Dr Baring's research spans a wide variety of intertidal and subtidal habitats in estuaries, bays, harbours and open coastlines. In those habitats he has investigated; marine pest monitoring and incursions, impacts of resource industry construction and decommission, dredging operations in ports and harbours, habitat and trophic functioning, marine park zoning, ecological accounting and drought response of estuaries. Dr Baring is not necessarily focused on specific fauna or flora under investigation (although he does have a fondness for fish) but more about understanding ecosystem processes to improve management outcomes. He also has strong interest in improving the scientific rigour of ecological research by refining statistical processes to answer complex ecological questions.