Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101654
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$335,528.00
Summary
Assessing Eucalyptus forest responses to rising CO2 and climate change. Rising atmospheric CO2 and the associated changes in rainfall regimes are rapidly reshaping how Australia’s forest ecosystems function and underpin our daily life. Whether Australia’s native Eucalyptus trees can withstand the impacts of climate extremes such as drought and heat under rising CO2 is a crucial question that this project aims to resolve. Using an innovative framework that integrates novel knowledge, data assimil ....Assessing Eucalyptus forest responses to rising CO2 and climate change. Rising atmospheric CO2 and the associated changes in rainfall regimes are rapidly reshaping how Australia’s forest ecosystems function and underpin our daily life. Whether Australia’s native Eucalyptus trees can withstand the impacts of climate extremes such as drought and heat under rising CO2 is a crucial question that this project aims to resolve. Using an innovative framework that integrates novel knowledge, data assimilation and ecosystem modelling, this project will provide critically needed evidence to disentangle the multifaceted impacts of climate change to Eucalyptus trees. This will help reduce the predictive uncertainty in assessing the vulnerability and resilience of Eucalyptus forests in the changing Australian landscape. Read moreRead less
Resilience of eucalypts to future droughts. This project aims to examine how resilient Eucalyptus species are to future droughts by combining data synthesis, manipulative experiments and modelling. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, magnitude and duration of future droughts, with major environmental and socio-economic consequences for Australia. Current predictive capacity is extremely limited: experiments are limited in scale and cannot capture important global change interac ....Resilience of eucalypts to future droughts. This project aims to examine how resilient Eucalyptus species are to future droughts by combining data synthesis, manipulative experiments and modelling. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, magnitude and duration of future droughts, with major environmental and socio-economic consequences for Australia. Current predictive capacity is extremely limited: experiments are limited in scale and cannot capture important global change interactions, whilst models do not represent the functional characteristics and adaptions of eucalypts. This project will develop a strong evidence- and process-based understanding to quantify the functional behaviour of drought-adapted Eucalyptus species and leverage this insight to make future model projections.Read moreRead less
Drought effects on soil carbon and nitrogen cycling mediated by rhizosphere processes. There is much uncertainty about how drought caused by global warming will affect agricultural sustainability in Australia. This project will provide new knowledge about plant-soil interactions affecting carbon and nutrient cycling and will make predictions about long-term soil carbon storage and agricultural productivity in response to drought.
Advancing knowledge of microbial symbioses underpinning coral health and reef resilience and predicting their responses to climate change. Coral reefs are complex, diverse ecosystems in which microbial communities form associations with host corals. However, the roles these associations play in coral stress responses are unknown. This project unlocks the black-box of coral microbial complexity and determines how the reef’s smallest members have the greatest influence on reef health.
Understanding population growth time lags in invasive species. This project will use data collected from wild animals, landholder surveys, and computer simulation models to understand why invasive chital deer (Axis axis) are suddenly increasing in number after many years of slow population growth. By combining multiple empirical datasets and developing new modelling techniques, we will generate a new method for understanding population trends in introduced species. The results of this study will ....Understanding population growth time lags in invasive species. This project will use data collected from wild animals, landholder surveys, and computer simulation models to understand why invasive chital deer (Axis axis) are suddenly increasing in number after many years of slow population growth. By combining multiple empirical datasets and developing new modelling techniques, we will generate a new method for understanding population trends in introduced species. The results of this study will allow Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and others to better predict invasive species growth rates, which will allow for better, and more cost effective control methods. Read moreRead less
The impact of environmental change on larval energetics of molluscs on the southeast coast of Australia. This project will investigate the impact of environmental change on larval energetics of molluscs on the southeast (SE) coast of Australia. The SE coast of Australia is a climate hotspot characterised by rising ocean temperatures, fluctuations in salinity and we expect in the near future ocean acidification (OA). Mollusc larvae show extreme sensitivity to OA, but the impacts of other stressor ....The impact of environmental change on larval energetics of molluscs on the southeast coast of Australia. This project will investigate the impact of environmental change on larval energetics of molluscs on the southeast (SE) coast of Australia. The SE coast of Australia is a climate hotspot characterised by rising ocean temperatures, fluctuations in salinity and we expect in the near future ocean acidification (OA). Mollusc larvae show extreme sensitivity to OA, but the impacts of other stressors remains unknown. It is predicted that OA will reduce the capacity of larvae to cope with temperature and salinity, particularly when food supply is low and in populations which have had no previous exposure to OA. Understanding the response of mollusc larvae to environmental change will support ecologically and economically significant mollusc populations over this century.Read moreRead less
The role of vegetated foreshores in stabilising Australia's shorelines. This project aims to improve Australia's capacity to predict shoreline position with sea level rise, identify the role of vegetation in foreshore stabilisation and determine thresholds for shoreline retreat by quantifying the links between biological, geomorphological and sedimentary processes and shoreline position. Sea level rise and potential increases in storminess are predicted to lead to severe impacts and there is an ....The role of vegetated foreshores in stabilising Australia's shorelines. This project aims to improve Australia's capacity to predict shoreline position with sea level rise, identify the role of vegetation in foreshore stabilisation and determine thresholds for shoreline retreat by quantifying the links between biological, geomorphological and sedimentary processes and shoreline position. Sea level rise and potential increases in storminess are predicted to lead to severe impacts and there is an immediate and critical need to understand and accurately predict the functioning, dynamics, and distribution of Australia's coastal zones. Expected outcomes of this interdisciplinary project include an integrated modelling framework crucial for planning and management of sea level rise responses in Australia.Read moreRead less
Next-generation vegetation model based on functional traits. Global vegetation models try to answer big questions, such as the effects of climate change and carbon dioxide (CO2) on ecosystems and vice versa. But as present models are outdated and give inconsistent results, the project is planning a new, more robust model that will fully exploit recent advances in plant functional ecology and earth system science.
A global-scale analysis of functional traits in the face of global change. This project uses a global collaboration to develop a novel method for determining the response of extremely diverse animal taxa to global change. The method focusses on morphological traits and their functions and will improve conservation efforts by predicting the types of ecological processes and species threatened.
Understanding and predicting invasion in the sea: a mechanistic approach. Marine invasive species cost millions of dollars each year. This project aims to determine how and why invasive species outcompete native species around much of the coast of Australia. Identifying the conditions that help invasive species outcompete native species will help managers reduce the spread and impact of marine invasive species.