Coastal tropicalisation – adapting to novel ecosystems and trajectories. This project aims to quantify the impacts of a changing climate on key ecosystem functions of temperate reefs. As global temperate reefs respond to ocean warming, iconic and economically important kelp forests and associated fishes and invertebrates are being lost. Novel communities and never-before seen configurations of species are emerging in these systems. This project aims to characterise the new dynamics of these nove ....Coastal tropicalisation – adapting to novel ecosystems and trajectories. This project aims to quantify the impacts of a changing climate on key ecosystem functions of temperate reefs. As global temperate reefs respond to ocean warming, iconic and economically important kelp forests and associated fishes and invertebrates are being lost. Novel communities and never-before seen configurations of species are emerging in these systems. This project aims to characterise the new dynamics of these novel systems, and provide an understanding of how to maintain key ecosystem functions - primary productivity, fish production - that underpin the benefits that humans derive from our coastlines.Read moreRead less
Antarctic virus-host interactions. This project aims to determine how hosts and viruses interact in the natural environment and during alien invasions. Viruses are important in Antarctic aquatic systems, but foreign viruses introduced into Antarctica threaten indigenous species. Despite this awareness, big gaps exist in understanding how viruses interact with their hosts and how Antarctic communities respond to invasion. This knowledge is expected to reveal how life in Antarctica evolved, and pr ....Antarctic virus-host interactions. This project aims to determine how hosts and viruses interact in the natural environment and during alien invasions. Viruses are important in Antarctic aquatic systems, but foreign viruses introduced into Antarctica threaten indigenous species. Despite this awareness, big gaps exist in understanding how viruses interact with their hosts and how Antarctic communities respond to invasion. This knowledge is expected to reveal how life in Antarctica evolved, and provide information useful for developing policy to manage the Antarctic environment with scope for collaborations between industry and researchers to find practical solutions for biotechnology industries.Read moreRead less
Do marine heat waves cause pathogen outbreaks in Australian coastal waters? This project aims to identify links between increasingly frequent Marine Heat Wave (MHW) events and outbreaks of microbes that cause disease in marine animals, reduced aquaculture yields and human health hazards. Pathogenic bacteria from the Vibrio genus exhibit a preference for elevated seawater temperature and this project will test the hypothesis that episodic MHWs will trigger blooms of dangerous species. Using innov ....Do marine heat waves cause pathogen outbreaks in Australian coastal waters? This project aims to identify links between increasingly frequent Marine Heat Wave (MHW) events and outbreaks of microbes that cause disease in marine animals, reduced aquaculture yields and human health hazards. Pathogenic bacteria from the Vibrio genus exhibit a preference for elevated seawater temperature and this project will test the hypothesis that episodic MHWs will trigger blooms of dangerous species. Using innovative ecogenomic tools, this project will track the impact of MHWs on the dynamics of pathogenic Vibrio within coastal habitats, oyster farming facilities and coral reefs. The benefit of this project will be essential new knowledge on an emerging threat to Australia’s valuable marine estate, food security and public health.Read moreRead less
Functional dynamics of skeletal microbiota in healthy and bleached corals. Little is known about the microbiota inhabiting coral skeletons, but several sources of evidence point to their importance in the coral holobiont. Particularly during coral bleaching, drastic changes happen in the skeletal microbiome, with potential beneficial as well as detrimental effects on the holobiont. This project will characterise the functions of skeletal microbiota, how microbial communities are structured along ....Functional dynamics of skeletal microbiota in healthy and bleached corals. Little is known about the microbiota inhabiting coral skeletons, but several sources of evidence point to their importance in the coral holobiont. Particularly during coral bleaching, drastic changes happen in the skeletal microbiome, with potential beneficial as well as detrimental effects on the holobiont. This project will characterise the functions of skeletal microbiota, how microbial communities are structured along physico-chemical gradients, and how microbial gene expression changes through coral bleaching. This will lead to better insights into the roles of skeletal microbiota in the holobiont, the processes occurring in the skeleton during bleaching, and the role that skeletal microbiota may play in the fate of bleached corals.Read moreRead less
Carbon costs of plant nutrient and water uptake. This project aims to investigate how much carbon plants need to invest belowground in return for water and nutrients. By using economic principles of supply and demand the project will quantify carbon expenditure for water and nutrients in grasslands and crops under different climate and land management scenarios. This project will use triple and quadruple isotope labelling techniques and explore the dependency of carbon investment on plant-microb ....Carbon costs of plant nutrient and water uptake. This project aims to investigate how much carbon plants need to invest belowground in return for water and nutrients. By using economic principles of supply and demand the project will quantify carbon expenditure for water and nutrients in grasslands and crops under different climate and land management scenarios. This project will use triple and quadruple isotope labelling techniques and explore the dependency of carbon investment on plant-microbial interactions and availability of belowground resources. Expected outcomes include new knowledge to build a universal framework about plant carbon-water-nutrient economics. This will benefit global carbon cycling models and efforts to increase nutrient and water use efficiencies in agricultural crops.Read moreRead less
Deciphering the coral minimal microbiome. This project aims to decipher the functions of coral-associated bacteria by taking advantage of low-diversity microbiomes that are naturally found in some coral species. A further aim is to unveil the importance of bacterial genome evolution in coral adaptation to climate change. Climate warming is the biggest threat to coral reefs with half of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) corals dead due to recent summer heat waves. Expected outcomes are an incr ....Deciphering the coral minimal microbiome. This project aims to decipher the functions of coral-associated bacteria by taking advantage of low-diversity microbiomes that are naturally found in some coral species. A further aim is to unveil the importance of bacterial genome evolution in coral adaptation to climate change. Climate warming is the biggest threat to coral reefs with half of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) corals dead due to recent summer heat waves. Expected outcomes are an increased understanding of how bacteria contribute to coral heat tolerance, and new knowledge to assist in the development of bacterial probiotics for enhancing coral thermal tolerance. This should provide significant benefits to the protection of the GBR and Australia’s economy.Read moreRead less
An evolutionary landscape to better predict our future climate. Soil microbial communities are the most complicated and difficult to study on Earth, but their effects on our climate are profound. This project will examine the evolution of microorganisms and their viruses in soil using novel methods. It will uncover how the evolution of one microbial species influences the evolution of other community members. It will also apply a new model of evolution to the viruses that infect these microorgan ....An evolutionary landscape to better predict our future climate. Soil microbial communities are the most complicated and difficult to study on Earth, but their effects on our climate are profound. This project will examine the evolution of microorganisms and their viruses in soil using novel methods. It will uncover how the evolution of one microbial species influences the evolution of other community members. It will also apply a new model of evolution to the viruses that infect these microorganisms, constructing a viral ‘tree of life’. This improved fundamental understanding of soil communities will be used to study climate feedback from permafrost wetlands, a key and poorly constrained input of global climate models, improving predictions of our future climate.Read moreRead less
Exploring the Black Box of Archaeal Methane Metabolism. This project aims to build on new discoveries about how ancient microorganisms belonging to the Archaea that process methane, a significant greenhouse gas. This project expects to generate new data about how these novel Archaea are able to generate/digest methane and other non-methane carbon substrates through metabolic pathways using an interdisciplinary approach. Expected outcomes of this Project include improved techniques to grow these ....Exploring the Black Box of Archaeal Methane Metabolism. This project aims to build on new discoveries about how ancient microorganisms belonging to the Archaea that process methane, a significant greenhouse gas. This project expects to generate new data about how these novel Archaea are able to generate/digest methane and other non-methane carbon substrates through metabolic pathways using an interdisciplinary approach. Expected outcomes of this Project include improved techniques to grow these ancient microorganisms, investigate how they process methane, and understand how they contribute to the global carbon cycle. This will provide significant benefits, such as understanding the how the cycling of methane and non-methane compounds by novel Archaea can be manipulated in anaerobic environments.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL180100036
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,011,916.00
Summary
Engineering microbes that increase coral climate resilience. This project aims to develop microbes which are able to enhance the climate resilience of corals. Coral reefs around the world are being lost at an alarming rate. Developing microbial symbionts to enhance coral climate resilience will give Australian and other coral reef ecosystems an increased chance of surviving the impact of climate change. The project will also enhance understanding of the functional roles of microbial symbionts of ....Engineering microbes that increase coral climate resilience. This project aims to develop microbes which are able to enhance the climate resilience of corals. Coral reefs around the world are being lost at an alarming rate. Developing microbial symbionts to enhance coral climate resilience will give Australian and other coral reef ecosystems an increased chance of surviving the impact of climate change. The project will also enhance understanding of the functional roles of microbial symbionts of corals, and advance the microbial symbiosis discipline globally. Expected outcomes include healthier coral reefs through the use of more climate resilient coral stock in reef conservation and restoration initiatives.Read moreRead less
Defining the Microbial-scale Processes Governing Ocean Health . This project aims to resolve the foundations of healthy ocean function by employing innovative approaches to uncover the links between marine chemistry and microbiology. While the importance of microbes in governing ocean health is unquestionable, they are often studied over inappropriately large-scales, leading to inaccurate interpretation of the oceanic processes that ultimately influence fishery production and climate control. W ....Defining the Microbial-scale Processes Governing Ocean Health . This project aims to resolve the foundations of healthy ocean function by employing innovative approaches to uncover the links between marine chemistry and microbiology. While the importance of microbes in governing ocean health is unquestionable, they are often studied over inappropriately large-scales, leading to inaccurate interpretation of the oceanic processes that ultimately influence fishery production and climate control. We will develop new oceanographic tools and analytical techniques to provide a unique "microbes-eye-view" of the sea. The project's outcomes are anticipated to deliver transformative new knowledge on the controls of ocean productivity and sustainability, helping to safeguard Australia’s valuable marine estate.Read moreRead less