Restoration of Sydney's key habitat forming seaweed forests. Restoration of Sydney's key habitat forming seaweed forests. This project aims to restore a key habitat forming-seaweed and its ecosystem, by integrating experimental ecology, population genetics, eco-engineering and restoration ecology. Habitat degradation causes worldwide loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function, increasingly needing active restoration of ecosystems. However, restoration efforts often lack the critical ecological ....Restoration of Sydney's key habitat forming seaweed forests. Restoration of Sydney's key habitat forming seaweed forests. This project aims to restore a key habitat forming-seaweed and its ecosystem, by integrating experimental ecology, population genetics, eco-engineering and restoration ecology. Habitat degradation causes worldwide loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function, increasingly needing active restoration of ecosystems. However, restoration efforts often lack the critical ecological understanding for success, largely ignore major habitats, and in marine systems rarely happen at the scale of the degradation. This innovative approach, could be adopted globally to restore these crucial marine habitats. Anticipated outcomes are the re-establishment of commercially harvestable resources and new tools for active conservation of critical marine habitats.Read moreRead less
Enhanced algal biofuel production: optimising photosynthesis in Australian strains of marine algae. Algal biofuel produces a sustainable liquid fuel to help meet our future energy needs. This project will pioneer a multifaceted approach in molecular biology and photophysiology to engineer the best biofuel producers from Australian marine algae and will advance innovation in Australia's biofuel biotechnology development.
Turf Wars: fighting the new battle facing blue forests. This project aims to use ecological models and field experiments to uncover drivers and critical thresholds for turf expansion. Habitat loss is a leading threat to goods and services from the oceans. Globally, kelp forests are collapsing and being replaced by persistent unwanted algal ‘turfs’. Understanding of this habitat shift is rudimentary, and solutions to mitigate the impacts virtually non-existent. Through stress experiments and geno ....Turf Wars: fighting the new battle facing blue forests. This project aims to use ecological models and field experiments to uncover drivers and critical thresholds for turf expansion. Habitat loss is a leading threat to goods and services from the oceans. Globally, kelp forests are collapsing and being replaced by persistent unwanted algal ‘turfs’. Understanding of this habitat shift is rudimentary, and solutions to mitigate the impacts virtually non-existent. Through stress experiments and genomic analyses, this project aims to discover resilient kelps that promote forest persistence under stress. By expanding our understanding of critical habitat transitions, and exploring new solutions, this project aims to enhance our capacity to respond to the ongoing degradation of Australia’s Great Southern Reef.Read moreRead less
Understanding fish-killing mechanisms by harmful algal blooms: towards the design of effective mitigation strategies. Fish-killing microalgal blooms cause multi-million dollar losses to global aquaculture and wild fisheries. This project brings together leading Australian and Canadian research teams, applying sophisticated cell line and biologically active molecule technologies, to elucidate precise fish-kill mechanisms and design effective mitigation strategies.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100615
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$348,200.00
Summary
Harnessing chain-forming diatoms for improved lipid biofuel production. The aim of this project is to unlock the molecular secrets of highly productive chain-forming diatom microalgae that allow them to produce high levels of biofuel lipids. The formation of multicellular chains appears key to the success of some of the most widespread and productive diatom species. Through a combination of systems biology, bioinformatics, and genetics experiments, this project aims to investigate the relationsh ....Harnessing chain-forming diatoms for improved lipid biofuel production. The aim of this project is to unlock the molecular secrets of highly productive chain-forming diatom microalgae that allow them to produce high levels of biofuel lipids. The formation of multicellular chains appears key to the success of some of the most widespread and productive diatom species. Through a combination of systems biology, bioinformatics, and genetics experiments, this project aims to investigate the relationship between chain formation and biofuel lipid productivity in Chaetoceros diatoms, and to discover genes and molecules that encode and influence these traits. The knowledge and technology generated as a result may improve biofuel yields, increase the robustness of species growing in open pond systems, and reduce processing costs such as de-watering.Read moreRead less
Genes to ecosystems: drivers of resilience in underwater marine forests. This project seeks to determine if population connectivity and thermal stress limits the ecological performance and capacity for biological adaptation of seaweed forests to environmental change. The rates of warming in Australia’s temperate marine environments are among the fastest in the world, threatening seaweed forests that support rich marine life and generate substantial socioeconomic values. By integrating studies of ....Genes to ecosystems: drivers of resilience in underwater marine forests. This project seeks to determine if population connectivity and thermal stress limits the ecological performance and capacity for biological adaptation of seaweed forests to environmental change. The rates of warming in Australia’s temperate marine environments are among the fastest in the world, threatening seaweed forests that support rich marine life and generate substantial socioeconomic values. By integrating studies of connectivity among seaweed forests along replicate coastlines on both sides of the Australian continent, with field and breeding experiments, this project expects to expose the role of genetic diversity in mediating ecological resilience to rapid environmental change.Read moreRead less
Blue carbon potential of the Great Southern Reef. As one of Australia’s largest vegetated coastal ecosystems, kelp forests provide substantial climate mitigation opportunities. Although kelp carbon is ubiquitous in the deep ocean, the mechanism of transport and amount of kelp carbon reaching deep sinks remains largely unknown, significantly hampering their inclusion in ocean carbon budgets and mitigation action. We will use Australia-wide field data on kelp export, cross-shelf measurements of tr ....Blue carbon potential of the Great Southern Reef. As one of Australia’s largest vegetated coastal ecosystems, kelp forests provide substantial climate mitigation opportunities. Although kelp carbon is ubiquitous in the deep ocean, the mechanism of transport and amount of kelp carbon reaching deep sinks remains largely unknown, significantly hampering their inclusion in ocean carbon budgets and mitigation action. We will use Australia-wide field data on kelp export, cross-shelf measurements of transport and decay, coastal ocean circulation and future distribution models to vastly improve estimates of kelp carbon transfer to deep ocean sinks. Our comprehensive data-driven assessment of kelp carbon sequestration aims to uncover the carbon sink capacity of seaweed forests now and in the futureRead moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100743
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,058.00
Summary
Tolerance of coralline algae to climate change in variable environments. This project aims to test whether organisms which regularly encounter low pH have greater tolerance to ocean acidification and why, and whether certain coralline algae can exert controls on their calcification that allows for greater tolerance to low pH. Coralline algae create and bind together reefs. Without them, both temperate and coral reefs as we know them would not exist. Understanding the extent to which tolerance to ....Tolerance of coralline algae to climate change in variable environments. This project aims to test whether organisms which regularly encounter low pH have greater tolerance to ocean acidification and why, and whether certain coralline algae can exert controls on their calcification that allows for greater tolerance to low pH. Coralline algae create and bind together reefs. Without them, both temperate and coral reefs as we know them would not exist. Understanding the extent to which tolerance to ocean acidification could be imparted to coralline algae through their environment or by physiological controls on calcification will enable us to better understand the fate of future reefs.Read moreRead less
Differential accumulation of algal biotoxins within diploid and triploid Pacific Oysters and Sydney Rock Oysters. The major commercial shellfish in NSW, Sydney rock oysters and Pacific oysters, can accumulate paralytic shellfish toxins with potentially severe human health impacts. This project will determine the impacts of ocean climate change on toxin uptake and metabolism, and investigate its genetic basis in a native oyster species.
Can lateral gene transfer lead to ecological innovation in eukaryotes? The role of saxitoxin in the diversification of Alexandrium. This project will determine the processes that led to the acquisition and diversification of the genetic basis for a potent neurotoxin, saxitoxin. This project will determine its impact on the evolution of the marine producing organisms and investigate novel genetic methods of toxin detection.