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Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE100100203
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$700,000.00
Summary
Advanced Geochemical Facility for Climate and Environmental Change Research: a Western Australian/Indian Ocean focus. Research outcomes from this new facility will empower government bodies, resource industries, and indigenous stakeholders with key baseline information to ensure the sustainable and sensitive development of west Australia's unique coastal and offshore regions, across heavily populated and pristine environments. This includes projecting future impacts on local industries (eg. ener ....Advanced Geochemical Facility for Climate and Environmental Change Research: a Western Australian/Indian Ocean focus. Research outcomes from this new facility will empower government bodies, resource industries, and indigenous stakeholders with key baseline information to ensure the sustainable and sensitive development of west Australia's unique coastal and offshore regions, across heavily populated and pristine environments. This includes projecting future impacts on local industries (eg. energy, fisheries, tourism), rising shorelines with critical implications for existing and developing communities, and enhancing the resilience of habitats at risk. These are crucial to mitigate the impacts from environmental change that could severely affect our regional and national economies, as well as the style and quality of life of current and future generations.Read moreRead less
Advanced cryobanking for propagation-recalcitrant and critically endangered plant species. This project aims to advance methods for the conservation of recalcitrant/threatened plant species to achieve best practice ecological restoration in areas of high biodiversity. In particular, the nature of freezing and dehydration damage to cell membranes at various stages of tissue culture and cryopreservation will be investigated to try to minimise deleterious effects. In addition, metabolic changes tha ....Advanced cryobanking for propagation-recalcitrant and critically endangered plant species. This project aims to advance methods for the conservation of recalcitrant/threatened plant species to achieve best practice ecological restoration in areas of high biodiversity. In particular, the nature of freezing and dehydration damage to cell membranes at various stages of tissue culture and cryopreservation will be investigated to try to minimise deleterious effects. In addition, metabolic changes that affect cryogenic survival will be assessed to provide further insight into the role of oxidative stress and the toxicity of cryopreservation processes. Ultimately, improved cryogenic protocols will be developed to maintain the integrity of long-term cryobanks of key species for ecological restoration, such as in post-mined areas.Read moreRead less
Genomics and mixed source populations in wildlife translocations. Translocation is a conservation strategy to help the plight of endangered species, and is becoming increasing important to mitigate against climate change. However translocations often fail. Theory suggests mixing individuals from different source populations would benefit species' genomic diversity and potentially success rates, however this is untested in animals. Also unclear is what parts of the genome are important for mitiga ....Genomics and mixed source populations in wildlife translocations. Translocation is a conservation strategy to help the plight of endangered species, and is becoming increasing important to mitigate against climate change. However translocations often fail. Theory suggests mixing individuals from different source populations would benefit species' genomic diversity and potentially success rates, however this is untested in animals. Also unclear is what parts of the genome are important for mitigating against climate change. Using an endangered lizard model, this project aims to understand how to best start new populations by 1) providing the first empirical test in terrestrial vertebrates of using mixed source populations; and 2) uncovering regions of the genome important for considering in translocations.Read moreRead less
Assessment of past biodiversity through DNA preserved in bulk bone. This project aims to make a unique study of fossils to determine how the composition and biodiversity of ecosystems have changed in response to anthropogenic influences. Fossil bones provide a window through which to study past environments and how they have changed, and the stories these fossils tell can be further enhanced by ancient DNA analyses. This project plans to use bulk bone metabarcoding where hundreds of low-value (f ....Assessment of past biodiversity through DNA preserved in bulk bone. This project aims to make a unique study of fossils to determine how the composition and biodiversity of ecosystems have changed in response to anthropogenic influences. Fossil bones provide a window through which to study past environments and how they have changed, and the stories these fossils tell can be further enhanced by ancient DNA analyses. This project plans to use bulk bone metabarcoding where hundreds of low-value (fragmented) bones are collectively ground together to provide a cost-effective genetic audit of fossil assemblages. Working on bone from across Oceania and south-east Asia, this project aims to provide a historical perspective on biodiversity. Understanding former ecosystem composition and extinction may facilitate effective restoration and conservation initiatives.Read moreRead less
Improving prediction of rocky reef ecosystem responses to human impacts. This project aims to improve our understanding of inshore ecosystems to facilitate better management of our living marine heritage. The project first aims to extend field datasets on the density and distribution of thousands of marine fishes, invertebrates and macro-algae. These will then be combined using recent advances in quantitative ecological modelling to describe transfer of biomass between species at hundreds of sit ....Improving prediction of rocky reef ecosystem responses to human impacts. This project aims to improve our understanding of inshore ecosystems to facilitate better management of our living marine heritage. The project first aims to extend field datasets on the density and distribution of thousands of marine fishes, invertebrates and macro-algae. These will then be combined using recent advances in quantitative ecological modelling to describe transfer of biomass between species at hundreds of sites, with a primary focus on southern Australia. It is anticipated that this will provide site-level indices of major food web processes that, when combined with ‘before, after, control, impact’ data, will improve prediction of ecological consequences of fishing, climate change, pest outbreaks and pollution.Read moreRead less
Optimising seed sourcing for effective ecological restoration. This project aims to address the sourcing of native seed for ecological restoration under global change. The great demand for native seed to deliver ecological restoration provides a clear need and responsibility to use this seed as efficiently as possible. This project expects to develop detailed new knowledge that links plant and environmental genomics, plant physiology, seed and soil biology in embedded experiments at post-mining ....Optimising seed sourcing for effective ecological restoration. This project aims to address the sourcing of native seed for ecological restoration under global change. The great demand for native seed to deliver ecological restoration provides a clear need and responsibility to use this seed as efficiently as possible. This project expects to develop detailed new knowledge that links plant and environmental genomics, plant physiology, seed and soil biology in embedded experiments at post-mining rehabilitation sites. Expected outcomes include clear industry guidelines that refine seed sourcing strategies for ecological restoration for current and future climates. This should provide significant benefits for improved ecological restoration outcomes when using native seed today and into the future.Read moreRead less
Preventing and reversing population declines of northern quolls. This project seeks to develop novel effective strategies to halt and reverse declines in northern quolls by improving their ‘toad-smart’ behaviour. The spread of cane toads threaten northern quolls, which are marsupial predators. We cannot halt the toad invasion, but we can train quolls not to eat cane toads. Trained quolls can survive long term in toad-infested landscapes, and their offspring can learn not to eat toads. This proje ....Preventing and reversing population declines of northern quolls. This project seeks to develop novel effective strategies to halt and reverse declines in northern quolls by improving their ‘toad-smart’ behaviour. The spread of cane toads threaten northern quolls, which are marsupial predators. We cannot halt the toad invasion, but we can train quolls not to eat cane toads. Trained quolls can survive long term in toad-infested landscapes, and their offspring can learn not to eat toads. This project builds on this work by focusing on cultural and genetic transmission of toad-smart behaviour. The project could save numerous quoll populations from extinction.Read moreRead less
Impacts of deforestation and afforestation on greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon and water resources in the Daly River catchment, north Australia. Over the last decade, north Australia have been viewed as a potentially exploitable resource, given issues of salinisation, soil acidification, over-allocation of water resources and rainfall declines in south Australian agricultural regions. Improved pastures and plantation forestry are two land uses that may expand in the NT. Clearing of savanna v ....Impacts of deforestation and afforestation on greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon and water resources in the Daly River catchment, north Australia. Over the last decade, north Australia have been viewed as a potentially exploitable resource, given issues of salinisation, soil acidification, over-allocation of water resources and rainfall declines in south Australian agricultural regions. Improved pastures and plantation forestry are two land uses that may expand in the NT. Clearing of savanna vegetation would be required, with implications for greenhouse gas emissions, soil health, water resources and dry season environmental flows. This project will track greenhouse emissions and water use from uncleared and cleared savanna that has been converted to pasture and timber plantations, providing critical understanding of the environmental implication of such land use change in savanna.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100833
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$386,708.00
Summary
Resilience of forest ecosystems to multiple stressors in a changing climate. This project will examine the influence of multiple stressors including disease, drought and fire, on the resilience of forest ecosystems within Australia. This project expects to generate new knowledge for land managers and the international community, in management of forest health by determining how soil health and soil fungi influence forest recovery after disturbance events. Anticipated outcomes include improved ri ....Resilience of forest ecosystems to multiple stressors in a changing climate. This project will examine the influence of multiple stressors including disease, drought and fire, on the resilience of forest ecosystems within Australia. This project expects to generate new knowledge for land managers and the international community, in management of forest health by determining how soil health and soil fungi influence forest recovery after disturbance events. Anticipated outcomes include improved risk assessment of disturbed forests to future disturbances and significant benefits will include informing climate smart management goals in the recovery of important forest ecosystems, not only for the forest tree species but the animal, plant, insect and microbe communities that depend on these systems.Read moreRead less
Species redundancy in response to multiple disturbances. This project aims to elucidate how the context within which disturbances occur affects food web linkages and how these map to responses in ecosystem function. There is a critical need to test the common assumption in environmental management that high biodiversity makes ecosystems resilient to disturbances. Studies that merely observe biodiversity change after disturbance cannot identify ecological processes connecting high diversity and e ....Species redundancy in response to multiple disturbances. This project aims to elucidate how the context within which disturbances occur affects food web linkages and how these map to responses in ecosystem function. There is a critical need to test the common assumption in environmental management that high biodiversity makes ecosystems resilient to disturbances. Studies that merely observe biodiversity change after disturbance cannot identify ecological processes connecting high diversity and ecosystem function, making experiments that manipulate identical disturbances in ecosystems with different biodiversity essential. This project will use field experiments that manipulate disturbances in streams replicated in low and high biodiversity regions and across gradients of chronic background stress to show how biodiversity sustains functional ecosystems, and how much diversity can be lost before ecosystems collapse.Read moreRead less