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
The Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation: New observations of vertical mixing. The Southern Ocean and Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) play profound roles in Australian and global climate. However, we know little about how they will be affected by global warming. New velocity observations will tell us how the vertical mixing that contributes to the meridional overturning circulation, and ACC strength, change with the seasons and from year to year. The observations will also gi ....The Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation: New observations of vertical mixing. The Southern Ocean and Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) play profound roles in Australian and global climate. However, we know little about how they will be affected by global warming. New velocity observations will tell us how the vertical mixing that contributes to the meridional overturning circulation, and ACC strength, change with the seasons and from year to year. The observations will also give us a better understanding of the oceanic and atmospheric processes that drive these changes. This new information will allow climate models to be better constrained so they can more accurately predict changes to Australian and global climate.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
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0567397
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$81,900.00
Summary
Earth Systems Science OPeNDAP compute server framework. This E-Research initiative will produce a compute sever to exploit data locality for access to Digital Libraries. This will allow geographically disbursed researches in all disciplines related to climate change, variability and the associated impacts, to readily analyse existing data repositories, and generate derived data products of interest, without generating a prohibitive amount of network traffic. This will facilitate collaborative ....Earth Systems Science OPeNDAP compute server framework. This E-Research initiative will produce a compute sever to exploit data locality for access to Digital Libraries. This will allow geographically disbursed researches in all disciplines related to climate change, variability and the associated impacts, to readily analyse existing data repositories, and generate derived data products of interest, without generating a prohibitive amount of network traffic. This will facilitate collaborative efforts and data sharing between Australians and international research teams.Read moreRead less
Maternal effects and sex allocation: an integrated approach. This project will produce research of a high international standard combining a number of key fields in evolution and ecology. The team we have assembled provides a link between Australian-based researchers and leading overseas theoreticians facilitating integration between evolutionary theory and empirical research on the unique Australian fauna. Furthermore, while climate change is identified as a priority area for research, Australi ....Maternal effects and sex allocation: an integrated approach. This project will produce research of a high international standard combining a number of key fields in evolution and ecology. The team we have assembled provides a link between Australian-based researchers and leading overseas theoreticians facilitating integration between evolutionary theory and empirical research on the unique Australian fauna. Furthermore, while climate change is identified as a priority area for research, Australia typically lacks the history of long-term phenological monitoring that is required to understand climate change impacts. This project takes an important step towards addressing this shortcoming.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE100100041
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$100,000.00
Summary
A high-resolution isotope facility for low cost analysis of water, plant, and soil/sediment samples to understand environmental change. The most significant environmental challenges facing Australia include ensuring sustainable management of our water resources and conservation of both terrestrial and marine biodiversity, particularly in the face of our changing climate and land-use. The new instruments will accelerate progress across a number of projects aimed at understanding the developme ....A high-resolution isotope facility for low cost analysis of water, plant, and soil/sediment samples to understand environmental change. The most significant environmental challenges facing Australia include ensuring sustainable management of our water resources and conservation of both terrestrial and marine biodiversity, particularly in the face of our changing climate and land-use. The new instruments will accelerate progress across a number of projects aimed at understanding the development of groundwater resources, the relative dependency of ecosystems on groundwater versus soil and surface water, and an assessment of the likely impacts of altered hydrology, especially dewatering and salinisation, on ecosystems. In addition, they will also be used to extend our knowledge of climate variability in the recent past and increase understanding of critical marine resources.Read moreRead less
Winter Foraging Locations Of Southern Ocean Predators In Relation To Stochastic Variation In Sea-Ice Extent. Antarctic marine communities are likely to be amongst the first anywhere to show changes due to climate change. A top national priority for Australia is to understand how Antarctic communities will be affected if climate change does occur. As predators reflect changes occurring lower in the food chain, these are an important group to study. This study will be the first to specifically lin ....Winter Foraging Locations Of Southern Ocean Predators In Relation To Stochastic Variation In Sea-Ice Extent. Antarctic marine communities are likely to be amongst the first anywhere to show changes due to climate change. A top national priority for Australia is to understand how Antarctic communities will be affected if climate change does occur. As predators reflect changes occurring lower in the food chain, these are an important group to study. This study will be the first to specifically link ice extent with the habitat use of predators, and quantify how this varies over time. Some work already indicates that there have been community level changes in some predators in the Antarctic due to changes in ice extent, so developing tools to predict the nature and magnitude of these changes are needed. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE100100141
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$420,000.00
Summary
High-resolution ITRAX XRF core scanning facility for global change research. This facility will enable researchers to obtain high-resolution geochemical profiles in the study of environmental change and climate variability. It will provide archive data on the variation of density and chemical element composition along sediment and soil cores, rock cores, wood samples, speleothems and corals. These archives contain important information such as human activity, climate variability, water quality c ....High-resolution ITRAX XRF core scanning facility for global change research. This facility will enable researchers to obtain high-resolution geochemical profiles in the study of environmental change and climate variability. It will provide archive data on the variation of density and chemical element composition along sediment and soil cores, rock cores, wood samples, speleothems and corals. These archives contain important information such as human activity, climate variability, water quality changes, pollution histories, recent geomorphological change, land-use change, introduction of invasive species and the occurrence of bushfires. A better understanding of the occurrence and timing of these major environmental issues is of national and regional importance.Read moreRead less