The history of North Stradbroke Island's wetlands: defining natural climate variability in south-east Queensland and improving ecosystem management. South-east Queensland has among the fastest growing populations in Australia. It has also experienced severe drought lasting more than a decade. These combined pressures have led to the expenditure of more than $9 Billion on water resource development. However, it is not known whether the current drought is part of a natural cycle (or, importantly, ....The history of North Stradbroke Island's wetlands: defining natural climate variability in south-east Queensland and improving ecosystem management. South-east Queensland has among the fastest growing populations in Australia. It has also experienced severe drought lasting more than a decade. These combined pressures have led to the expenditure of more than $9 Billion on water resource development. However, it is not known whether the current drought is part of a natural cycle (or, importantly, if it represents the worst extremes in such a cycle). We will determine whether this is the case and, in doing so, contribute to national and international debates about the role of human-induced vs natural climate change.Read moreRead less
New approaches for protecting stream health in temperate Australia: Devising nutrient and salinity guidelines using diatoms. Salinity and nutrient enrichment are the most significant forms of water quality degradation in Australian lowland rivers. This project will identify the biological effect of the water quality pollution and develop new methods for its assessment. Most importantly, through the identification of water quality "thresholds" which result in reduced biodiversity, better guidelin ....New approaches for protecting stream health in temperate Australia: Devising nutrient and salinity guidelines using diatoms. Salinity and nutrient enrichment are the most significant forms of water quality degradation in Australian lowland rivers. This project will identify the biological effect of the water quality pollution and develop new methods for its assessment. Most importantly, through the identification of water quality "thresholds" which result in reduced biodiversity, better guidelines for maintaining stream health will be developed.Read moreRead less
Science of the Surf (SOS): The Development and Evaluation of a National Campaign to Reduce the Risk of Coastal Drowning. Australian beaches attract approximately 80 million domestic and international tourists a year and are an integral part of the Australian lifestyle. Each year, 58 people die and 563 people are hospitalised as a result of coastal drowning in Australia; many more are rescued by surf lifesavers. Many incidents occur when swimmers are caught in rip currents. Raising awareness abou ....Science of the Surf (SOS): The Development and Evaluation of a National Campaign to Reduce the Risk of Coastal Drowning. Australian beaches attract approximately 80 million domestic and international tourists a year and are an integral part of the Australian lifestyle. Each year, 58 people die and 563 people are hospitalised as a result of coastal drowning in Australia; many more are rescued by surf lifesavers. Many incidents occur when swimmers are caught in rip currents. Raising awareness about common surf hazards, such as rip currents, aims to minimise the risk of drowning. This research will promote and maintain good health and well being for Australians by delivering an effective drowning prevention intervention. In doing so, reducing drowning risk would save up to $187 million each year in health care costs.Read moreRead less
Assessment of the potential consequences of large-scale eradication of rice grass from the Tamar Estuary, Tasmania. Introduced Rice grass has trapped large volumes of intertidal sediment, yet reduced amenity values of the Tamar Estuary, transforming beaches into muddy rice grass meadows, threatening aquaculture industries, and silting up coastal developments. This project will investigate the consequences of rice grass eradication, by determination of sediment volume trapped, contaminants contai ....Assessment of the potential consequences of large-scale eradication of rice grass from the Tamar Estuary, Tasmania. Introduced Rice grass has trapped large volumes of intertidal sediment, yet reduced amenity values of the Tamar Estuary, transforming beaches into muddy rice grass meadows, threatening aquaculture industries, and silting up coastal developments. This project will investigate the consequences of rice grass eradication, by determination of sediment volume trapped, contaminants contained, and monitoring of processes active after removal. The outcomes of this research will enable informed decisions on management of the Tamar rice grass infestation, and provide an understanding the impacts of large scale eradication to management authorities of similar infestations in Victoria, New Zealand, Europe, China and the USA.Read moreRead less
Automated Vector Extraction from Airborne Laser Scan Data. This project considers the problem of automatically extracting and vectorising the outlines of objects from Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data. The industry partner, AAM GeoScan, is a leading user of ALS systems in Australia, and has a need to develop automated solutions to this problem. ALS data is typically a dense cloud of 3D point data which represents the local terrain, as well as any trees, buildings or vehicles which may be in t ....Automated Vector Extraction from Airborne Laser Scan Data. This project considers the problem of automatically extracting and vectorising the outlines of objects from Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data. The industry partner, AAM GeoScan, is a leading user of ALS systems in Australia, and has a need to develop automated solutions to this problem. ALS data is typically a dense cloud of 3D point data which represents the local terrain, as well as any trees, buildings or vehicles which may be in the field of view. Spatial data is a very important resource, widely used in many types of urban and rural planning operations. Planning software packages require vectorised descriptions of building outlines and other spatial data, however this is not presently available from raw ALS data. The project will investigate this problem and develop new and effective means for producing it automatically from raw ALS data. Expected outcomes include a successful research masters studentship, the development of novel solutions to the problem which are directly applicable to the industry partner's core business, peer reviewed publications, and an strengthened link between the universities and the industry partner.Read moreRead less