Prioritising habitat restoration for biodiversity and ecosystem service outcomes. An emerging carbon market will provide funds for habitat restoration over the coming decades, but this will only be realised through careful prioritisation and planning. This research will prioritise investments in habitat restoration in order to cost-effectively achieve biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service protection goals.
Defend or retreat? Adapting to the impacts of sea level rise as a result of rapid climate change.
. Rapid sea level rise has been identified as a major threat to coastal Australia, where most of the Australian population lives. Our understanding and ability to respond to this threat is extremely limited at this point. This project will directly benefit Australian communities and businesses, specifically those in southeast Queensland by bringing together a team of distinguished, multidiscipli ....Defend or retreat? Adapting to the impacts of sea level rise as a result of rapid climate change.
. Rapid sea level rise has been identified as a major threat to coastal Australia, where most of the Australian population lives. Our understanding and ability to respond to this threat is extremely limited at this point. This project will directly benefit Australian communities and businesses, specifically those in southeast Queensland by bringing together a team of distinguished, multidisciplinary researchers and Super Science Fellows to explore the threats and challenges posed by rapidly rising sea levels. By building capacity and answering many urgent and difficult questions related to the legal, environmental and planning ramifications of sea level rise, this project will prepare communities and policymakers for the difficult times ahead.Read moreRead less
Private Land Conservation in a Dynamically Changing and Risky World. Climate change, and the increasing risk of drought, heatwaves, and fire, have major implications for the design and effectiveness of private land conservation programs. This project aims to generate new knowledge about the effect of climate change on adoption and outcomes of private land conservation agreements. It will use an innovative social-ecological approach focused on koalas. Expected outcomes include an innovative frame ....Private Land Conservation in a Dynamically Changing and Risky World. Climate change, and the increasing risk of drought, heatwaves, and fire, have major implications for the design and effectiveness of private land conservation programs. This project aims to generate new knowledge about the effect of climate change on adoption and outcomes of private land conservation agreements. It will use an innovative social-ecological approach focused on koalas. Expected outcomes include an innovative framework to help make decisions about private land conservation investments under climate change. This should provide significant benefits for government and non-government organisations by providing solutions to climate-proof their conservation investments on private land in a rapidly changing world.Read moreRead less
Fingerprints of global climate change and forest management on rhizosphere carbon and nutrient cycling. Using a series of innovative techniques, this project seeks to capture the excellent, exciting opportunities for studying impacts of global climate change (GCC) and forest management on plant-soil-microbe interactions in rhizosphere carbon and nutrient cycling, with two of the world's best GCC forest experiments in Sweden and USA and three long-term forest management experiments in Australia. ....Fingerprints of global climate change and forest management on rhizosphere carbon and nutrient cycling. Using a series of innovative techniques, this project seeks to capture the excellent, exciting opportunities for studying impacts of global climate change (GCC) and forest management on plant-soil-microbe interactions in rhizosphere carbon and nutrient cycling, with two of the world's best GCC forest experiments in Sweden and USA and three long-term forest management experiments in Australia. The successful conduct of this multidisciplinary collaborative research will result in: improved understanding and management of forest ecosystems in response to GCC and effective biodiversity conservation in managed forests; and enhanced international reputation and expertise of the Australian scientists in the relevant research fields.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL200100133
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,358,494.00
Summary
Activating blue carbon for coastal restoration. Coastal blue carbon describes the carbon stored in soils and biomass of coastal wetlands which has an important function in regulating greenhouse gases. They also provide coastal protection, habitat for biodiversity, fisheries and amelioration of land-based pollution. Coastal wetlands have been degraded globally, reducing their capacity to store carbon and to support coastal communities and their economies. This Fellowship aims to assess how restor ....Activating blue carbon for coastal restoration. Coastal blue carbon describes the carbon stored in soils and biomass of coastal wetlands which has an important function in regulating greenhouse gases. They also provide coastal protection, habitat for biodiversity, fisheries and amelioration of land-based pollution. Coastal wetlands have been degraded globally, reducing their capacity to store carbon and to support coastal communities and their economies. This Fellowship aims to assess how restoration of coastal wetlands influences carbon storage and greenhouse gas fluxes, develop new methodologies and to generate new research capacity to inform coastal wetland management globally. The proposed research is expected to enhance coastal sustainability to the benefit of coastal communities.Read moreRead less
How do characteristics of seeds and landscape heterogeneity determine plant spread in new environments? Climate change and exotic invasions are among the greatest threats to Australia's, and the world's, biodiversity. Under a rapidly changing climate many Australian plant species will have to spread across a fragmented landscape to persist. In order to contain or eradicate invasive plant species we need to know how they will spread in novel landscapes. We will develop models which will be used f ....How do characteristics of seeds and landscape heterogeneity determine plant spread in new environments? Climate change and exotic invasions are among the greatest threats to Australia's, and the world's, biodiversity. Under a rapidly changing climate many Australian plant species will have to spread across a fragmented landscape to persist. In order to contain or eradicate invasive plant species we need to know how they will spread in novel landscapes. We will develop models which will be used for invasive plants to predict ecological and evolutionary responses to novel landscapes and novel dispersers and for native plants to predict their spread in to fragmented landscapes. These models can be used to prioritise management actions for species of most conservation concern, and predict how far and fast invasive species will spread.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre of Excellence - Innovative science for sustainable management of coral reef biodiversity. Our vision is to apply enabling technologies to capture the national benefit arising from research excellence. The Centre has enormous capacity to provide economic, cultural, environmental and social benefits for Australia. The coral reefs of Australia, particularly the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Reef, and Lord Howe Island World Heritage Area are Australian national icons, of great economic, so ....ARC Centre of Excellence - Innovative science for sustainable management of coral reef biodiversity. Our vision is to apply enabling technologies to capture the national benefit arising from research excellence. The Centre has enormous capacity to provide economic, cultural, environmental and social benefits for Australia. The coral reefs of Australia, particularly the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Reef, and Lord Howe Island World Heritage Area are Australian national icons, of great economic, social, and aesthetic value to this country. In collaboration with our Partners, we will be the premier providers of the scientific expertise that underpins the management of Australian reefs, which is vital for the sustainable use of biodiversity goods and services (e.g. by the tourist industry, fisheries, and recreational users).Read moreRead less
The role of learning in conservation management: developing adaptive approaches for the conservation of biodiversity in a changing climate. Biodiversity underpins several major industries: agriculture, tourism, forestry and fisheries. To mitigate the loss of biodiversity, there have been significant investments from all levels of government, including 2.2 billion dollars to manage biodiversity and 138 million dollars simply to gather data on the impact of climatic changes. Despite this well inte ....The role of learning in conservation management: developing adaptive approaches for the conservation of biodiversity in a changing climate. Biodiversity underpins several major industries: agriculture, tourism, forestry and fisheries. To mitigate the loss of biodiversity, there have been significant investments from all levels of government, including 2.2 billion dollars to manage biodiversity and 138 million dollars simply to gather data on the impact of climatic changes. Despite this well intended funding, the key questions of how to best allocate this money between the many threatened species and regions of Australia, and how to adapt this allocation in light of climatic changes, remain unanswered. Our research will develop explicit and practical frameworks by which we can cost efficiently learn and act simultaneously.Read moreRead less
Science for resilience of coral reef systems. Hughes's Fellowship has enormous capacity to provide economic, cultural, environmental and social benefits for Australia. The coral reefs of Australia, particularly the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Reef, and Lord Howe Island World Heritage Area are Australian national icons, of great economic, social, and aesthetic value to this country. Hughes and his collaborators in a newly-created ARC Centre of Excellence will be the premier providers of the scie ....Science for resilience of coral reef systems. Hughes's Fellowship has enormous capacity to provide economic, cultural, environmental and social benefits for Australia. The coral reefs of Australia, particularly the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Reef, and Lord Howe Island World Heritage Area are Australian national icons, of great economic, social, and aesthetic value to this country. Hughes and his collaborators in a newly-created ARC Centre of Excellence will be the premier providers of the scientific expertise that underpins the management of Australian reefs, which is vital for the sustainable use of biodiversity goods and services (e.g. by the tourist industry, fisheries, and recreational users).Read moreRead less
Identifying critical thresholds to prioritise lake restoration. This project aims to conduct a global assessment of lake water quality and prioritise lakes for restoration. This project expects to generate new understanding of trends in lake condition based on application of geospatial frameworks and models for nutrient loads and in-lake trophic state. This information will help to quantify the magnitude of actions required to restore lakes at landscape scale. The intended outcome is a global at ....Identifying critical thresholds to prioritise lake restoration. This project aims to conduct a global assessment of lake water quality and prioritise lakes for restoration. This project expects to generate new understanding of trends in lake condition based on application of geospatial frameworks and models for nutrient loads and in-lake trophic state. This information will help to quantify the magnitude of actions required to restore lakes at landscape scale. The intended outcome is a global atlas linking catchment hydrology, nutrient loads and lake attributes. Expected outcomes of this project include improved methods to predict effects of land use and climate change on lakes across the globe, and recommendations to water resource managers on investing in the restoration of lakes across the landscape.Read moreRead less