and management, biological control, environmental DNA methods, plant ecophysiology, and microbial transmission risks. Major publications include the highly cited "Mobile phones represent a pathway for microbial transmission: A scoping review" (2020, Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease), revealing widespread pathogen contamination on mobile devices; "Are our beaches safe? Quantifying the human health impact of anthropogenic beach litter on people in New Zealand" (2019, Marine Pollution Bulletin); "Environmental DNA methods for biosecurity and invasion biology in terrestrial ecosystems: Progress, pitfalls, and prospects" (2024); and "Can honey bees be used to detect rare plants? Taking an eDNA approach to find the last plants in a weed eradication program" (2023). De Campos has contributed to public engagement through an eight-week internship with The Naked Scientists at Cambridge University in 2019 and as a leader for women in STEMM in the Homeward Bound HB7 cohort. Her work informs conservation, sustainability, and practical biosecurity strategies.