Quantifying kelp carbon and nutrient flows for nature-based solutions . This fellowship aims to resolve carbon removal and nutrient mitigation potential of Australia’s kelp forests now and in future. It will create new understanding of the ecosystem services provided by the Great Southern Reef, and the capacity of kelp forests to provide nature-based solutions to reduce emissions and improve coastal water quality. Using a combination of global models and ecological experiments on kelp forests an ....Quantifying kelp carbon and nutrient flows for nature-based solutions . This fellowship aims to resolve carbon removal and nutrient mitigation potential of Australia’s kelp forests now and in future. It will create new understanding of the ecosystem services provided by the Great Southern Reef, and the capacity of kelp forests to provide nature-based solutions to reduce emissions and improve coastal water quality. Using a combination of global models and ecological experiments on kelp forests and their replacement ecosystem states, the fellowship will predict changes in function with warming. This information is critical to determine net ecosystem mitigation potential and will significantly advance our understanding of the potential of kelp forests to generate co-benefits while conserving biodiversity. Read moreRead less
Resolving the role of kelp in blue carbon cycles to enable management. We aim to uncover how kelp forests contribute to carbon storage, biodiversity enhancement and nutrient mitigation in Australia. We will combine mapping and modelling to identify local variation in kelp carbon stocks and sequestration potential and verify kelp carbon export to deep ocean sinks through genetic tracing in seawater and sediments. Co-benefits will be identified through nutrient experiments and reef surveys. We wil ....Resolving the role of kelp in blue carbon cycles to enable management. We aim to uncover how kelp forests contribute to carbon storage, biodiversity enhancement and nutrient mitigation in Australia. We will combine mapping and modelling to identify local variation in kelp carbon stocks and sequestration potential and verify kelp carbon export to deep ocean sinks through genetic tracing in seawater and sediments. Co-benefits will be identified through nutrient experiments and reef surveys. We will also assess the risk that calcification and production of halogenic gas within the kelp forest could offset its climate mitigation potential. Project outcomes will enable management to consider kelp ecosystem services broadly and optimize our capacity to meet current emission reduction and biodiversity commitments.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100429
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$367,000.00
Summary
Unravelling nickel biopathways in tropical hyperaccumulator plants. This project aims to unravel the ways in which hyperaccumulators work. Hyperaccumulators are plants that have the remarkable ability to concentrate up to six per cent nickel in their leaves and up to 25 per cent in their sap. These plants can be used in phytomining – a new technology to recover nickel from mining waste or contaminated land by growing and harvesting these plants and extracting nickel from their biomass. This proj ....Unravelling nickel biopathways in tropical hyperaccumulator plants. This project aims to unravel the ways in which hyperaccumulators work. Hyperaccumulators are plants that have the remarkable ability to concentrate up to six per cent nickel in their leaves and up to 25 per cent in their sap. These plants can be used in phytomining – a new technology to recover nickel from mining waste or contaminated land by growing and harvesting these plants and extracting nickel from their biomass. This project seeks to understand how the plants accumulate nickel by using tracers and synchrotron techniques to follow the pathways of nickel from the soil into the plants. This knowledge may help us to optimise agronomic processes affecting nickel uptake to enable successful phytomining.Read moreRead less
Factors controlling marine food webs: consumer vs. nutrient limitation of mobile invertebrates and algae. An understanding of the strength of interactions in marine food webs is crucial to predicting change in coastal habitats due to human activities. The outcomes of this research will indicate the relative importance of changes in nutrient inputs from terrestrial runoff (eutrophication) and predation pressures (via overfishing) - both of which may strongly affect the structure of marine habitat ....Factors controlling marine food webs: consumer vs. nutrient limitation of mobile invertebrates and algae. An understanding of the strength of interactions in marine food webs is crucial to predicting change in coastal habitats due to human activities. The outcomes of this research will indicate the relative importance of changes in nutrient inputs from terrestrial runoff (eutrophication) and predation pressures (via overfishing) - both of which may strongly affect the structure of marine habitats - on an extremely abundant and diverse component of coastal marine habitats.Read moreRead less
Boxing clever: artificial nest boxes as a conservation and research tool. Saving endangered species increasingly requires proactive management. This project presents an innovative and practical solution to save an iconic Australian species, while also providing the scientific foundation for the development of a novel Australian-based commercial product that will be used to protect and restore Australian biodiversity.
Assessing linkages across arid zone estuarine landscapes. We aim to understand the degree of connectivity between the terrestrial environment and estuaries in the arid tropics of Australia. We will investigate the impact of terrestrial-estuarine linkages on near shore food webs, which include a diverse fauna, some of which are commercially important. Human activities in the land-ocean interface have to have the capacity to alter greatly the timing, magnitude, and composition of inputs from water ....Assessing linkages across arid zone estuarine landscapes. We aim to understand the degree of connectivity between the terrestrial environment and estuaries in the arid tropics of Australia. We will investigate the impact of terrestrial-estuarine linkages on near shore food webs, which include a diverse fauna, some of which are commercially important. Human activities in the land-ocean interface have to have the capacity to alter greatly the timing, magnitude, and composition of inputs from watersheds to estuaries, thereby greatly altering the function of estuaries. The results of this project will fill a gap in our knowledge of how arid zone estuaries function, and will contribute to developing management strategies needed to maintain estuary productivity.Read moreRead less
Bioinvasions: the interactive effects of propagule pressure and pollution. The successful establishment of species outside their native range is an increasingly frequent occurrence and can cause reductions in biodiversity and ecosystem disruption. Bioinvasions may also cause public health risks and damage to agriculture and fisheries. Nowhere is the accelerating pace of bioinvasions more dramatic than in ports and harbours. This project will determine the effects of pollution on invasion in a ma ....Bioinvasions: the interactive effects of propagule pressure and pollution. The successful establishment of species outside their native range is an increasingly frequent occurrence and can cause reductions in biodiversity and ecosystem disruption. Bioinvasions may also cause public health risks and damage to agriculture and fisheries. Nowhere is the accelerating pace of bioinvasions more dramatic than in ports and harbours. This project will determine the effects of pollution on invasion in a marine system. This project is in the national interest because it will identify mechanisms through which the invasion of exotic species are encouraged and assist in the identification and prioritisation of effective management strategies to prevent invasion.Read moreRead less
Biotic connectivity within the temperate Australian marine protected area network at three levels of biodiversity, communities, populations and genes. Project outcomes will improve management of coastal biodiversity through a multi-state collaboration of managers, marine ecologists, population geneticists and taxonomists. Sites most needed within marine protected area (MPA) networks for maintaining resilience of populations across seascapes will be identified, including sites with exceptional en ....Biotic connectivity within the temperate Australian marine protected area network at three levels of biodiversity, communities, populations and genes. Project outcomes will improve management of coastal biodiversity through a multi-state collaboration of managers, marine ecologists, population geneticists and taxonomists. Sites most needed within marine protected area (MPA) networks for maintaining resilience of populations across seascapes will be identified, including sites with exceptional endemism or key roles in dispersal of larvae. The ecological efficacy of the temperate Australian MPA network will be assessed through analysis of long-term ecological datasets and further development of a novel 'remote sensing' methodology, whereby surveys are undertaken by volunteer divers across much greater spatial and temporal scales than could be studied by dedicated scientific dive teams.Read moreRead less
LIZARD SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND THE INFLUENCE OF PARASITES. We ask why stable social group living in animals, with well documented benefits, is relatively rare. One cost is the enhanced opportunity for parasite and disease transmission among group members. We will explore, for a lizard, the impact of group living on parasite infections, and the costs of infection. We expect to produce observational and experimental results with an unusual level of detail, and with a fresh taxonomic perspective to in ....LIZARD SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND THE INFLUENCE OF PARASITES. We ask why stable social group living in animals, with well documented benefits, is relatively rare. One cost is the enhanced opportunity for parasite and disease transmission among group members. We will explore, for a lizard, the impact of group living on parasite infections, and the costs of infection. We expect to produce observational and experimental results with an unusual level of detail, and with a fresh taxonomic perspective to influence debate in this central area of behavioural ecology. We will also produce new information on behavioural ecology of Australian fauna, important for conservation management and ecotourism.Read moreRead less
Ecological and genetic connectivity in seagrasses: the role of sexual reproduction, dispersal and recruitment on meadow restoration. This project's goal is to study the role of dispersal in contemporary demographics and genetics of an Australian seagrass genus Posidonia. The expected outcome of this project is to understand the importance of long-distance dispersal of seeds in determining resilience of seagrasses to both natural and anthropogenic disturbances.