Response and vulnerability of tropical rainforest plants to experimental drought. This project will assess the vulnerability of rainforest plants to a large-scale experimental drought in the Daintree rainforest of north Queensland, using a canopy crane to access all vertical forest layers. This will provide a unique opportunity to understand how rainforests could be affected by future climate change.
Global change: Rainforest responses to experimental drought. How will rainforests respond if droughts increase in the future? In a globally unique experiment, this project will examine how Australian tropical rainforests are affected by a large-scale experimental drought, using a canopy crane to assess plant responses at all vertical forest levels. It will contrast demographic and physiological responses of an array of plant species and functional groups between experimental and control plots wh ....Global change: Rainforest responses to experimental drought. How will rainforests respond if droughts increase in the future? In a globally unique experiment, this project will examine how Australian tropical rainforests are affected by a large-scale experimental drought, using a canopy crane to assess plant responses at all vertical forest levels. It will contrast demographic and physiological responses of an array of plant species and functional groups between experimental and control plots where tree growth, composition, soil water and atmospheric exchange have been monitored since 1999. Drought responses of key species and functional groups will be compared with their distributions across regional rainfall gradients to yield crucial insights into the potential impacts of future climate change on rainforests.Read moreRead less
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
Landscape level effects on dispersal behaviour and gene flow in the logrunner, a rainforest restricted bird. Dispersal is thought to be critical for the persistence of small avian populations in fragmented landscapes. However, our knowledge of dispersal is limited. I will combine behavioural observations on radiotagged birds and powerful genetic markers to examine the effects of habitat fragmentation on the dispersal behaviour of a rainforest restricted bird, the logrunner. This study will deter ....Landscape level effects on dispersal behaviour and gene flow in the logrunner, a rainforest restricted bird. Dispersal is thought to be critical for the persistence of small avian populations in fragmented landscapes. However, our knowledge of dispersal is limited. I will combine behavioural observations on radiotagged birds and powerful genetic markers to examine the effects of habitat fragmentation on the dispersal behaviour of a rainforest restricted bird, the logrunner. This study will determine how landscape structure influences the movement of juvenile logrunners, investigate the causes and consequences of variation in juvenile dispersal behaviour, and use molecular data to determine how connectivity between habitats effects the genetic structure of logrunner populations.Read moreRead less
A Bayesian framework for metapopulation dynamics of species in endangered communities: integrating demographic, environmental and genetic data. Biodiversity conservation is a spatial and temporal problem. Populations change in time, constrained by the structure and spatial division of their habitat. This study will develop a tool that can be used to assess the influence of environmental fluctuations and landscape heterogeneity on the persistence of endemic species in the mound springs of the Gr ....A Bayesian framework for metapopulation dynamics of species in endangered communities: integrating demographic, environmental and genetic data. Biodiversity conservation is a spatial and temporal problem. Populations change in time, constrained by the structure and spatial division of their habitat. This study will develop a tool that can be used to assess the influence of environmental fluctuations and landscape heterogeneity on the persistence of endemic species in the mound springs of the Great Artesian Basin. Using a Bayesian framework to integrate data from diverse sources, we will develop models for the biodiversity impacts of groundwater withdrawal and climate change in central Australia. These tools are essential for management of this ecosystem, which has been listed as an 'endangered community' under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999.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
Changing ocean temperatures and movements of marine predators: the performance of marine protected areas in a warming ocean. Large predatory fish are essential to a balanced ecosystem and require protection from overfishing. Understanding what conditions cause them to migrate outside their normal home ranges will enable marine park managers to better design protection zones, both now and under future climate scenarios.
Hydraulic control on water use, growth and survival in tropical rainforest. This project aims to measure drought-related limits to water transport in the woody xylem tissue of trees in Australian tropical rainforests, to understand how this influences tree water use, photosynthesis, health and mortality risk. Tropical rainforests are sensitive to climate variability, especially drought, but this sensitivity is poorly understood, despite large effects regionally and globally. This project will co ....Hydraulic control on water use, growth and survival in tropical rainforest. This project aims to measure drought-related limits to water transport in the woody xylem tissue of trees in Australian tropical rainforests, to understand how this influences tree water use, photosynthesis, health and mortality risk. Tropical rainforests are sensitive to climate variability, especially drought, but this sensitivity is poorly understood, despite large effects regionally and globally. This project will compare forests that contrast strongly in seasonal drought stress, and use the information to develop a model designed for species-diverse forest, with subsequent potential global application. The understanding gained will enable widely applicable advances designed to feed through rapidly to regional- and global-scale models that inform land use, economic and social policy-making.Read moreRead less
Ancient Ecology: Changes in penguin diet over ~30,000 years in Antarctica. This project proposes the first direct study of ancient ecology using a combination of second-generation DNA sequencing and targeted gene recovery. The food web of the Antarctic Ocean is a classic textbook example of energy and nutrient cycling in the marine environment. Although a great deal is known about the current status of this food web, understanding how this complex set of predator / prey relationships have change ....Ancient Ecology: Changes in penguin diet over ~30,000 years in Antarctica. This project proposes the first direct study of ancient ecology using a combination of second-generation DNA sequencing and targeted gene recovery. The food web of the Antarctic Ocean is a classic textbook example of energy and nutrient cycling in the marine environment. Although a great deal is known about the current status of this food web, understanding how this complex set of predator / prey relationships have changed over long periods of time is vital to understanding the nature of the system itself. The project intends to track changes in the diet of Adélie penguins from serially preserved ancient fecal (guano) remains dating back approximately 30,000 years. These remains are known to contain microscopic remnants of penguin prey.Read moreRead less
Landscape-scale monitoring and adaptive management of woodland birds in the Mt Lofty Ranges. Despite the fundamental role of scientific monitoring in nature conservation, its research importance and potential is widely neglected. There is an urgent need to improve quantitative rigour, particularly to ensure adequate statistical power is achieved when monitoring at a landscape scale. We will apply new analytical tools to the problem of devising a powerful and flexible monitoring regime for a high ....Landscape-scale monitoring and adaptive management of woodland birds in the Mt Lofty Ranges. Despite the fundamental role of scientific monitoring in nature conservation, its research importance and potential is widely neglected. There is an urgent need to improve quantitative rigour, particularly to ensure adequate statistical power is achieved when monitoring at a landscape scale. We will apply new analytical tools to the problem of devising a powerful and flexible monitoring regime for a highly threatened woodland bird community in South Australia. Monitoring will be embedded within a decision-making framework with explicit links to local management agencies. Results will be broadly applicable across agricultural areas of Australia, where bird assemblages are in general decline.Read moreRead less