Annual rainfall variability and extreme drought over the late Holocene. This project aims to understand long-term rainfall variability for Australia by developing a network of extended, high resolution rainfall records from tree rings. How anthropogenic changes to the atmosphere have influenced changing rainfall patterns across Australia is unclear. By extracting climatic information from tree growth rings across a latitudinal gradient from the subtropical north to the south coast of western Aus ....Annual rainfall variability and extreme drought over the late Holocene. This project aims to understand long-term rainfall variability for Australia by developing a network of extended, high resolution rainfall records from tree rings. How anthropogenic changes to the atmosphere have influenced changing rainfall patterns across Australia is unclear. By extracting climatic information from tree growth rings across a latitudinal gradient from the subtropical north to the south coast of western Australia, the project will extend hydroclimatic records by several centuries, to identify the frequency and extent of extreme droughts across the continent. Outcomes are expected to provide appropriate context for evaluating and adapting to climate change, allowing climate modellers, agricultural producers and other industries to improve forecasts of likely change for risk management.Read moreRead less
Modelling policy interventions to protect Australia's food security in the face of environmental sustainability challenges . This project will use an innovative scenario modelling approach to quantify the potential impacts of population growth and emerging climate and environmental challenges on Australia’s future food security. In collaboration with an advisory committee it will specify and prioritise policy solutions in terms of their social and economic credentials.
Has Twentieth Century warming changed southeastern Australia's fire regimes? This project will reconstruct extreme fire seasons and fire events for the past 500 years in three temperate regions of southeastern Australia. This baseline information will extend our historic records of fire, quantify the controls on fire in our landscapes and place recent catastrophic fire events in historical context.
Is climate change altering the carrying capacity of the world’s forests? Planting trees at a global scale has been proposed as a key strategy to reduce global atmospheric CO2 levels. However, changing climatic conditions threaten the ability of forests to be net CO2 absorbers. In a warmer and drier future, forests may not be able to support as many trees. This project aims to identify how climate will alter
forest carrying capacity across millions of hectares of the world’s forests. By combining ....Is climate change altering the carrying capacity of the world’s forests? Planting trees at a global scale has been proposed as a key strategy to reduce global atmospheric CO2 levels. However, changing climatic conditions threaten the ability of forests to be net CO2 absorbers. In a warmer and drier future, forests may not be able to support as many trees. This project aims to identify how climate will alter
forest carrying capacity across millions of hectares of the world’s forests. By combining recent advances in forest modelling with large-scale and long-term forest inventory data, the project will develop a novel framework to forecast forest dynamics under climate change. It will provide specific guidelines to inform global reforestation strategies and foster climate-smart forest management.Read moreRead less
Ecosystem resilience of Shark Bay under changing ocean climate. This project aims to investigate the resilience of the Shark Bay World Heritage Site to projected climate change. This project will generate new knowledge for marine conservation through analyses of habitat loss on nutrient budgets and productivity in seagrass and microbialite ecosystems. Expected outcomes are an improved understanding of climate-driven shifts on ecosystem processes in Shark Bay, incorporating science-based evidence ....Ecosystem resilience of Shark Bay under changing ocean climate. This project aims to investigate the resilience of the Shark Bay World Heritage Site to projected climate change. This project will generate new knowledge for marine conservation through analyses of habitat loss on nutrient budgets and productivity in seagrass and microbialite ecosystems. Expected outcomes are an improved understanding of climate-driven shifts on ecosystem processes in Shark Bay, incorporating science-based evidence for better conservation and management. This will provide significant benefits by contributing to the future-proofing of Shark Bay’s World Heritage values to climate change, and more broadly by demonstrating the consequences of the continued tropicalisation of Australia’s coastline.Read moreRead less
A global-scale analysis of functional traits in the face of global change. This project uses a global collaboration to develop a novel method for determining the response of extremely diverse animal taxa to global change. The method focusses on morphological traits and their functions and will improve conservation efforts by predicting the types of ecological processes and species threatened.
Either side of the Big Wet: the future resilience of south-eastern Australia's biota. Australia must develop strategies for managing its biodiversity under climate changes expected to occur under projected Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emission scenarios. The project will furnish comprehensive data on the response of plants and animals to the break in the Big Dry (1997-2009) in 2010-11 and evaluate how predict biotic components will cope with future climates.
Innovative approaches to identifying regional responses of biodiversity to climate change. Australia is facing a biodiversity extinction crisis that is likely to be exacerbated by climate change. Existing models of climate at regional scales require significant advancement, not only to better understand impacts on biodiversity, but also to assist with decision making and adaptation strategies. The project will produce innovative and robust climate maps that are at a scale that is relevant for re ....Innovative approaches to identifying regional responses of biodiversity to climate change. Australia is facing a biodiversity extinction crisis that is likely to be exacerbated by climate change. Existing models of climate at regional scales require significant advancement, not only to better understand impacts on biodiversity, but also to assist with decision making and adaptation strategies. The project will produce innovative and robust climate maps that are at a scale that is relevant for regional management, enabling predictions of how management actions interact with climate change to affect climate and biodiversity. The project will innovatively identify climate refugia and quantify the effectiveness of existing processes of conservation decision making, whilst engaging the community in climate science and providing considerable scientific training.Read moreRead less
Defining winning strategies in a changing Southern Ocean . The ecosystem of the Southern Ocean is extremely complex, and understanding its response to rapid climate change is challenging. The aim of the project is to use changes in the behaviour of marine predators to provide new measures of integrated changes in eastern Antarctic ecosystems throughout the winter. With novel combinations of electronic tagging, natural biogeochemical markers, and simulation modelling, the project expects to recon ....Defining winning strategies in a changing Southern Ocean . The ecosystem of the Southern Ocean is extremely complex, and understanding its response to rapid climate change is challenging. The aim of the project is to use changes in the behaviour of marine predators to provide new measures of integrated changes in eastern Antarctic ecosystems throughout the winter. With novel combinations of electronic tagging, natural biogeochemical markers, and simulation modelling, the project expects to reconstruct changes in animal behaviour in response to changes in the environment. The data is anticipated to explain ongoing large-scale shifts in Southern Ocean ecosystems, providing information needed to underpin future management and adaptation strategies.Read moreRead less
The role of vegetated foreshores in stabilising Australia's shorelines. This project aims to improve Australia's capacity to predict shoreline position with sea level rise, identify the role of vegetation in foreshore stabilisation and determine thresholds for shoreline retreat by quantifying the links between biological, geomorphological and sedimentary processes and shoreline position. Sea level rise and potential increases in storminess are predicted to lead to severe impacts and there is an ....The role of vegetated foreshores in stabilising Australia's shorelines. This project aims to improve Australia's capacity to predict shoreline position with sea level rise, identify the role of vegetation in foreshore stabilisation and determine thresholds for shoreline retreat by quantifying the links between biological, geomorphological and sedimentary processes and shoreline position. Sea level rise and potential increases in storminess are predicted to lead to severe impacts and there is an immediate and critical need to understand and accurately predict the functioning, dynamics, and distribution of Australia's coastal zones. Expected outcomes of this interdisciplinary project include an integrated modelling framework crucial for planning and management of sea level rise responses in Australia.Read moreRead less