Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101439
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$445,009.00
Summary
Towards reliable and explainable models for anticipating ecological change. This project aims to develop a quantitative framework for multivariate ecological prediction. This will allow us to better anticipate how ecosystems respond to environmental change. Recent modelling advances now make it possible to use the complexity of community ecology data to deliver better predictions. The project intends to use long-term ecological datasets to build and test novel multivariate prediction models, usi ....Towards reliable and explainable models for anticipating ecological change. This project aims to develop a quantitative framework for multivariate ecological prediction. This will allow us to better anticipate how ecosystems respond to environmental change. Recent modelling advances now make it possible to use the complexity of community ecology data to deliver better predictions. The project intends to use long-term ecological datasets to build and test novel multivariate prediction models, using tick paralysis rates in Australian dogs as a case study. Expected outcomes are better tools for studying ecosystem change and new hypotheses about how ecological communities are shaped. Application of these models should provide significant benefits, such as prediction of paralysis tick burdens to improve risk mitigation.Read moreRead less
Automated benthic understanding with multimodal observations. This project aims to deliver cost-effective techniques to explore and monitor marine environments. The project will develop novel methods for classification of large extent, multimodality seafloor surveys consisting of high-resolution visual 3D gigamosaics made of tens of thousands of images coregistered with broad-scale, lower resolution remote sensing data. This knowledge is essential for designing cost-effective, scalable systems t ....Automated benthic understanding with multimodal observations. This project aims to deliver cost-effective techniques to explore and monitor marine environments. The project will develop novel methods for classification of large extent, multimodality seafloor surveys consisting of high-resolution visual 3D gigamosaics made of tens of thousands of images coregistered with broad-scale, lower resolution remote sensing data. This knowledge is essential for designing cost-effective, scalable systems to explore, map and monitor Australia's marine environments. At a broader level, the approach and the techniques developed in this project have the potential to have applications in other areas such as terrestrial and intertidal ecology, extending positive impacts beyond benthic environments.Read moreRead less
Restoring on-Country performance: song, language and south coast landscapes. This project aims to investigate relationships between place, people and endangered performance traditions in the south coast region of Western Australia. For the first time, it will bring together work on archival song and language material, ecological readings of landscape and Indigenous community expertise to extend and enhance knowledge of critically endangered Nyungar songlines. Expected outcomes include increased ....Restoring on-Country performance: song, language and south coast landscapes. This project aims to investigate relationships between place, people and endangered performance traditions in the south coast region of Western Australia. For the first time, it will bring together work on archival song and language material, ecological readings of landscape and Indigenous community expertise to extend and enhance knowledge of critically endangered Nyungar songlines. Expected outcomes include increased community capacity to develop, maintain and share a place-based performance repertoire and the potential to nourish social cohesion, strengthen connection to Country and aid re-interpretation of the landscape. This should provide benefits to Indigenous wellbeing, environmental understanding and processes of reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100710
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$422,492.00
Summary
Beyond Hendra: the significance of viral communities in bat virus spillover. This project aims to address the emerging global health threat posed by zoonotic bat-borne viruses, by determining why bats shed multiple viruses in synchronised pulses. The project expects to identify universal drivers of multi-viral shedding pulses, using Hendra virus as a model system for other bat viruses in Australia and globally. Expected outcomes include insights into the interactions between environmental change ....Beyond Hendra: the significance of viral communities in bat virus spillover. This project aims to address the emerging global health threat posed by zoonotic bat-borne viruses, by determining why bats shed multiple viruses in synchronised pulses. The project expects to identify universal drivers of multi-viral shedding pulses, using Hendra virus as a model system for other bat viruses in Australia and globally. Expected outcomes include insights into the interactions between environmental change, bat ecology, viral dynamics and spillover, prediction of when and where bat viral shedding will most likely occur, and development of new ecological interventions to prevent bat virus spillover in Australia and globally. This will provide significant benefits by pre-empting spillover and global pandemics before they occur.Read moreRead less
Fish Jenga: metapopulation management for coastal river fish. This project aims to address the escalating threats to coastal freshwater fish from drought, fire, and other disturbances. The project expects to generate new knowledge on contemporary distributions of NSW coastal freshwater fishes, and will develop models of population dynamics to explore the consequences of alternative water management and disturbance scenarios. The expected outcome of the project is to revolutionise management by r ....Fish Jenga: metapopulation management for coastal river fish. This project aims to address the escalating threats to coastal freshwater fish from drought, fire, and other disturbances. The project expects to generate new knowledge on contemporary distributions of NSW coastal freshwater fishes, and will develop models of population dynamics to explore the consequences of alternative water management and disturbance scenarios. The expected outcome of the project is to revolutionise management by replacing the current practice of managing river basins separately, with a framework that accounts for among-basin linkages that are essential for the long-term persistence of fish populations. Significant benefits include more efficient use of water resources and improved conservation outcomes for native fish.Read moreRead less
Apex predator control of nutrient dynamics. This project aims to understand the mechanisms through which predators can control ecosystem nutrient dynamics. Ecology has been dominated for decades by the top-down/bottom-up paradigm. The project will use experiments and remote sensing observations to examine the spatial structure of feedback loops between a top predator and nutrient cycles. The expected outcome is a mechanistic and scalable understanding of the spatial distribution of nutrients and ....Apex predator control of nutrient dynamics. This project aims to understand the mechanisms through which predators can control ecosystem nutrient dynamics. Ecology has been dominated for decades by the top-down/bottom-up paradigm. The project will use experiments and remote sensing observations to examine the spatial structure of feedback loops between a top predator and nutrient cycles. The expected outcome is a mechanistic and scalable understanding of the spatial distribution of nutrients and push ecosystems towards alternate states. The project will provide innovative approaches to scale-up ecological data that can be used to inform the decisions of policy makers and land managers.Read moreRead less
High resolution health assessment of Antarctic plants as climate changes. Declines in terrestrial ecosystem health as a result of a drying climate have been observed in some areas of East Antarctica. This project aims to determine if such changes are widespread. Since mosses, the dominant plants of Antarctica, preserve a record of past climate down their shoots they can be used as surrogates to study how both ecosystems and climate are changing at remote polar sites. Outcomes will include improv ....High resolution health assessment of Antarctic plants as climate changes. Declines in terrestrial ecosystem health as a result of a drying climate have been observed in some areas of East Antarctica. This project aims to determine if such changes are widespread. Since mosses, the dominant plants of Antarctica, preserve a record of past climate down their shoots they can be used as surrogates to study how both ecosystems and climate are changing at remote polar sites. Outcomes will include improved climate data for Antarctica, enabling more robust analysis of regional climate change, and development of ultrahigh-resolution techniques capable of non-destructively monitoring Antarctic ecosystem health. This research will advance ecosystem science and inform best practice in management of Antarctic biodiversity.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101226
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$426,071.00
Summary
Success and the city: biodiversity responses in urban environments. This project aims to quantify the species traits and environmental conditions that enable wildlife to persist in an increasingly urbanised world. Through developing and testing a framework linking unprecedented urban expansion and biodiversity change, this project will identify favourable conditions that support biodiversity in the face of global urbanisation. Project outcomes will inform appropriate real-world management action ....Success and the city: biodiversity responses in urban environments. This project aims to quantify the species traits and environmental conditions that enable wildlife to persist in an increasingly urbanised world. Through developing and testing a framework linking unprecedented urban expansion and biodiversity change, this project will identify favourable conditions that support biodiversity in the face of global urbanisation. Project outcomes will inform appropriate real-world management actions and equip scientists, policy-makers and planners with tools to forecast the persistence of biodiversity in Australian cities. By discovering the attributes species need to survive city life this project will help prevent future catastrophic declines of global biodiversity in our increasingly urbanised world.Read moreRead less
Does fire control vegetation in the Tasmanian World Heritage Area? Aims: This project aims to discriminate between competing explanations for vegetation patterns in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area: (a) fire (the legacy of Aboriginal burning), or (b) soil. We will do this through a novel, transdisciplinary research program.
Significance: The project expects to create new knowledge essential for achieving evidence-based fire management, as well as to advance a globally important ecol ....Does fire control vegetation in the Tasmanian World Heritage Area? Aims: This project aims to discriminate between competing explanations for vegetation patterns in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area: (a) fire (the legacy of Aboriginal burning), or (b) soil. We will do this through a novel, transdisciplinary research program.
Significance: The project expects to create new knowledge essential for achieving evidence-based fire management, as well as to advance a globally important ecological theory.
Outcomes: Expected outcomes include significantly strengthened fire science and fire management capacity in Tasmania.
Benefit: Benefits should include the protection of globally significant cultural, biological and landscape values that sustain the vibrant Tasmanian tourist economy.Read moreRead less