Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101822
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$438,428.00
Summary
Small but bold: harnessing microbes to boost drought tolerance in grasses . Drought threats grasslands worldwide, and new adaptation and resilience building approaches are required to protect the wealth of ecosystem services provided by grasslands. Soil microbes offer an untapped opportunity to enhance drought survival in grasses. Yet, to harness this potential, we first need to identify the key microbial functions that contribute to plant tolerance to drought. This project aims to determine the ....Small but bold: harnessing microbes to boost drought tolerance in grasses . Drought threats grasslands worldwide, and new adaptation and resilience building approaches are required to protect the wealth of ecosystem services provided by grasslands. Soil microbes offer an untapped opportunity to enhance drought survival in grasses. Yet, to harness this potential, we first need to identify the key microbial functions that contribute to plant tolerance to drought. This project aims to determine the microbe-mediated ecological and functional mechanisms that underpin grass performance under drought. This knowledge will lay the foundation to accelerate the design and implementation of effective microbial manipulations and management strategies, and thus increase our success in protecting this important ecosystem.Read moreRead less
Private Land Conservation in a Dynamically Changing and Risky World. Climate change, and the increasing risk of drought, heatwaves, and fire, have major implications for the design and effectiveness of private land conservation programs. This project aims to generate new knowledge about the effect of climate change on adoption and outcomes of private land conservation agreements. It will use an innovative social-ecological approach focused on koalas. Expected outcomes include an innovative frame ....Private Land Conservation in a Dynamically Changing and Risky World. Climate change, and the increasing risk of drought, heatwaves, and fire, have major implications for the design and effectiveness of private land conservation programs. This project aims to generate new knowledge about the effect of climate change on adoption and outcomes of private land conservation agreements. It will use an innovative social-ecological approach focused on koalas. Expected outcomes include an innovative framework to help make decisions about private land conservation investments under climate change. This should provide significant benefits for government and non-government organisations by providing solutions to climate-proof their conservation investments on private land in a rapidly changing world.Read moreRead less
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
Beyond green facades: integrating ecology and architecture. This project aims to develop a novel architectural paradigm that embeds ecological science, working with nature to design cities that are more resilient to environmental upheavals. Methods aim to overcome substantial theoretical and technical challenges to embedding quantitative ecology into architectural design processes, including the development of new approaches for measuring and evaluating biodiversity benefits of alternative urban ....Beyond green facades: integrating ecology and architecture. This project aims to develop a novel architectural paradigm that embeds ecological science, working with nature to design cities that are more resilient to environmental upheavals. Methods aim to overcome substantial theoretical and technical challenges to embedding quantitative ecology into architectural design processes, including the development of new approaches for measuring and evaluating biodiversity benefits of alternative urban designs, from the building to landscape scale. Expected outcomes include enhanced capacity for the built form to address biodiversity considerations through nature-based solutions. The case study designs developed in this project should represent a template for more habitable, liveable, sustainable cities.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100443
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Landscape genomics to make an endangered community resilient. This project aims to use landscape genomic techniques to assess how key species of the critically endangered Box-Gum Grassy Woodland community migrate and adapt under changing environmental conditions. Changing climate and land use threaten ecological communities, and alter environments at alarming rates. When species are pushed beyond their environmental tolerances, they will migrate, adapt or face local extinction. This alteration o ....Landscape genomics to make an endangered community resilient. This project aims to use landscape genomic techniques to assess how key species of the critically endangered Box-Gum Grassy Woodland community migrate and adapt under changing environmental conditions. Changing climate and land use threaten ecological communities, and alter environments at alarming rates. When species are pushed beyond their environmental tolerances, they will migrate, adapt or face local extinction. This alteration of the community structure affects the stability and function of the ecosystem. Expected outcomes include efficient use of limited conservation resources, ensuring the long term persistence of the endangered community.Read moreRead less
Prioritising habitat restoration for biodiversity and ecosystem service outcomes. An emerging carbon market will provide funds for habitat restoration over the coming decades, but this will only be realised through careful prioritisation and planning. This research will prioritise investments in habitat restoration in order to cost-effectively achieve biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service protection goals.
Reconstructing the impact of climate change on Australian native species. This project will explore the impact of past climate change on Australian native animals to identify species and ecosystems at greatest potential risk, and to help predict and minimise the effects of future change.
Resource allocation for efficient environmental management. The world faces a range of pressing environmental problems such as loss of biodiversity, invasion of pests and weeds, high greenhouse gas emissions and emerging infectious diseases. This research will show how to manage environmental problems most efficiently, especially when the state of the world and the benefits of management are uncertain.
Predicting climate change impacts on biodiversity: testing and applying new approaches. A primary challenge faced by Australia is predicting the threat that climate change will have on biodiversity. This project will dramatically improve our ability to manage threats to biodiversity posed by climate change by studying plant species at warmer latitudes, where they are already experiencing predicted future climate conditions.
Indian Ocean Climate Change: Ningaloo Reef, a litmus test for the survival of coral reefs. Coral reefs are at the frontline from the effects of rapidly rising levels of carbon dioxide that is causing both global warming and oceans to become more acid-like. Our research program will determine how the survival of one of the World’s most pristine and best preserved coral reefs, Ningaloo Reef, is linked to the response of Australia’s Indian Ocean to climate change. For the first time, we will simula ....Indian Ocean Climate Change: Ningaloo Reef, a litmus test for the survival of coral reefs. Coral reefs are at the frontline from the effects of rapidly rising levels of carbon dioxide that is causing both global warming and oceans to become more acid-like. Our research program will determine how the survival of one of the World’s most pristine and best preserved coral reefs, Ningaloo Reef, is linked to the response of Australia’s Indian Ocean to climate change. For the first time, we will simulate realistic ‘future’ conditions and see how actual coral reef systems respond. This will provide a ‘yardstick’ against which the best-case survival potential of the world’s coral reefs can be assessed, critical for underpinning the urgently needed action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if we are to ensure the survival of coral reefs.Read moreRead less