Drought-induced mortality in arid-zone tree species: a mechanistic study. This project aims to determine the relative importance of elevated temperature and increased vapour pressure deficit during drought in causing drought induced mortality (DIM). The outcomes of this project will be an enhanced ability to predict future mortality in response to a warmer and atmospherically drier climate. This will benefit the development of future management strategies and our ability to predict drought impac ....Drought-induced mortality in arid-zone tree species: a mechanistic study. This project aims to determine the relative importance of elevated temperature and increased vapour pressure deficit during drought in causing drought induced mortality (DIM). The outcomes of this project will be an enhanced ability to predict future mortality in response to a warmer and atmospherically drier climate. This will benefit the development of future management strategies and our ability to predict drought impacts on landscape function and productivity.Read moreRead less
Will trees get enough nitrogen to sustain productivity in elevated CO2? The project proposes to explore how tissue nitrogen declines in future elevated carbon dioxide (eCO2) by studying the availability of soil nitrogen to plants and use of nitrogen by Eucalyptus woodland trees. Plant canopy nitrogen concentrations decline in nearly every large-scale eCO2 study done on native soils. The project plans to explore how changes in ecosystem nitrogen balance occur, by investigating if leaf nitrogen de ....Will trees get enough nitrogen to sustain productivity in elevated CO2? The project proposes to explore how tissue nitrogen declines in future elevated carbon dioxide (eCO2) by studying the availability of soil nitrogen to plants and use of nitrogen by Eucalyptus woodland trees. Plant canopy nitrogen concentrations decline in nearly every large-scale eCO2 study done on native soils. The project plans to explore how changes in ecosystem nitrogen balance occur, by investigating if leaf nitrogen declines under eCO2 due to the balance of plant activity versus changes in soil nitrogen availability. The outcomes are central to knowing the extent to which extra nitrogen ‘feeds’ the eCO2 fertilisation response and sustains long-term increases in productivity. Expected outcomes may support the development of management options to sustain future forest productivity.Read moreRead less
Woodland response to elevated CO2 in free air carbon dioxide enrichment: does phosphorus limit the sink for Carbon? This project will determine if growth of Australian woodland trees is limited by phosphorus, and if that limitation means the woodland carbon sink is constrained from responding to rising atmospheric CO2. Assessing the CO2 sink capacity of native eucalypt woodland is central to meeting Australia's domestic and international carbon accounting commitments.
Developing a mechanistic basis for coral reef conservation. This project aims to provide an evidence base for coral reef management to be targeted towards regions at greatest risk, and those that have the greatest capacity for acclimation under near-future climate change. This project will undertake an innovative trans-disciplinary analysis of coral thermal tolerance and the implications for targeted coral reef conservation to mitigate the impacts of climate change across the Great Barrier Reef ....Developing a mechanistic basis for coral reef conservation. This project aims to provide an evidence base for coral reef management to be targeted towards regions at greatest risk, and those that have the greatest capacity for acclimation under near-future climate change. This project will undertake an innovative trans-disciplinary analysis of coral thermal tolerance and the implications for targeted coral reef conservation to mitigate the impacts of climate change across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The project will provide significant benefits, by assisting in the maintenance of the goods and services (tourism, fisheries, shoreline protection) provided to Australia by the GBR.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
Surviving in a toad-colonised landscape: manipulating predator behaviour to reduce the impact of the cane toad invasion. Invasive species pose a major threat to biodiversity; and within Australia, cane toads are widely viewed as one of the biggest such problems. Vigorous attempts at toad control have failed to slow the invasion front, and toads are now entering the Kimberley region. If we can’t stop the toads, are there other ways to reduce the numbers of native predators killed by eating thes ....Surviving in a toad-colonised landscape: manipulating predator behaviour to reduce the impact of the cane toad invasion. Invasive species pose a major threat to biodiversity; and within Australia, cane toads are widely viewed as one of the biggest such problems. Vigorous attempts at toad control have failed to slow the invasion front, and toads are now entering the Kimberley region. If we can’t stop the toads, are there other ways to reduce the numbers of native predators killed by eating these poisonous invaders? Predators given nausea-inducing chemicals with their first toad meal rapidly learn to avoid cane toads as prey, enabling them to survive even where toads are present. The study will develop those methods for several vulnerable native species, including techniques for deployment of aversion-inducing baits in advance of the toad invasion.Read moreRead less
An integrated mechanistic model of species' responses to environmental change: from individual responses to range shifts and beyond. To effectively adapt to future environmental change, reliable forecasts are needed of how human alterations to climate and habitat will affect species. This project integrates cutting-edge methods in nutritional, physiological and spatial ecology to develop new tools for predicting and understanding how species will respond to environmental change.
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.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101654
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$335,528.00
Summary
Assessing Eucalyptus forest responses to rising CO2 and climate change. Rising atmospheric CO2 and the associated changes in rainfall regimes are rapidly reshaping how Australia’s forest ecosystems function and underpin our daily life. Whether Australia’s native Eucalyptus trees can withstand the impacts of climate extremes such as drought and heat under rising CO2 is a crucial question that this project aims to resolve. Using an innovative framework that integrates novel knowledge, data assimil ....Assessing Eucalyptus forest responses to rising CO2 and climate change. Rising atmospheric CO2 and the associated changes in rainfall regimes are rapidly reshaping how Australia’s forest ecosystems function and underpin our daily life. Whether Australia’s native Eucalyptus trees can withstand the impacts of climate extremes such as drought and heat under rising CO2 is a crucial question that this project aims to resolve. Using an innovative framework that integrates novel knowledge, data assimilation and ecosystem modelling, this project will provide critically needed evidence to disentangle the multifaceted impacts of climate change to Eucalyptus trees. This will help reduce the predictive uncertainty in assessing the vulnerability and resilience of Eucalyptus forests in the changing Australian landscape. Read moreRead less
The impact of environmental change on larval energetics of molluscs on the southeast coast of Australia. This project will investigate the impact of environmental change on larval energetics of molluscs on the southeast (SE) coast of Australia. The SE coast of Australia is a climate hotspot characterised by rising ocean temperatures, fluctuations in salinity and we expect in the near future ocean acidification (OA). Mollusc larvae show extreme sensitivity to OA, but the impacts of other stressor ....The impact of environmental change on larval energetics of molluscs on the southeast coast of Australia. This project will investigate the impact of environmental change on larval energetics of molluscs on the southeast (SE) coast of Australia. The SE coast of Australia is a climate hotspot characterised by rising ocean temperatures, fluctuations in salinity and we expect in the near future ocean acidification (OA). Mollusc larvae show extreme sensitivity to OA, but the impacts of other stressors remains unknown. It is predicted that OA will reduce the capacity of larvae to cope with temperature and salinity, particularly when food supply is low and in populations which have had no previous exposure to OA. Understanding the response of mollusc larvae to environmental change will support ecologically and economically significant mollusc populations over this century.Read moreRead less