Future climate change: consequences for decomposition and pathways of carbon flow through rhizosphere fungal communities. The proposed collaboration will provide novel insights into likely consequences of global climate change on decomposition and pathways of carbon flow through forest soils. This will refine predictive models of future climate change and its impacts on the sustainability of Australia's forests. It will also enhance the protection of our valued habitats and their important soil ....Future climate change: consequences for decomposition and pathways of carbon flow through rhizosphere fungal communities. The proposed collaboration will provide novel insights into likely consequences of global climate change on decomposition and pathways of carbon flow through forest soils. This will refine predictive models of future climate change and its impacts on the sustainability of Australia's forests. It will also enhance the protection of our valued habitats and their important soil biodiversity. The knowledge gained will help land managers to adapt current practices to meet the demands of future climate change. This will maximize the opportunities for sequestering carbon in Australia's forests and so contribute to meeting Australia's global responsibility for mitigation of climate change.Read moreRead less
Ecosystem level impacts of climate change on a temperate grassland. The sustainable use of temperate native pastures is important economically because of grazing and for biodiversity since they are home to many threatened plants. Native pasture sustainability depends on maintaining species diversity and vegetation productivity, both of which have been shown to change in response to climate change. The aims of this project are to elucidate what impact these changes have on the ecosystem propertie ....Ecosystem level impacts of climate change on a temperate grassland. The sustainable use of temperate native pastures is important economically because of grazing and for biodiversity since they are home to many threatened plants. Native pasture sustainability depends on maintaining species diversity and vegetation productivity, both of which have been shown to change in response to climate change. The aims of this project are to elucidate what impact these changes have on the ecosystem properties of a native pasture. This is important, as it will allow likely problems caused by global climate change to be predicted by increasing the understanding of the underlying mechanisms as well as improving the management of grasslands in an environmentally sustainable way. Read moreRead less
Mathematical models and bioinformatic analyses of bacterial genome evolution. Bacteria are vital agents in earth's biosphere, breaking down and synthesising a wide variety of compounds. Some bacteria cause disease; others are exploited for a range of biotechnological applications. Bacteria have a remarkable ability to survive and thrive in changing conditions. For example, pathogenic bacteria confronted by antibiotics easily evolve resistance to them. With the reality of climate change, we expec ....Mathematical models and bioinformatic analyses of bacterial genome evolution. Bacteria are vital agents in earth's biosphere, breaking down and synthesising a wide variety of compounds. Some bacteria cause disease; others are exploited for a range of biotechnological applications. Bacteria have a remarkable ability to survive and thrive in changing conditions. For example, pathogenic bacteria confronted by antibiotics easily evolve resistance to them. With the reality of climate change, we expect more rapid shifts in the structure of bacterial communities, possibly leading to the emergence of new pathogens. The benefits of this project are to discover how the genetic structure of bacteria confer this flexibility, and to help keep Australia at the forefront of research in bioinformatics and mathematical biology.
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Impacts of climate change on sustainability of temperate native pasture: an experiment. The sustainable use of temperate native pastures is important economically because of grazing and for biodiversity since they are home to many threatened plants. Native pasture sustainability depends on maintaining species diversity and vegetation productivity. Climate change is likely to have major impacts on both factors. The aims of this project are to elucidate the impacts of climate change on the species ....Impacts of climate change on sustainability of temperate native pasture: an experiment. The sustainable use of temperate native pastures is important economically because of grazing and for biodiversity since they are home to many threatened plants. Native pasture sustainability depends on maintaining species diversity and vegetation productivity. Climate change is likely to have major impacts on both factors. The aims of this project are to elucidate the impacts of climate change on the species composition, productivity and nutritional quality of a grazed native pasture. This is important, as it will allow us to predict likely problems caused by global climate change and increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying these changes.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882936
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$135,000.00
Summary
MEGA - Mobile Ecosystem Gas-exchange Analyser for Australian landscapes. This Mobile Ecosystem Gas-exchange Analyser will be able to continuously monitor water, energy, carbon and nitrogen exchange in a multitude of uniquely Australian ecosystems: from low-canopy forests (up to 20m) and afforested plantations to wetlands and agricultural grazing, cropping, horticulture and viticulture systems. This research capacity provides benefits and opportunities such as 1) community resource 2) monitoring ....MEGA - Mobile Ecosystem Gas-exchange Analyser for Australian landscapes. This Mobile Ecosystem Gas-exchange Analyser will be able to continuously monitor water, energy, carbon and nitrogen exchange in a multitude of uniquely Australian ecosystems: from low-canopy forests (up to 20m) and afforested plantations to wetlands and agricultural grazing, cropping, horticulture and viticulture systems. This research capacity provides benefits and opportunities such as 1) community resource 2) monitoring tool for carbon and water budgets 3) mobile process laboratory 4) data for model validation. The susceptibility and vulnerability of ecosystems to changing temperature and extended drought will be determined.Read moreRead less
Coral Reefs Sensing Our Changing Climate. Australia's Great Barrier Reef is a valuable national and community resource, supporting commercial and recreation fishing and extensive national and international tourism along the length of Queenslands coastline. However it is an environment that is under threat from changing climate. The impact of a degraded reef environment is broad reaching, with effects on the Australian and Queensland economy and way of life. A better understanding of how this va ....Coral Reefs Sensing Our Changing Climate. Australia's Great Barrier Reef is a valuable national and community resource, supporting commercial and recreation fishing and extensive national and international tourism along the length of Queenslands coastline. However it is an environment that is under threat from changing climate. The impact of a degraded reef environment is broad reaching, with effects on the Australian and Queensland economy and way of life. A better understanding of how this valuable environment will respond to its changing environment is imperative and will provide us with a more informed basis on which to predict its future sustainability. Read moreRead less
Fossil evidence for the evolution of Australia's modern vegetation. This project will provide Australian scientists and public with a better appreciation of the origins of our modern flora by providing evidence of landscape and community change over the past 40 million years, the nature of major extinction and diversification events and the response of the vegetation to climate change. The project will raise our understanding of the changing role of fire in the Australian landscape. It will also ....Fossil evidence for the evolution of Australia's modern vegetation. This project will provide Australian scientists and public with a better appreciation of the origins of our modern flora by providing evidence of landscape and community change over the past 40 million years, the nature of major extinction and diversification events and the response of the vegetation to climate change. The project will raise our understanding of the changing role of fire in the Australian landscape. It will also revise our understanding of the geological evolution of southeastern Australian basins and provide better genetic modelling of Victoria's brown coal deposits. Importantly, the project will provide postgraduate research training opportunities for a new generation of palaeobotanists and coal petrologists.Read moreRead less
How does warming prevent soil nitrogen availability from declining in response to elevated CO2? The sustainable use of the terrestrial environment depends upon maintaining ecosystem productivity which in turn depends upon nutrient availability within the soil. Increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are known to decrease nutrient availability while warming prevents this from happening. The aims of this project are to determine how warming is able to prevent elevated CO2 concentrations from re ....How does warming prevent soil nitrogen availability from declining in response to elevated CO2? The sustainable use of the terrestrial environment depends upon maintaining ecosystem productivity which in turn depends upon nutrient availability within the soil. Increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are known to decrease nutrient availability while warming prevents this from happening. The aims of this project are to determine how warming is able to prevent elevated CO2 concentrations from reducing soil N availability and hence productivity in a native grassland ecosystems. This is important, as it will allow likely problems caused by global climate change to be predicted by increasing the understanding of the underlying mechanisms as well as improving the management of grasslands in an environmentally sustainable way. Read moreRead less
Molecular fossils, environmental genomics and the natural history of an Australian salt lake. Increasing salinity of lakes is a critical problem for sustainable water supply in Australia. To comprehend the consequences of human-induced salinization, it is crucial to understand salt lakes at their most fundamental level. This project develops pioneering technologies to elucidate the microbial ecology and geochemistry of salt lakes in unprecedented detail. It will open new pathways to unravel how ....Molecular fossils, environmental genomics and the natural history of an Australian salt lake. Increasing salinity of lakes is a critical problem for sustainable water supply in Australia. To comprehend the consequences of human-induced salinization, it is crucial to understand salt lakes at their most fundamental level. This project develops pioneering technologies to elucidate the microbial ecology and geochemistry of salt lakes in unprecedented detail. It will open new pathways to unravel how microbial ecosystems adapt to increasing salinization, and how they reacted to climate fluctuations in the past. Students will gain multidisciplinary skills in environmental genomics, proteomics and geochemistry, a unique combination that will become decisive for understanding and preserving ecosystems on our continent.Read moreRead less
Understanding responses to climate change: a mechanistic approach integrating functional genetics, physiology and biophysical models for the Common brown butterfly. We will dissect the interaction between an Australian butterfly and changing climate. This will make significant contributions to the national research priorities Responding to climate change and variability and Sustainable use of Australia's biodiversity. We will address the known deficits in standard approaches to predicting futu ....Understanding responses to climate change: a mechanistic approach integrating functional genetics, physiology and biophysical models for the Common brown butterfly. We will dissect the interaction between an Australian butterfly and changing climate. This will make significant contributions to the national research priorities Responding to climate change and variability and Sustainable use of Australia's biodiversity. We will address the known deficits in standard approaches to predicting futures for biota. We will provide an Australian species in which the mechanisms of response to climate change are understood in detail. Our outputs will be directly applicable to other butterflies: 19 threatened taxa in Australia. The novelty of our approach will be of marked international interest, and will train Australian researchers in a new way of predicting biological impacts of climate change.Read moreRead less