Assessing absolute sustainability of global cities. The project aims to create a quantitative modelling framework for assessing the absolute sustainability of cities by combining global multi-region input-output analysis with the 'safe and just space' concept for human development. The model will allow assessment of the full supply chain environmental and social impacts of urban economic activities against biophysical planetary limits as well as social foundation thresholds defined in the litera ....Assessing absolute sustainability of global cities. The project aims to create a quantitative modelling framework for assessing the absolute sustainability of cities by combining global multi-region input-output analysis with the 'safe and just space' concept for human development. The model will allow assessment of the full supply chain environmental and social impacts of urban economic activities against biophysical planetary limits as well as social foundation thresholds defined in the literature. The project will advance sustainability science methodology and will greatly benefit worldwide initiatives for urban sustainability. Case studies on Australian cities will assess where interventions can be most practically, realistically and effectively implemented.Read moreRead less
Oyster biomonitor for endocrine disrupting chemicals. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can produce alarming detrimental impacts on the reproduction and survival of aquatic species, though little is presently known in terms of their effect and impacts on sensitive marine invertebrate species. We propose the development and validation of the first marine mollusc as a biomonitor for the detection and impact assessment of estrogenic contaminants in Australian estuarine and marine waterbodies. S ....Oyster biomonitor for endocrine disrupting chemicals. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can produce alarming detrimental impacts on the reproduction and survival of aquatic species, though little is presently known in terms of their effect and impacts on sensitive marine invertebrate species. We propose the development and validation of the first marine mollusc as a biomonitor for the detection and impact assessment of estrogenic contaminants in Australian estuarine and marine waterbodies. Such biomonitors will provide water management agencies with the capability to manage estrogenic effluent discharges and provide the oyster industry with a tool to prevent product contamination, ensuring the continued health and sustainability of our aquatic resources.Read moreRead less
Multi-Country Study on Health Effects of Bushfire Air Pollution. Catastrophic bushfires are a major natural disaster, causing serious air pollution. However, aligning bushfire air pollution and public health policies becomes a significant challenge, because limited studies are available on relationships between bushfire air pollution and human health, particularly for the prolonged exposure. We will characterize the nature of the relationships between bushfire air pollution and mortality/morbidi ....Multi-Country Study on Health Effects of Bushfire Air Pollution. Catastrophic bushfires are a major natural disaster, causing serious air pollution. However, aligning bushfire air pollution and public health policies becomes a significant challenge, because limited studies are available on relationships between bushfire air pollution and human health, particularly for the prolonged exposure. We will characterize the nature of the relationships between bushfire air pollution and mortality/morbidity by developing a multi-country study; and estimate the burden of diseases attributed to bushfire air pollution. This project will provide essential scientific evidence to policy-makers and stakeholders in the development, prioritization and implementation of health protection strategies and policies.
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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220101409
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$432,447.00
Summary
Quantifying trophic niches to measure the resilience of marine predators. This project aims to pair global movement with feeding ecology datasets to characterise relationships between space use and diet breadth, and tests the effects of marine industries on functional roles of marine predators. This expects to generate knowledge about population and individual specalisation using innovative biochemical approaches and shark’s unique dental anatomy. Expected outcomes include a biochemical database ....Quantifying trophic niches to measure the resilience of marine predators. This project aims to pair global movement with feeding ecology datasets to characterise relationships between space use and diet breadth, and tests the effects of marine industries on functional roles of marine predators. This expects to generate knowledge about population and individual specalisation using innovative biochemical approaches and shark’s unique dental anatomy. Expected outcomes include a biochemical database facilitating global collaborations, and a vulnerability scale to rank resilience to impacts based on relative specalisation. This should benefit managers by accounting for previously unknown effects of marine industries on specialists at elevated extinction risk, with limited resilience to local impacts and global change.Read moreRead less
Taking eDNA underground: transforming assessment of subterranean ecosystems. This project aims to improve Environmental Impact Assessment and monitoring of subterranean ecosystems by developing a rigorous, credible and practicable environmental DNA assessment framework. Resource companies in Western Australia are mandated to assess groundwater biodiversity under Environmental Protection legislation. Current surveys are time-consuming (expensive) and biased toward common taxa. For regulators, sta ....Taking eDNA underground: transforming assessment of subterranean ecosystems. This project aims to improve Environmental Impact Assessment and monitoring of subterranean ecosystems by developing a rigorous, credible and practicable environmental DNA assessment framework. Resource companies in Western Australia are mandated to assess groundwater biodiversity under Environmental Protection legislation. Current surveys are time-consuming (expensive) and biased toward common taxa. For regulators, stakeholders and industry involved in this project we will provide real-world information and cost savings through innovation in understanding patterns in species boundaries and detection of subterranean fauna. The outcomes will be directly applicable to monitoring subterranean ecosystems across Australia and internationally.Read moreRead less
Sustainable Australian food production within secure global supply chains. This project aims at exploring future pathways for the Australian food system to remain secure under future disruptive changes, environmentally and socially sustainable, and able to offer healthy food choices. It will reveal the connections among food supply chains, diets and human health, and portray a food system that achieves public health and sustainability goals while positioning Australia securely into the global su ....Sustainable Australian food production within secure global supply chains. This project aims at exploring future pathways for the Australian food system to remain secure under future disruptive changes, environmentally and socially sustainable, and able to offer healthy food choices. It will reveal the connections among food supply chains, diets and human health, and portray a food system that achieves public health and sustainability goals while positioning Australia securely into the global supply chain network. These goals will be achieved by creating the Australian Food Lab, which will provide a collaborative research platform for environmental scientists, economists, public health experts, and food industry representatives for investigating issues pertaining to the future of our food system.Read moreRead less
Gravity Current Driven Smoke Dispersion In a Stratified Ambient. Smoke from bushfires transported by gravity currents, and known to occur nationwide, caused the shutdown of businesses, education and events in Canberra in 2019. Recent scientific investigations have shown that the speed of propagation and concentration of smoke in these three-dimensional gravity currents have a long term ‘memory’ of their initial configuration. In this project, high-fidelity computational and experimental techniq ....Gravity Current Driven Smoke Dispersion In a Stratified Ambient. Smoke from bushfires transported by gravity currents, and known to occur nationwide, caused the shutdown of businesses, education and events in Canberra in 2019. Recent scientific investigations have shown that the speed of propagation and concentration of smoke in these three-dimensional gravity currents have a long term ‘memory’ of their initial configuration. In this project, high-fidelity computational and experimental techniques will be used to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms of gravity current entrainment and propagation. This knowledge will set a strong foundation to improve operational forecasts of smoke transport that will allow government agencies to better respond to the negative impact of these complicated flows.Read moreRead less
Optimising feeds to support ecosystem-based aquaculture. This project aims to assess the global and local consequences of changing feeds in aquaculture by developing a new interdisciplinary sustainability assessment framework. The project expects to generate new methods to understand and predict local farm-to-ecosystem changes and global environmental footprints under contrasting feed and climate scenarios by integrating field data with novel experiments, modelling techniques and global mapping ....Optimising feeds to support ecosystem-based aquaculture. This project aims to assess the global and local consequences of changing feeds in aquaculture by developing a new interdisciplinary sustainability assessment framework. The project expects to generate new methods to understand and predict local farm-to-ecosystem changes and global environmental footprints under contrasting feed and climate scenarios by integrating field data with novel experiments, modelling techniques and global mapping of terrestrial and marine feed raw materials and their impacts. Expected outcomes include new methods to assess ecological, social and economic trade-offs under different feeds to inform decision making in support of an ecosystem-based approach to aquaculture spanning global to local scales.Read moreRead less
Predicting the impacts of groundwater drawdown on groundwater ecosystems. This project aims to tackle a critical challenge of groundwater management – to understand and predict the impacts of declining groundwater levels. Over pumping and declining groundwater tables are a global problem, yet the effects on the ecosystems that exist within aquifers are poorly known. This project will create a world first evidence-based model of how lowering water tables affects the microbes, invertebrates (stygo ....Predicting the impacts of groundwater drawdown on groundwater ecosystems. This project aims to tackle a critical challenge of groundwater management – to understand and predict the impacts of declining groundwater levels. Over pumping and declining groundwater tables are a global problem, yet the effects on the ecosystems that exist within aquifers are poorly known. This project will create a world first evidence-based model of how lowering water tables affects the microbes, invertebrates (stygofauna) and ecological processes in groundwater ecosystems, and will demonstrate the consequences of such changes to groundwater quality and availability. This model will allow impacts to be reliably forecast and avoided or mitigated, vastly improving how major developments affecting groundwater are planned and implemented.Read moreRead less
Bioplastics in the environment: lifetimes and toxicology. Globally, governments are implementing policies to drive a move to a circular economy. In the process, new materials are being introduced whose potential impacts need to be understood before they are widely used. This project pioneers investigations into the rate and extent of biodegradation of biodegradable plastics in aquatic and soil environments and the associated ecotoxicology of this process. In particular, it aims to quantify the e ....Bioplastics in the environment: lifetimes and toxicology. Globally, governments are implementing policies to drive a move to a circular economy. In the process, new materials are being introduced whose potential impacts need to be understood before they are widely used. This project pioneers investigations into the rate and extent of biodegradation of biodegradable plastics in aquatic and soil environments and the associated ecotoxicology of this process. In particular, it aims to quantify the extent to which the surfaces of these materials accumulate environmental pollutants via adsorption and other mechanisms. The outcomes will include conceptual models of biodegradation across environments, including lifetimes and likely impacts, critical information for framing a sustainable plastics industry.Read moreRead less