Environmental change in northern Cenozoic Australia: a multidisciplinary approach. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that by 2020 to 2050, Australia will suffer significant biodiversity loss and water shortages. Our research will document and date the evolution of Australia's biota through three cycles of climate change over the last 25 million years to quantify and thereby better anticipate the nature and dimension of threats facing our natural and cultural communities ....Environmental change in northern Cenozoic Australia: a multidisciplinary approach. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that by 2020 to 2050, Australia will suffer significant biodiversity loss and water shortages. Our research will document and date the evolution of Australia's biota through three cycles of climate change over the last 25 million years to quantify and thereby better anticipate the nature and dimension of threats facing our natural and cultural communities. We will develop innovative techniques to date prehistoric biotic and climatic events and, using a range of tracers, characterize ancient environments and groundwater. This project will assist rural and regional Australia through education and job creation in geotourism and natural resource interpretation and provide a mechanism to combat generational skill shortage.Read moreRead less
Molecular fossils, the evolution of Earth's early oceans and the origin of the oldest oil. Australia retains undiscovered oil reserves. We believe that a change in primitive marine life forms may have fundamentally changed the chemistry of the Earth's oceans and is responsible for the world's oldest oil reserves. While these reserves have been found, and successfully commercialised, overseas, similar reservoirs in Australia remain elusive. The project will develop and apply technologies based on ....Molecular fossils, the evolution of Earth's early oceans and the origin of the oldest oil. Australia retains undiscovered oil reserves. We believe that a change in primitive marine life forms may have fundamentally changed the chemistry of the Earth's oceans and is responsible for the world's oldest oil reserves. While these reserves have been found, and successfully commercialised, overseas, similar reservoirs in Australia remain elusive. The project will develop and apply technologies based on hydrocarbon biomarkers to help determine the oil-producing rock types of Precambrian sedimentary rocks. This allows us to estimate the oil's age and predict where petroleum reservoirs may be hidden. PhD students involved in the project will gain valuable knowledge about the link between changes in ecology and the carbon cycle.Read moreRead less
Fossil evidence for the evolution of Australia's modern vegetation. This project will provide Australian scientists and public with a better appreciation of the origins of our modern flora by providing evidence of landscape and community change over the past 40 million years, the nature of major extinction and diversification events and the response of the vegetation to climate change. The project will raise our understanding of the changing role of fire in the Australian landscape. It will also ....Fossil evidence for the evolution of Australia's modern vegetation. This project will provide Australian scientists and public with a better appreciation of the origins of our modern flora by providing evidence of landscape and community change over the past 40 million years, the nature of major extinction and diversification events and the response of the vegetation to climate change. The project will raise our understanding of the changing role of fire in the Australian landscape. It will also revise our understanding of the geological evolution of southeastern Australian basins and provide better genetic modelling of Victoria's brown coal deposits. Importantly, the project will provide postgraduate research training opportunities for a new generation of palaeobotanists and coal petrologists.Read moreRead less
High-resolution records of climatic change in Australia, both on land and at sea covering the last 20,000 years. This project aims to determine climatic changes in the Australian region since the deglaciation commenced 20,000 years ago at a century scale or better. The information is to be obtained from high-quality records of carefully selected lakes and deep-sea cores in the Australian region. The project will rely on high-resolution chronological records of environmental changes. Several geo ....High-resolution records of climatic change in Australia, both on land and at sea covering the last 20,000 years. This project aims to determine climatic changes in the Australian region since the deglaciation commenced 20,000 years ago at a century scale or better. The information is to be obtained from high-quality records of carefully selected lakes and deep-sea cores in the Australian region. The project will rely on high-resolution chronological records of environmental changes. Several geochemical and micropalaeontological techniques will be used to determine conditions in the lakes and ocean, and links to atmospheric conditions will be determined. This information is of relevance to the international climate community which aims at modelling high-quality and high-resolution records of climate change.Read moreRead less
Predicting Biodiversity from Population Dynamics. This research aims to deepen our understanding of how changes to the environment, including those attributable to human activities, influence the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that generate and maintain biodiversity. This understanding is of urgent importance, in light of the predicted changes in climate and habitat over the next century, because biodiversity is critical to the proper functioning of ecosystems that human societies depend ....Predicting Biodiversity from Population Dynamics. This research aims to deepen our understanding of how changes to the environment, including those attributable to human activities, influence the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that generate and maintain biodiversity. This understanding is of urgent importance, in light of the predicted changes in climate and habitat over the next century, because biodiversity is critical to the proper functioning of ecosystems that human societies depend upon. The graduate student involved in this research will have the opportunity to receive in-depth training as part of a cross-disciplinary collaboration that combines mathematics, ecology, evolution, and paleontology.
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The evolution of Australian rainforest faunas and the implications of continuing climate change. Australia's rainforest animals and ecosystems have been evolving for millions of years yet we routinely use only the last 200 years to assess changes that will affect their future - far too short a time interval to distinguish short-term perturbations from long-term trends in lineage health or community response. Our multidisciplinary team proposes to learn from 55 million years of response to rainfa ....The evolution of Australian rainforest faunas and the implications of continuing climate change. Australia's rainforest animals and ecosystems have been evolving for millions of years yet we routinely use only the last 200 years to assess changes that will affect their future - far too short a time interval to distinguish short-term perturbations from long-term trends in lineage health or community response. Our multidisciplinary team proposes to learn from 55 million years of response to rainfall and other climate change documented by the spectacular national, natural treasures in the fossil deposits of Tingamarra, Riversleigh and Rockhampton, to assess probable impacts of future environmental change and inform development of effective, long-term conservation strategies for rainforest communities. Read moreRead less
PAST EAST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET AND GLOBAL SEA-LEVEL VARIATIONS. Unique fossil-bearing, open marine sediments occur inland from the modern Antarctic coastline. These were deposited when a now-glaciated Antarctic basin became a marine embayment, during intervals of significantly reduced ice sheet volume and elevated global sea-level in the past. Urgent palaeontological, sedimentological and geochemical research on these sediments are vital to provide: directly datable in situ evidence for major i ....PAST EAST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET AND GLOBAL SEA-LEVEL VARIATIONS. Unique fossil-bearing, open marine sediments occur inland from the modern Antarctic coastline. These were deposited when a now-glaciated Antarctic basin became a marine embayment, during intervals of significantly reduced ice sheet volume and elevated global sea-level in the past. Urgent palaeontological, sedimentological and geochemical research on these sediments are vital to provide: directly datable in situ evidence for major ice sheet retreat and global sea-level rise in the past; and quantifiable data concerning the environment during such events; an innovative opportunity to improve predictions of Antarctica's response to global warming and answer international debate about past Antarctic Ice Sheet stability.Read moreRead less
450 Million year history of plant gas exchange capacity and the role of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Our planet faces an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide that is unprecedented in human history, but has occurred in ancient times. By studying the relationship between past changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide, plant gas exchange and climate we will gain powerful global insight into future scenarios of continental carbon and water fluxes. This global perspective is essential for Australia to a ....450 Million year history of plant gas exchange capacity and the role of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Our planet faces an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide that is unprecedented in human history, but has occurred in ancient times. By studying the relationship between past changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide, plant gas exchange and climate we will gain powerful global insight into future scenarios of continental carbon and water fluxes. This global perspective is essential for Australia to assess its vulnerability to global climate change in relation to other nations, thereby informing national planning of landscape resource use, including primary industry, water infrastructure and carbon trading.Read moreRead less
Unravelling the last great Gondwanan mystery: the first land vertebrate fauna from the Tertiary of New Zealand. This project will dramatically increase knowledge about Australia's and New Zealand's shared biodiversity and the history of trans-Tasman dispersals. By comparing Australian and New Zealand fossil records, it will be possible to assess the speed at which evolving vertebrates of one landmass invade another, as well as the biotic consequences of such events, and provide data important fo ....Unravelling the last great Gondwanan mystery: the first land vertebrate fauna from the Tertiary of New Zealand. This project will dramatically increase knowledge about Australia's and New Zealand's shared biodiversity and the history of trans-Tasman dispersals. By comparing Australian and New Zealand fossil records, it will be possible to assess the speed at which evolving vertebrates of one landmass invade another, as well as the biotic consequences of such events, and provide data important for predicting and responding to future potentially-damaging events of this kind. Developing understanding about the timing and intensity of antipodean faunal response to past climate change will improve ability to anticipate and manage processes that threaten ecosystem resilience in both lands.Read moreRead less
Antarctic marine diatoms: Key to predicting the effects of global climate change on a temperature-sensitive ecosystem. This project aims to determine the effects of global climate change on Antarctic diatoms. Diatoms are a major component of the polar phytoplankton. They are sensitive to changes in their marine environment, detection of which is an essential part of the Antarctic climate change strategy. Understanding the environmental processes that cause natural variation in extant diatoms ....Antarctic marine diatoms: Key to predicting the effects of global climate change on a temperature-sensitive ecosystem. This project aims to determine the effects of global climate change on Antarctic diatoms. Diatoms are a major component of the polar phytoplankton. They are sensitive to changes in their marine environment, detection of which is an essential part of the Antarctic climate change strategy. Understanding the environmental processes that cause natural variation in extant diatoms will make it possible to reconstruct the response of fossil diatoms, preserved in marine sediments, to past climate change. This understanding is vital for predicting the effect of future anthropogenic warming on this ecosystem.Read moreRead less