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Hotspots of endemism for invertebrate conservation in south-east Australia. The project aims to identify and predict hotspots of species endemism to guide conservation and restoration efforts. This work is significant in the current extinction crisis because endemic species (those unique to a region) are at higher risk of extinction due to human causes. The project will model the relationship of narrow range endemic species with contemporary and past environments, estimate the historical loss of ....Hotspots of endemism for invertebrate conservation in south-east Australia. The project aims to identify and predict hotspots of species endemism to guide conservation and restoration efforts. This work is significant in the current extinction crisis because endemic species (those unique to a region) are at higher risk of extinction due to human causes. The project will model the relationship of narrow range endemic species with contemporary and past environments, estimate the historical loss of species through land-clearing and fire, and predict future responses to climate change, to inform conservation planning. Lastly, it will test the efficacy of habitat transplants in restoring local invertebrate assemblages. Benefits include better informed conservation planning and new restoration approaches.Read moreRead less
The Macroderma initiative: conserving ghost bats and informing development. This project aims to improve methods for capturing biological information required for environmental assessments of highly mobile species and enable strategic environmental planning in Northern Australia. Using Australia’s iconic ghost bat as a focus, the project will test and apply emerging technologies to obtain key information on a species’ population status and its critical resources to inform assessments of ecologic ....The Macroderma initiative: conserving ghost bats and informing development. This project aims to improve methods for capturing biological information required for environmental assessments of highly mobile species and enable strategic environmental planning in Northern Australia. Using Australia’s iconic ghost bat as a focus, the project will test and apply emerging technologies to obtain key information on a species’ population status and its critical resources to inform assessments of ecological impacts of industry development. Important benefits of the project include information and tools for streamlining development approvals and accurately assessing risks to threatened species to improve outcomes for both our economy and our natural environment.Read moreRead less
New metrics to measure and track fauna community condition in Australia. This project aims to improve how biodiversity is measured by developing a system to describe the condition of animal communities, analogous to those used for plant communities. It develops and tests the system for Australia’s birds, then extends the approach to other animal groups. The project expects to develop a data-driven typology of bird communities, accompanying community condition metrics that are scalable from site ....New metrics to measure and track fauna community condition in Australia. This project aims to improve how biodiversity is measured by developing a system to describe the condition of animal communities, analogous to those used for plant communities. It develops and tests the system for Australia’s birds, then extends the approach to other animal groups. The project expects to develop a data-driven typology of bird communities, accompanying community condition metrics that are scalable from site to national levels, and guidance for using these metrics in practice. These metrics will enable holistic and relevant measures of the biodiversity value of sites, improve evaluation of restoration actions, reveal trends in community condition, and inform monitoring and evaluation tools for emerging biodiversity markets.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101226
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,000.00
Summary
Plant community responses to fire regime: the role of plant–soil feedbacks. We need to know how different prescribed burning regimes set the stage for long-term changes in plant community composition, diversity, and flammability. This project aims to reveal how plant community dynamics under different fire scenarios can be predicted based on contemporary interactions between plants and soil micro-organisms. This innovative approach to fire ecology integrates soil biology and plant ecophysiology ....Plant community responses to fire regime: the role of plant–soil feedbacks. We need to know how different prescribed burning regimes set the stage for long-term changes in plant community composition, diversity, and flammability. This project aims to reveal how plant community dynamics under different fire scenarios can be predicted based on contemporary interactions between plants and soil micro-organisms. This innovative approach to fire ecology integrates soil biology and plant ecophysiology with sophisticated experiments and novel modelling techniques. Expected outcomes include a much-needed mechanistic framework for early detection of major ecological changes under novel fire regimes, with direct benefits for land managers and the long-term conservation of Australia’s iconic vegetation.Read moreRead less
More than a reserve? Measuring the benefits of private protected areas. This project aims to develop a framework for understanding the full suite of benefits derived from privately protected areas in Australia. It will develop and test a new interdisciplinary approach to measure the ecological, socio-cultural, and economic benefits of protected areas to both human and non-human beneficiaries. Outcomes will include a systematic process to effectively gather data, analyse, and report on the full s ....More than a reserve? Measuring the benefits of private protected areas. This project aims to develop a framework for understanding the full suite of benefits derived from privately protected areas in Australia. It will develop and test a new interdisciplinary approach to measure the ecological, socio-cultural, and economic benefits of protected areas to both human and non-human beneficiaries. Outcomes will include a systematic process to effectively gather data, analyse, and report on the full suite of benefits derived from protected areas. The framework will provide a robust evidence base for the range of benefits provided by private protected areas. This will be vital to manage and grow Australia’s protected area network to reduce biodiversity and environmental declines, and meet international commitments.Read moreRead less
Can eco-evolutionary theories explain outcomes of microbiome coalescence . Environmental microbial communities are among the most abundant and diverse natural communities, responsible for many ecologically and economically important ecosystem functions, including primary productivity and climate regulation. This project aims to identify the biotic and abiotic factors that regulate community and functional outcomes of microbiome coalescence (the mixing of two different communities) caused by natu ....Can eco-evolutionary theories explain outcomes of microbiome coalescence . Environmental microbial communities are among the most abundant and diverse natural communities, responsible for many ecologically and economically important ecosystem functions, including primary productivity and climate regulation. This project aims to identify the biotic and abiotic factors that regulate community and functional outcomes of microbiome coalescence (the mixing of two different communities) caused by natural and anthropogenic activities. The outcomes will provide a unifying ecological framework to predict variation in microbiomes across different scales, ecosystem types and disturbances, and will generate critical knowledge for the development of effective microbiome products, a rapidly growing industryRead moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240101131
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$460,537.00
Summary
Animal cultures and anthropogenic change. This project aims to investigate the impacts of anthropogenic change on the elaborate song cultures of declining Australian songbirds. Culture is fundamental to the biology of social animals, and has profound implications for biodiversity conservation; however, the drivers of animal cultural change are unclear. This project will analyse how lyrebird song cultures respond to anthropogenic environmental change, including Australia’s 2019-20 megafires. Furt ....Animal cultures and anthropogenic change. This project aims to investigate the impacts of anthropogenic change on the elaborate song cultures of declining Australian songbirds. Culture is fundamental to the biology of social animals, and has profound implications for biodiversity conservation; however, the drivers of animal cultural change are unclear. This project will analyse how lyrebird song cultures respond to anthropogenic environmental change, including Australia’s 2019-20 megafires. Furthermore, it will assess the mechanisms linking environmental and cultural change, and examine the utility of vocal cultures as bioindicators of ecological health. This project will advance fundamental research in animal culture and enhance the conservation of cultural diversity in the wild.Read moreRead less
Understanding the risk of microplastics in Australian agricultural soils. Biosolids following wastewater treatment are a significant source of microplastics (MPs) that are contaminants of concern. MPs in biosolids pose potential unknown risks to agriculture, food security and ecosystem health through their application to farmlands. Currently, the lack of knowledge on the MPs contamination of agricultural soils is a significant knowledge gap. This project aims to generate new knowledge of MPs' fa ....Understanding the risk of microplastics in Australian agricultural soils. Biosolids following wastewater treatment are a significant source of microplastics (MPs) that are contaminants of concern. MPs in biosolids pose potential unknown risks to agriculture, food security and ecosystem health through their application to farmlands. Currently, the lack of knowledge on the MPs contamination of agricultural soils is a significant knowledge gap. This project aims to generate new knowledge of MPs' fate, behaviour, risk and associated contaminants in biosolids and sludge-amended agricultural soils. The new knowledge generated in this project is expected to help devise better management options to minimise the MP associated risks in agricultural soils, thereby safeguarding the food security and soil health.Read moreRead less
Resolving the threat of ocean deoxygenation to coral resilience. This project aims to uncover the role low oxygen plays in shaping healthy corals over space and time. Climate change and land use development are rapidly deoxygenating shallow water coral reefs, yet we have no knowledge of how less oxygen availability affects critical life history factors that govern coral resilience: growth, reproduction, and stress tolerance. This project unites a multidisciplinary team of experts to, for the fir ....Resolving the threat of ocean deoxygenation to coral resilience. This project aims to uncover the role low oxygen plays in shaping healthy corals over space and time. Climate change and land use development are rapidly deoxygenating shallow water coral reefs, yet we have no knowledge of how less oxygen availability affects critical life history factors that govern coral resilience: growth, reproduction, and stress tolerance. This project unites a multidisciplinary team of experts to, for the first time, couple advanced oxygen sensing, metabolic physiology, coral reproductive and stress biology to transform our understanding of oxygen thresholds that are diagnostic of reduced coral competitive fitness across life stages (adults, juveniles, larvae), needed to improve coral reef ecosystem management.Read moreRead less
Fate of PAPs and short-chain PFAS in biosolids amended soils. Biosolids generated during wastewater treatment contain PFAS which are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. Application of biosolids to agricultural land may result in soil, groundwater and surface water PFAS contamination via leaching and run-off and pose unknown potential risk to soil health, crops and beneficial biota. This study aims to generate novel knowledge on the PFAS fate in biosolid amended soils, crops and toxicity to ke ....Fate of PAPs and short-chain PFAS in biosolids amended soils. Biosolids generated during wastewater treatment contain PFAS which are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. Application of biosolids to agricultural land may result in soil, groundwater and surface water PFAS contamination via leaching and run-off and pose unknown potential risk to soil health, crops and beneficial biota. This study aims to generate novel knowledge on the PFAS fate in biosolid amended soils, crops and toxicity to key soil and aquatic biota at environmentally relevant concentrations. This study is supported by Australian water and its allied industries, as it is important for them to ensure that biosolids application to agricultural land is an environmentally sustainable solution to the Australian farmers and communities.Read moreRead less