Does climatic thermal variability matter? This project aims to research how annual and daily variability in temperature effects the distribution of species, their tolerance to temperature, their dispersal ability and genetic structuring. Expected outcomes include more accurate assessment of the ecological risk of climate change, which is expected to result in altered average temperatures and temperature variability. Such assessments will result in better management of species and ecosystems faci ....Does climatic thermal variability matter? This project aims to research how annual and daily variability in temperature effects the distribution of species, their tolerance to temperature, their dispersal ability and genetic structuring. Expected outcomes include more accurate assessment of the ecological risk of climate change, which is expected to result in altered average temperatures and temperature variability. Such assessments will result in better management of species and ecosystems facing threats from climate change.Read moreRead less
Temperature sensitivity of soil respiration and its components. This project aims to demonstrate how temperate evergreen forests could buffer against climate change. Soil respiration returns around half the carbon taken up by forests to the atmosphere. This project will characterise and quantify how microbes and roots in soils depend on temperature and substrate supply, and so predict how rising temperatures and drought will affect forests as natural carbon sequestration sinks. This project will ....Temperature sensitivity of soil respiration and its components. This project aims to demonstrate how temperate evergreen forests could buffer against climate change. Soil respiration returns around half the carbon taken up by forests to the atmosphere. This project will characterise and quantify how microbes and roots in soils depend on temperature and substrate supply, and so predict how rising temperatures and drought will affect forests as natural carbon sequestration sinks. This project will resolve the roles of environmental drivers of soil respiration across forests; integrate mechanistic understanding of differing plant and microbial responses to temperature within a common modelling framework; and evaluate the implications of this knowledge in predictions of climatic impacts on terrestrial carbon cycling.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100026
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$379,536.00
Summary
Insect diversity and carrion decomposition in modified landscapes. Decomposition is fundamental to the recycling of nutrients in ecosystems, yet it is not known how different combinations of decomposer insects contribute to this important ecosystem service. This project includes a series of experiments to examine how insects affect carrion decomposition rates, and how this depends on environmental context. The project aims to show how decomposition is maintained in variable and changing landscap ....Insect diversity and carrion decomposition in modified landscapes. Decomposition is fundamental to the recycling of nutrients in ecosystems, yet it is not known how different combinations of decomposer insects contribute to this important ecosystem service. This project includes a series of experiments to examine how insects affect carrion decomposition rates, and how this depends on environmental context. The project aims to show how decomposition is maintained in variable and changing landscapes by revealing when the loss or gain of species will alter this critical ecological process. This will have implications for biodiversity-ecosystem function theory, and applications to biodiversity management and ecosystem restoration.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354789
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Networking environmental science to achieve integrated management of Australian terrestrial biodiversity in an era of environmental change. Human activities impact Australian ecosystems profoundly and compound natural complexity by superimposing environmental changes. Thus, understanding, conserving and enhancing Australian biodiversity demands interdisciplinary research and management strategies. These activities lack overarching strategic coordination, being conducted mainly by groups with fo ....Networking environmental science to achieve integrated management of Australian terrestrial biodiversity in an era of environmental change. Human activities impact Australian ecosystems profoundly and compound natural complexity by superimposing environmental changes. Thus, understanding, conserving and enhancing Australian biodiversity demands interdisciplinary research and management strategies. These activities lack overarching strategic coordination, being conducted mainly by groups with focused interests. We will develop a Network uniting the skills, resources and energies of excellent and productive researchers and managers of natural resources across the relevant disciplines and organizations, and so work synergistically towards the National Research Priority of an Environmentally Sustainable Australia.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.
More bang for your carbon buck: carbon, biodiversity and water balance consequences of whole-catchment carbon farming. Farming carbon via tree plantings on pasture land is becoming increasingly common to address the effects of climate change. This activity is likely to produce dramatic changes in Australia's rural landscapes, but we have little knowledge of likely effects on crucial ecosystem services and attributes such as stream water yields and biodiversity. This project will investigate the ....More bang for your carbon buck: carbon, biodiversity and water balance consequences of whole-catchment carbon farming. Farming carbon via tree plantings on pasture land is becoming increasingly common to address the effects of climate change. This activity is likely to produce dramatic changes in Australia's rural landscapes, but we have little knowledge of likely effects on crucial ecosystem services and attributes such as stream water yields and biodiversity. This project will investigate the relationship between tree cover, carbon uptake, water yield and biodiversity. The outcomes will allow government agencies, landowners and carbon farming groups to better evaluate the effects of different landscape planning options and contribute to effective long-term planning for multiple goals.Read moreRead less
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
Bubble, Bubble CO2 is the trouble: A Natural Ocean Acidification Experiment in a coral reef setting. Carbon dioxide seep sites expose shallow coral reefs in Papua New Guinea to volcanic carbon dioxide resulting in gradients of seawater ranging from pH 8.0 (normal) to a more acidic pH of 7.5. Some areas of these reefs experience carbon dioxide exposure equivalent to IPCC predictions for 2050 and 2100. This project will reconstruct seawater pH using radiocarbon as a novel tracer of carbon dioxide ....Bubble, Bubble CO2 is the trouble: A Natural Ocean Acidification Experiment in a coral reef setting. Carbon dioxide seep sites expose shallow coral reefs in Papua New Guinea to volcanic carbon dioxide resulting in gradients of seawater ranging from pH 8.0 (normal) to a more acidic pH of 7.5. Some areas of these reefs experience carbon dioxide exposure equivalent to IPCC predictions for 2050 and 2100. This project will reconstruct seawater pH using radiocarbon as a novel tracer of carbon dioxide input at a coral reef site that has been exposed to high carbon dioxide due to volcanic seeps (seep carbon dioxide has no carbon-14) for an unknown period of time (at least many decades, but possibly centuries). These results will help to understand the time it takes to change calcifying organisms into “winners” or “losers” as an analog for Ocean Acidification due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide input.Read moreRead less
Shrinking the food-print by creating consumer demand for sustainable and healthy eating. The negative impacts from the food choices made by many Australians are posing challenges to individual wellbeing and to maintaining a viable natural world. Drawing on innovative public health and consumer research, this project will identify opportunities for encouraging consumers to move towards more environmentally sustainable and healthy diets.