Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101998
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Coral reefs, climate change and land-based pollution: past, present and future impacts on coral reef development. Major threats to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) include climate change and deteriorating water quality. Environmental histories in the skeletons of reef building organisms will be used to determine how past, present and future environmental threats influence the growth and development of the GBR. Findings will help set national water quality targets.
Linking risks to ecosystems with risks to human well-being. This project aims to provide theory and practical guidelines to integrate ecosystem science into policy and action to address human well-being. Ecosystem risk assessment provides critical information for conservation, and has compelling but unexplored relationships with human health and nature’s benefits to people. The research will identify ecosystem measures that highlight areas of risk to human well-being as well as biodiversity. Exp ....Linking risks to ecosystems with risks to human well-being. This project aims to provide theory and practical guidelines to integrate ecosystem science into policy and action to address human well-being. Ecosystem risk assessment provides critical information for conservation, and has compelling but unexplored relationships with human health and nature’s benefits to people. The research will identify ecosystem measures that highlight areas of risk to human well-being as well as biodiversity. Expected outcomes include new standards for including ecosystem change in policy frameworks globally and in Australia, such as natural capital accounting and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Benefits include improved ways of meeting and tracking progress on Australia’s international commitments.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE160100146
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$320,000.00
Summary
The marine productivity buoy: a multi-parametric underwater profiler . The marine productivity buoy: a multi-parametric underwater profiler:
The marine productivity buoy is an innovative multi-parametric moored underwater profiler that would provide key information on phytoplankton primary productivity (PP), phytoplankton blooms, and water quality in coastal waters around Australia. The aim is to better understand changes in phytoplankton PP and abundance by synergistically using observations ....The marine productivity buoy: a multi-parametric underwater profiler . The marine productivity buoy: a multi-parametric underwater profiler:
The marine productivity buoy is an innovative multi-parametric moored underwater profiler that would provide key information on phytoplankton primary productivity (PP), phytoplankton blooms, and water quality in coastal waters around Australia. The aim is to better understand changes in phytoplankton PP and abundance by synergistically using observations from the new facility made several times a day from the surface to the seafloor, and spatially extended surface observations from Earth-orbiting ocean colour satellites. Anticipated outcomes are more accurate phytoplankton PP estimates and water quality parameters in Australian coastal waters in support to research and to monitoring of these critical environments.Read moreRead less
Recovering Australia’s migratory shorebirds. This project seeks to determine how Australia’s coastal environments can be managed to aid in the recovery of threatened shorebird species. Millions of migratory shorebirds arrive in Australia each year from their Arctic breeding grounds, yet many of these iconic species are in rapid decline, and two were recently nominated as nationally threatened in Australia. Recovering these threatened species is an important priority. The project aims to discover ....Recovering Australia’s migratory shorebirds. This project seeks to determine how Australia’s coastal environments can be managed to aid in the recovery of threatened shorebird species. Millions of migratory shorebirds arrive in Australia each year from their Arctic breeding grounds, yet many of these iconic species are in rapid decline, and two were recently nominated as nationally threatened in Australia. Recovering these threatened species is an important priority. The project aims to discover when and where to act to recover declining migratory species. It also plans to assess the strength of protective mechanisms already in place in Australia and overseas to protect migratory species from extinction, and determine how to improve protection for migrants when they arrive on Australia’s shores.Read moreRead less
Revolutionising biodiversity monitoring in freshwater ecosystems using environmental DNA. Australian biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate and freshwater species are particularly at risk. Effective conservation of freshwater biodiversity depends on reliable, accurate and cost-efficient monitoring techniques for assessing species communities and key environmental assets and threats. However, current techniques are inefficient, expensive and highly invasive. This project aims to utili ....Revolutionising biodiversity monitoring in freshwater ecosystems using environmental DNA. Australian biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate and freshwater species are particularly at risk. Effective conservation of freshwater biodiversity depends on reliable, accurate and cost-efficient monitoring techniques for assessing species communities and key environmental assets and threats. However, current techniques are inefficient, expensive and highly invasive. This project aims to utilise a novel methodology known as environmental DNA to revolutionise biodiversity surveys in freshwater environments, and aims to lead to a substantial increase in positive conservation outcomes through cost-efficient and accurate assessments of the distributions and abundances of both native and introduced species.Read moreRead less
Understanding and reversing the rapid declines in Australia's shorebirds. Migratory shorebirds are recognised under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act as nationally important assets, and these birds are iconic elements of many coastal landscapes, yet they are declining at an alarming rate. Due to their migratory nature, part of the reason for their decline might lay in Australia, but part might lay elsewhere across the 23 countries in the migratory flyway. This project ....Understanding and reversing the rapid declines in Australia's shorebirds. Migratory shorebirds are recognised under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act as nationally important assets, and these birds are iconic elements of many coastal landscapes, yet they are declining at an alarming rate. Due to their migratory nature, part of the reason for their decline might lay in Australia, but part might lay elsewhere across the 23 countries in the migratory flyway. This project will discover what Australia can do within its territory to reverse shorebird declines, and how international agreements and policy positions could be strengthened to achieve shorebird conservation in the East Asian flyway. This research will deliver the science necessary to recover a matter of national environmental significance.Read moreRead less
From prediction to adaptation: responding to rapid ecosystem shifts under climate change. Nobody knows exactly how climate change will affect the ecosystems on which we depend for our own existence, though negative impacts are widely predicted. This project integrates mathematical, economic and ecological approaches to learn about the most effective way to spend limited funds for sustaining ecosystems threatened by climate change.
Advancing vegetation classification and mapping to meet conservation needs. The project aims to develop advanced statistical and modelling techniques to classify and map vegetation over very large areas, using the most extensive and detailed vegetation data set in Australia and new methods to evaluate these classifications. Such classifications and maps provide the data needed to make biodiversity conservation decisions, yet current operational methods are limited over very large areas, and cann ....Advancing vegetation classification and mapping to meet conservation needs. The project aims to develop advanced statistical and modelling techniques to classify and map vegetation over very large areas, using the most extensive and detailed vegetation data set in Australia and new methods to evaluate these classifications. Such classifications and maps provide the data needed to make biodiversity conservation decisions, yet current operational methods are limited over very large areas, and cannot deal with varied sources of uncertainty. Expected outcomes and benefits include a fine-scale vegetation classification and map for almost a million square kilometres, and associated analytical tools and guidelines for large-scale vegetation classification and global mapping.Read moreRead less
From prediction to action: Responding to rapid ecosystem shifts under climate change. Nobody knows exactly how climate change will affect the ecosystems on which we depend for our own existence, though negative impacts are widely predicted. This project integrates mathematical, economic and ecological approaches to learn about the most effective way to spend limited funds for sustaining ecosystems threatened by climate change.
A novel and theoretically consistent method for correcting systematic errors in earth observation data and earth system model results. For a correct interpretation of satellite-based earth observation data and/or Earth system model results, it is very important that these data are free of systematic errors, commonly referred to as bias. It is well known that both these data sources are prone to a significant bias, which is currently neglected in many environmental impact and prediction studies. ....A novel and theoretically consistent method for correcting systematic errors in earth observation data and earth system model results. For a correct interpretation of satellite-based earth observation data and/or Earth system model results, it is very important that these data are free of systematic errors, commonly referred to as bias. It is well known that both these data sources are prone to a significant bias, which is currently neglected in many environmental impact and prediction studies. This project will present a method to develop models for these biases. A state update technique, the Ensemble Kalman Filter, will be adapted to correctly take into account bias in the merging of the two data sources. The project outcomes will be of high importance for long-term environmental studies, since these strongly rely on physically-based models and remote sensing data.Read moreRead less