Grazing-fire interactions and vegetation dynamics. Grazing and fire are the two major cost-effective tools that can be used to manipulate the vegetation of reserves and rangelands. This project will result in information and models that will enable a more effective use of grazing than at present in natural vegetation management for both nature conservation and production. An understanding of the ways in which vertebrate grazing animals influence the incidence and intensity of fire is also highly ....Grazing-fire interactions and vegetation dynamics. Grazing and fire are the two major cost-effective tools that can be used to manipulate the vegetation of reserves and rangelands. This project will result in information and models that will enable a more effective use of grazing than at present in natural vegetation management for both nature conservation and production. An understanding of the ways in which vertebrate grazing animals influence the incidence and intensity of fire is also highly important in planning to prevent the occasional vegetation fire that causes substantial losses of life, property and conservation values, especially in the context of predicted climatic change.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal patch burning and the quest for sustainable fire management. This project aims to document historical changes in the spatial grain of the patch burning mosaic in an Arnhem Land savannah with an unbroken history of management by Aboriginal people, and in adjacent areas where traditional management has ceased. The mosaic's spatial grain will be inferred by mapping the individual ages of the long-lived conifer Callitris intratropica. Prior research has shown that Callitris individuals c ....Aboriginal patch burning and the quest for sustainable fire management. This project aims to document historical changes in the spatial grain of the patch burning mosaic in an Arnhem Land savannah with an unbroken history of management by Aboriginal people, and in adjacent areas where traditional management has ceased. The mosaic's spatial grain will be inferred by mapping the individual ages of the long-lived conifer Callitris intratropica. Prior research has shown that Callitris individuals can be reliably aged, and population structures are very sensitive to fire regimes: saplings only establish if unburnt for 10 years. This research is expected to provide the first direct test of the hypothesis that Aboriginal people maintained fine-grained fire mosaics in savannas, and inform bushfire policy debates.Read moreRead less
Applying macroecology to assist in the management of Kakadu National Park. The ecological integrity of Kakadu National Park is threatened by fires, weeds, and feral animals. To help tackle these problems, we will develop a cost-effective, culturally appropriate, park-wide monitoring system based on changes in the boundaries of closed forests, woodland and grassland. We will gauge the effect of broad-scale land management interventions, and predict the consequences of future change. The findings ....Applying macroecology to assist in the management of Kakadu National Park. The ecological integrity of Kakadu National Park is threatened by fires, weeds, and feral animals. To help tackle these problems, we will develop a cost-effective, culturally appropriate, park-wide monitoring system based on changes in the boundaries of closed forests, woodland and grassland. We will gauge the effect of broad-scale land management interventions, and predict the consequences of future change. The findings of this study will be transferable to other landscape settings in Australia and overseas. It will contribute to debates about the ecological consequences of current land management practices and how these compare with past Aboriginal land management.Read moreRead less
Devising ecologically sustainable restoration programs for degraded rural landscapes by integrating landscape ecology, genetics and ecophysiology. Concern about tree decline in rural landscape is widespread, and disturbingly climate change is predicted to exacerbate this problem. Past ill-considered tree plantings have proven to be economically wasteful, achieved limited ecological resilience and negligible improvement of biodiversity values. Using Tasmania as a 'model system', we will advance t ....Devising ecologically sustainable restoration programs for degraded rural landscapes by integrating landscape ecology, genetics and ecophysiology. Concern about tree decline in rural landscape is widespread, and disturbingly climate change is predicted to exacerbate this problem. Past ill-considered tree plantings have proven to be economically wasteful, achieved limited ecological resilience and negligible improvement of biodiversity values. Using Tasmania as a 'model system', we will advance this problem by undertaking research to determine how seedling establishment, tree growth, carbon storage and water use are influenced by landscape setting, management history, climate change, species type and local varieties. This research will provide a much needed evidence to devise ecologically sustainable tree-plantings in southern Australia.Read moreRead less
Is a grass-fire cycle reducing biodiversity in the stone country of Kakadu National Park? There is concern that bushfires in northern Australia are causing biodiversity loss. The project will compare fire regimes and populations of a fire-sensitive tree, Callitris intratropica, in Kakadu to similar areas in central Arnhem Land, to see how fire management can be optimised to prevent further biodiversity loss on the Arnhem Plateau.
Bridging the land–sea divide to ensure food security under climate change. This project aims to comprehensively evaluate ocean-based food solutions to meet food security needs under climate change. It will resolve a critical blind spot in current plans that isolate land and sea food systems and neglect their interdependencies. Combining global models and data, it will assess the constraints of ocean-based food solutions by anticipating and accounting for land-sea links including: agricultural ru ....Bridging the land–sea divide to ensure food security under climate change. This project aims to comprehensively evaluate ocean-based food solutions to meet food security needs under climate change. It will resolve a critical blind spot in current plans that isolate land and sea food systems and neglect their interdependencies. Combining global models and data, it will assess the constraints of ocean-based food solutions by anticipating and accounting for land-sea links including: agricultural runoff, shared feed resources for farmed animals, and trade-offs for biodiversity and climate mitigation. It will deliver a major leap in our capacity to undertake holistic ecosystem assessment of future food production pathways. Benefits will include integrated food–biodiversity–climate policies for Australia and the world.Read moreRead less
Does fire control vegetation in the Tasmanian World Heritage Area? Aims: This project aims to discriminate between competing explanations for vegetation patterns in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area: (a) fire (the legacy of Aboriginal burning), or (b) soil. We will do this through a novel, transdisciplinary research program.
Significance: The project expects to create new knowledge essential for achieving evidence-based fire management, as well as to advance a globally important ecol ....Does fire control vegetation in the Tasmanian World Heritage Area? Aims: This project aims to discriminate between competing explanations for vegetation patterns in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area: (a) fire (the legacy of Aboriginal burning), or (b) soil. We will do this through a novel, transdisciplinary research program.
Significance: The project expects to create new knowledge essential for achieving evidence-based fire management, as well as to advance a globally important ecological theory.
Outcomes: Expected outcomes include significantly strengthened fire science and fire management capacity in Tasmania.
Benefit: Benefits should include the protection of globally significant cultural, biological and landscape values that sustain the vibrant Tasmanian tourist economy.Read moreRead less
Rewiring marine food webs: Predicting consequences of species range shifts. This project aims to predict how changes in climate-driven species distributions affect shallow marine communities globally. Environmental change affects the structure, resilience and productivity of coastal marine ecosystems at regional and global scales. This project will combine global species distribution and trait databases, existing experimental data and targeted field sampling to develop, test and apply an integra ....Rewiring marine food webs: Predicting consequences of species range shifts. This project aims to predict how changes in climate-driven species distributions affect shallow marine communities globally. Environmental change affects the structure, resilience and productivity of coastal marine ecosystems at regional and global scales. This project will combine global species distribution and trait databases, existing experimental data and targeted field sampling to develop, test and apply an integrated modelling platform to predict how global warming-driven changes in species distributions and their interactions affect the structure and dynamics of shallow marine communities. This project addresses a knowledge gap on how species’ redistributions and trophic dynamics produce communities, and aims to forecast future species abundances for sustainable marine ecosystem management.Read moreRead less
Poleward bound: mechanisms and consequences of climate-driven species redistribution in marine ecosystems. Global redistribution of Earth's species is widely recognised as a fingerprint of climate change. However, the physiological and ecological processes that underpin such shifts in the distribution of marine species are poorly understood. Even less is known about why species respond at different rates, and how such widespread changes will impact the structure and function of Australia's marin ....Poleward bound: mechanisms and consequences of climate-driven species redistribution in marine ecosystems. Global redistribution of Earth's species is widely recognised as a fingerprint of climate change. However, the physiological and ecological processes that underpin such shifts in the distribution of marine species are poorly understood. Even less is known about why species respond at different rates, and how such widespread changes will impact the structure and function of Australia's marine ecosystems. This research will address critical knowledge gaps of why and how species respond in vastly different ways to environmental change. Research outcomes will improve the capacity to predict responses of marine species and ecosystems to climate change and provide advice relevant to strategic management of valuable natural resources.Read moreRead less
Effects of invasive macrofauna on marine biodiversity and ecosystem function. The project will identify environmental and biological factors that help prevent invasion of native marine communities by introduced pests, and describe thresholds in marine systems where further loss of macrofaunal species results in declines in ecosystem health.