Resilience of eucalypts to future droughts. This project aims to examine how resilient Eucalyptus species are to future droughts by combining data synthesis, manipulative experiments and modelling. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, magnitude and duration of future droughts, with major environmental and socio-economic consequences for Australia. Current predictive capacity is extremely limited: experiments are limited in scale and cannot capture important global change interac ....Resilience of eucalypts to future droughts. This project aims to examine how resilient Eucalyptus species are to future droughts by combining data synthesis, manipulative experiments and modelling. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, magnitude and duration of future droughts, with major environmental and socio-economic consequences for Australia. Current predictive capacity is extremely limited: experiments are limited in scale and cannot capture important global change interactions, whilst models do not represent the functional characteristics and adaptions of eucalypts. This project will develop a strong evidence- and process-based understanding to quantify the functional behaviour of drought-adapted Eucalyptus species and leverage this insight to make future model projections.Read moreRead less
Oxygen isotope discrimination during C4 photosynthesis. Plants with the C4 photosynthetic pathway, like sugarcane and pasture grasses, are vital to Australian agriculture and natural ecosystems. This project will use novel laser spectroscopy to measure oxygen isotope discrimination during photosynthesis and quantify the influence of C4 plants on isotopic signatures of atmospheric CO2.
Disentangling climate and evolutionary controls over the temperature dependence of leaf respiration. The project will use field and laboratory studies to establish if there are systematic differences in the temperature responses of leaf respiration in plants adapted to hot and cold environments. The results will enable climate modellers to better predict impacts of climate change on carbon exchange between vegetation and the atmosphere.
A step change in modeling leaf respiration-photosynthesis relationships . This project aims to use innovative, high-throughput technologies to develop a novel framework that links daytime photosynthesis and starch/amino acid mobilisation to variations in night-time leaf respiration. Variations in leaf respiration can have large impacts on ecosystem functioning and the Earth’s climate. Although advances have been made in respiration modelling, current models are unable to predict dynamic, day-to- ....A step change in modeling leaf respiration-photosynthesis relationships . This project aims to use innovative, high-throughput technologies to develop a novel framework that links daytime photosynthesis and starch/amino acid mobilisation to variations in night-time leaf respiration. Variations in leaf respiration can have large impacts on ecosystem functioning and the Earth’s climate. Although advances have been made in respiration modelling, current models are unable to predict dynamic, day-to-day variations in respiratory rates. Expected outcomes include equations that predict daily variations in night-time leaf respiration for environments across Australia and overseas. Benefits to planners include the ability to more accurately model vegetation-atmosphere carbon exchange and future changes in climate. Read moreRead less
The causes and effects of mortality in tropical Australian trees. Drought can cause the widespread death of tropical trees resulting in large emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, but predictions of tree death during drought remain rudimentary. This project will combine new data and modelling on how Australian tropical trees respond to drought to improve estimates of tree mortality risk and its impacts.
Variability in El Niño frequency and intensity over the past 4000 years. Fossil corals contain a rich archive of past climate variability for tropical oceans which can extend the limited instrumental data and increase our understanding of climate sensitivity. El Niño variations in the Pacific have far-reaching impacts on Australian climate, and this project will reconstruct variations in the past in order to better forecast climate sensitivity in the future. It focuses on Christmas Island whic ....Variability in El Niño frequency and intensity over the past 4000 years. Fossil corals contain a rich archive of past climate variability for tropical oceans which can extend the limited instrumental data and increase our understanding of climate sensitivity. El Niño variations in the Pacific have far-reaching impacts on Australian climate, and this project will reconstruct variations in the past in order to better forecast climate sensitivity in the future. It focuses on Christmas Island which is the optimal site to capture El Niño variability at several different time scales, and will lead to a better understanding of atmospheric and oceanic factors that have caused climate variability.Read moreRead less
Using Arabidopsis mutants to discover the role of guard cell chloroplasts in the stomatal response to light. This project will use novel molecular approaches to study how guard cells on the surface of leaves regulate plant water loss and CO2 uptake. This will provide new molecular tools for improving plant water use in agricultural species and aid process based modelling of CO2 and water exchange needed for predicting climate change.
Prioritising habitat restoration for biodiversity and ecosystem service outcomes. An emerging carbon market will provide funds for habitat restoration over the coming decades, but this will only be realised through careful prioritisation and planning. This research will prioritise investments in habitat restoration in order to cost-effectively achieve biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service protection goals.
Brown is the new green: grassland responses to drought and heat. This project aims to improve accuracy and precision in predicting the impact of water availability and heat stress on grassland function. Grassland ecosystems are important reservoirs of global biodiversity and carbon storage. Grasslands are highly sensitive to drought and heat stress, but studies recently showed that current grassland models cannot predict these responses because they do not adequately represent the key processes ....Brown is the new green: grassland responses to drought and heat. This project aims to improve accuracy and precision in predicting the impact of water availability and heat stress on grassland function. Grassland ecosystems are important reservoirs of global biodiversity and carbon storage. Grasslands are highly sensitive to drought and heat stress, but studies recently showed that current grassland models cannot predict these responses because they do not adequately represent the key processes of physiological drought tolerance, leaf browning, and species traits. This project will collect targeted data sets in order to develop and test model representations of these key processes. This will provide significant benefits, such as greatly increasing capacity to predict the impact of drought and heat stress on grasslands, at scales ranging from field to globe.Read moreRead less
450 Million year history of plant gas exchange capacity and the role of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Our planet faces an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide that is unprecedented in human history, but has occurred in ancient times. By studying the relationship between past changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide, plant gas exchange and climate we will gain powerful global insight into future scenarios of continental carbon and water fluxes. This global perspective is essential for Australia to a ....450 Million year history of plant gas exchange capacity and the role of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Our planet faces an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide that is unprecedented in human history, but has occurred in ancient times. By studying the relationship between past changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide, plant gas exchange and climate we will gain powerful global insight into future scenarios of continental carbon and water fluxes. This global perspective is essential for Australia to assess its vulnerability to global climate change in relation to other nations, thereby informing national planning of landscape resource use, including primary industry, water infrastructure and carbon trading.Read moreRead less