How eating patterns interact with activity, sleep and mood. This project aims to understand temporal eating patterns (the timing and distribution of food intake and eating occasions across the day) among adults and how these eating patterns interact with activity and sleep patterns. Eating, activity and sleep patterns form a lifestyle triad which may be important for well-being and productivity. The project will study eating, activity and sleep patterns in daily life, to examine their social dri ....How eating patterns interact with activity, sleep and mood. This project aims to understand temporal eating patterns (the timing and distribution of food intake and eating occasions across the day) among adults and how these eating patterns interact with activity and sleep patterns. Eating, activity and sleep patterns form a lifestyle triad which may be important for well-being and productivity. The project will study eating, activity and sleep patterns in daily life, to examine their social drivers, interactions and effect on mood. This project could enable these behaviours to be targeted, with the potential to promote healthy lifestyles and improve health, quality of life and productivity.Read moreRead less
Australian savannah landscapes: past, present and future. Australian savannahs are productive and culturally and biologically significant landscapes but are vulnerable to climate change. The project will determine savannah function (carbon and water balance) for the present and assess how sensitive they have been to past climate variability. The project will then address how they may respond to future climate change.
Demographic consequences of Asian disasters: family dynamics, social capital and migration patterns. This study of the long term demographic consequences of Asian disasters will contribute to development of more effective governmental policies on disaster mitigation, preparedness and reconstruction/recovery, thus assisting to reduce the human and material losses from natural disasters.
Are evolutionary refugia traps for endemic species? This project aims to determine whether species that have small geographic ranges and which live in historically stable refugia have evolved narrow climatic tolerances. The project will compare such species with more widespread, related species living in the same areas and combine field- and lab-based estimates of physiological tolerances with genomic estimates of population history and diversity. The expected outcome is to test the prediction f ....Are evolutionary refugia traps for endemic species? This project aims to determine whether species that have small geographic ranges and which live in historically stable refugia have evolved narrow climatic tolerances. The project will compare such species with more widespread, related species living in the same areas and combine field- and lab-based estimates of physiological tolerances with genomic estimates of population history and diversity. The expected outcome is to test the prediction from evolutionary theory that small-range, refugial species are intrinsically more sensitive to climatic change. The project expects to provide improved guidance for ecological management of biodiversity hotspots.Read moreRead less
Mothers' little helper: Alcohol use in working mothers. This project aims to generate unique insights into the strains that Australian working mothers face in their daily lives and the impact these strains have on their alcohol consumption. Using innovative methods to understand strains resulting from two major life domains, family and work, the project expects to generate new knowledge which can be used to develop interventions to address this important issue. The results of this study can prov ....Mothers' little helper: Alcohol use in working mothers. This project aims to generate unique insights into the strains that Australian working mothers face in their daily lives and the impact these strains have on their alcohol consumption. Using innovative methods to understand strains resulting from two major life domains, family and work, the project expects to generate new knowledge which can be used to develop interventions to address this important issue. The results of this study can provide significant benefits not only to the quality of life of working mothers in Australia but also has society-wide implications. This is due to alcohol use being a leading avoidable cause for productivity loss alongside other social, community and economic costs.Read moreRead less
Water-use efficiency of Australian tropical trees: mechanistic analysis at multiple scales. The proposed research will provide valuable information about the physiological functioning of trees in northern Australia. Experiments will elucidate mechanisms that can result in variation in water-use efficiency among different tree species. Such a mechanistic understanding will have multiple benefits: (1) results will be able to be incorporated into process-based models of carbon and water cycling ....Water-use efficiency of Australian tropical trees: mechanistic analysis at multiple scales. The proposed research will provide valuable information about the physiological functioning of trees in northern Australia. Experiments will elucidate mechanisms that can result in variation in water-use efficiency among different tree species. Such a mechanistic understanding will have multiple benefits: (1) results will be able to be incorporated into process-based models of carbon and water cycling in the north-Australian landscape; (2) they will provide valuable information for land managers interested in optimizing both plant biomass production and water resource management; and (3) they will provide a critical test of proxy methods for identifying high water-use efficiency in taxonomically diverse tree species.Read moreRead less
Plant-herbivore interactions: a model two-species system from northern Australia. The proposed research addresses a critical aspect of magpie goose ecology. Understanding the interaction between the birds and the bulbs is critical to respond effectively to past and threatened losses of important sedge habitats to sea level rise. This knowledge will inform management of the Kakadu World Heritage Site and an iconic waterfowl of great cultural and economic significance. In addition to their importa ....Plant-herbivore interactions: a model two-species system from northern Australia. The proposed research addresses a critical aspect of magpie goose ecology. Understanding the interaction between the birds and the bulbs is critical to respond effectively to past and threatened losses of important sedge habitats to sea level rise. This knowledge will inform management of the Kakadu World Heritage Site and an iconic waterfowl of great cultural and economic significance. In addition to their importance as a Gondwanan relic and sole member of the Family Anseranatidae, the species is an important food-source for Aboriginal people, and tourists travel to the Kakadu wetlands to witness huge dry season congregations.Read moreRead less
Modelling the Causes of Regional Disparities across Australia. This project aims to explain the changing patterns of regional economic performance across Australia between 2001-2011 in the context of two developments: major structural shifts in world trade and commodity prices spawning massive mining growth and negative exchange rate impacts elsewhere (for example, manufacturing); and the financial crisis ending the credit boom leaving east coast economies struggling. The resulting regional disp ....Modelling the Causes of Regional Disparities across Australia. This project aims to explain the changing patterns of regional economic performance across Australia between 2001-2011 in the context of two developments: major structural shifts in world trade and commodity prices spawning massive mining growth and negative exchange rate impacts elsewhere (for example, manufacturing); and the financial crisis ending the credit boom leaving east coast economies struggling. The resulting regional disparities have policy implications for education and skills training, housing affordability, infrastructure provision, and community sustainability. These issues will be investigated using a new functional economic regions geography and state of art spatial modelling tools supplemented by regional case studies.Read moreRead less
Modelling Payments for Environmental Services on Indigenous held lands. Payments for environmental services (PES) such as fire management have potential to provide employment to indigenous people managing land that has previously been thought to hold no commercial value. In so doing it could transform the economies of the very remote parts of Australia where indigenous people live. For these schemes to work, however, greater understanding is required not only of the willingness of society to pay ....Modelling Payments for Environmental Services on Indigenous held lands. Payments for environmental services (PES) such as fire management have potential to provide employment to indigenous people managing land that has previously been thought to hold no commercial value. In so doing it could transform the economies of the very remote parts of Australia where indigenous people live. For these schemes to work, however, greater understanding is required not only of the willingness of society to pay for environmental services in northern Australia but also of the perceptions of the indigenous people who are providing these services. Choice modelling can (1) quantify values of different environmental services in different sectors of society and (2) help allocate the payments for environmental services efficiently.Read moreRead less
Heat stress in the workplace: health burden and labour productivity loss. This project aims to estimate the economic loss of workplace heat exposure in Australia. The project will investigate the health services costs of occupational heat-related illnesses/injuries, explore the labour productivity loss and its costs resulting from heat stress at work, and estimate the benefits from a generic heat warning intervention for workplace heat prevention. Outcomes are expected to provide an overview of ....Heat stress in the workplace: health burden and labour productivity loss. This project aims to estimate the economic loss of workplace heat exposure in Australia. The project will investigate the health services costs of occupational heat-related illnesses/injuries, explore the labour productivity loss and its costs resulting from heat stress at work, and estimate the benefits from a generic heat warning intervention for workplace heat prevention. Outcomes are expected to provide an overview of national economic implications at present and in the future from effective heat stress control, assist the development of work place heat policies, and inform resource allocation to make Australian workplaces well prepared for likely increasing extremely hot weather.Read moreRead less