In order to understand natural ecosystems and to manage them effectively, it is important to gauge their levels of biodiversity and their ecological condition or health. David's research has focused on our ability to achieve these outcomes, with a particular interest in ecological surrogacy approaches. Ecological surrogates may serve as any measureable correlate to biodiversity, and are employed to address gaps in taxonomic and/or geographical information by serving as a proxy for all, or a significant subset of biodiversity within a defined geographical area.

David's current PhD project, to be completed mid-2015, is concerned with traditional multi-metric surrogate measures of ecological condition and novel acoustic metrics of the ecological soundscape. David is a member of the Healthy Ecosystems and Environmental Monitoring (HEEM) team at the Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology, and is involved in the ongoing monitoring and management of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) South East Queensland Peri-urban 1 hectare plot located in Samford, Queensland, Australia. He has also worked as a consultant in Queensland assessing vegetation offsets and regional ecosystem mapping.