Traditional Owner-led restoration of urban billabongs. This Indigenous scientist led project aims to investigate the past and present fire, flooding and vegetation dynamics of urban billabongs through paleoenvironmental assays (sediment cores) and field surveys of vegetation, faunal and water quality responses to cultural burns and floods. In partnership with Melbourne Water and Traditional Owners, this innovative project intends to develop and combine historical and contemporary ecological and ....Traditional Owner-led restoration of urban billabongs. This Indigenous scientist led project aims to investigate the past and present fire, flooding and vegetation dynamics of urban billabongs through paleoenvironmental assays (sediment cores) and field surveys of vegetation, faunal and water quality responses to cultural burns and floods. In partnership with Melbourne Water and Traditional Owners, this innovative project intends to develop and combine historical and contemporary ecological and Indigenous peoples’ knowledge and apply it to better manage culturally and ecologically significant billabongs in one of Australia’s largest cities. This project expects to provide a template for effective Traditional Owner-led restoration and management of our threatened urban wetlands.Read moreRead less
A complex systems approach to preventing colony failure in honey bees. This project aims to use complex systems science to detect and prevent colony collapse in honey bees while advancing knowledge of tipping points in complex social systems. Understanding the mathematics of colony collapse can help us develop strategies for safeguarding managed bee populations and the valuable pollination services they provide. Expected outcomes include methods for the early detection of stress in colonies, met ....A complex systems approach to preventing colony failure in honey bees. This project aims to use complex systems science to detect and prevent colony collapse in honey bees while advancing knowledge of tipping points in complex social systems. Understanding the mathematics of colony collapse can help us develop strategies for safeguarding managed bee populations and the valuable pollination services they provide. Expected outcomes include methods for the early detection of stress in colonies, methods for reversing declines, and new mathematical techniques for studying tipping points in complex social systems. This will provide significant benefits for Australian agriculture, much of which depends on bee pollination, while building scientific capacity in complex systems science.Read moreRead less
The future of forests under climatic stress. This project aims to measure the vulnerability of forest trees to more extreme drought as global temperatures inevitably rise. Australian forests face the immediate threat of increased mortality associated with intensifying drought stress in the future. Understanding the magnitude of this threat is of the utmost urgency. This project aims to predict future mortality of forest communities in Australia and worldwide using recent breakthroughs enabling t ....The future of forests under climatic stress. This project aims to measure the vulnerability of forest trees to more extreme drought as global temperatures inevitably rise. Australian forests face the immediate threat of increased mortality associated with intensifying drought stress in the future. Understanding the magnitude of this threat is of the utmost urgency. This project aims to predict future mortality of forest communities in Australia and worldwide using recent breakthroughs enabling the rapid quantification of lethal stress in trees. This new understanding will provide a basis upon which to make far-reaching decisions about land management, conservation and restoration.Read moreRead less
Universal properties and application of species size distributions. This project aims to identify general properties of body size distributions for thousands of aquatic species by bringing together datasets enabled by global observation and citizen science programs, novel statistical methods and latest theoretical advances. By addressing temperature effects on body sizes, the project expects to generate new knowledge about species status globally, under the combined impacts of climate change and ....Universal properties and application of species size distributions. This project aims to identify general properties of body size distributions for thousands of aquatic species by bringing together datasets enabled by global observation and citizen science programs, novel statistical methods and latest theoretical advances. By addressing temperature effects on body sizes, the project expects to generate new knowledge about species status globally, under the combined impacts of climate change and harvesting. Expected outcomes include new tools to integrate limited body size data into a consistent framework for significance advancement of models used in research and management. This should increase the capacity to assess human impacts on natural ecosystems and predict global warming driven changes.Read moreRead less
Can animal dispersal inform fire management for species conservation? This project aims to improve fire management for environmental outcomes in northern Australia. It will address a key knowledge gap in our understanding of the effects of fire on biodiversity, relating to the spatial pattern of fire in the landscape. This is important because changing patterns of fire are not only a risk to humans but have major effects on our environment. This project will involve researchers, environmental ma ....Can animal dispersal inform fire management for species conservation? This project aims to improve fire management for environmental outcomes in northern Australia. It will address a key knowledge gap in our understanding of the effects of fire on biodiversity, relating to the spatial pattern of fire in the landscape. This is important because changing patterns of fire are not only a risk to humans but have major effects on our environment. This project will involve researchers, environmental managers and indigenous land owners to design better fire management strategies for biodiversity. The key benefits include new knowledge and tools to better manage fire and address one of our major environmental challenges, the decline of native wildlife in northern Australia.Read moreRead less
Addressing social and ecological constraints to expand marine restoration. This project aims to improve social and ecological outcomes of marine habitat restoration by increasing community and industry engagement in restoration practices with high socio-economic benefits. By understanding and overcoming social and ecological barriers to successful restoration efforts, this project will generate new knowledge on how communities – both human and marine – can work together to rapidly restore robust ....Addressing social and ecological constraints to expand marine restoration. This project aims to improve social and ecological outcomes of marine habitat restoration by increasing community and industry engagement in restoration practices with high socio-economic benefits. By understanding and overcoming social and ecological barriers to successful restoration efforts, this project will generate new knowledge on how communities – both human and marine – can work together to rapidly restore robust, productive reef habitats. Expected outcomes of this project include a new ecological, multi-species approach that boosts restoration resilience; and a collaborative framework for developing government policy that builds industry and community support for cooperative management of coastal ecosystem restoration.Read moreRead less
Tackling marine conservation issues at national and global scales. This project aims to collect and apply standardised underwater data on fishes, invertebrates and plants in an unprecedented global analysis of decadal change in rocky and coral reef ecosystems. Outcomes will include validation of global models of ocean warming and understanding of poorly known ecological impacts of recreational fisheries. A suite of data-informed recommendations developed through engagement across management, sci ....Tackling marine conservation issues at national and global scales. This project aims to collect and apply standardised underwater data on fishes, invertebrates and plants in an unprecedented global analysis of decadal change in rocky and coral reef ecosystems. Outcomes will include validation of global models of ocean warming and understanding of poorly known ecological impacts of recreational fisheries. A suite of data-informed recommendations developed through engagement across management, science and public sectors will benefit Australians by enabling improved sustainability of resource use. International benefits will propagate through increased data access, improvements in predictive models and the evidence base required for large-scale biodiversity-related policy reform.Read moreRead less
Next-generation models to predict cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms. This project aims to address the need for improved predictions of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) harmful algal blooms. Accurate predictions of blooms with computer models are important to support management strategies to prevent their occurrence. This project is expected to generate new knowledge of strain-level variation in cyanobacteria that leads to toxic blooms. This project will lead to new knowledge of the significance ....Next-generation models to predict cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms. This project aims to address the need for improved predictions of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) harmful algal blooms. Accurate predictions of blooms with computer models are important to support management strategies to prevent their occurrence. This project is expected to generate new knowledge of strain-level variation in cyanobacteria that leads to toxic blooms. This project will lead to new knowledge of the significance of strain-level variation in cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms, how strains influence toxin production and models for prediction of bloom and toxins. The project will generate significant benefits for water security for the purposes human consumption and recreation, and ecosystem health.Read moreRead less
Understanding snow gum dieback for effective and integrated management. The project leverages recent research and infrastructure investments and our determined and collaborative team as it aims to: 1) assess the future geography of snow gum dieback in the high country and identify priority locations for pro-active management, 2) quantify the impact of snow gums on high country water and carbon budgets and thus the socio- economic and biodiversity values, and 3) determine options for mitigation. ....Understanding snow gum dieback for effective and integrated management. The project leverages recent research and infrastructure investments and our determined and collaborative team as it aims to: 1) assess the future geography of snow gum dieback in the high country and identify priority locations for pro-active management, 2) quantify the impact of snow gums on high country water and carbon budgets and thus the socio- economic and biodiversity values, and 3) determine options for mitigation. Dieback of our iconic snow gum forests is diminishing the ecological, hydrological and cultural values of the Australian Alps and will impact state and national water-supply and power-generation systems. Our research will inform Alps-wide management efforts designed for long-term success.Read moreRead less
New tools to detect ecological effects of contaminants in estuaries. Identifying risks to estuarine environments from pollutants is difficult for environmental managers, who must choose between laboratory toxicity testing that is precise, but hard to generalise to field situations, and more realistic field-based monitoring, which is expensive, with a high signal to noise ratio. New molecular techniques may provide more options. Metabolomics can provide insights into the health of animals, and ec ....New tools to detect ecological effects of contaminants in estuaries. Identifying risks to estuarine environments from pollutants is difficult for environmental managers, who must choose between laboratory toxicity testing that is precise, but hard to generalise to field situations, and more realistic field-based monitoring, which is expensive, with a high signal to noise ratio. New molecular techniques may provide more options. Metabolomics can provide insights into the health of animals, and ecogenomics offers a way to rapidly assess the composition of an ecological community. These techniques offer great promise, but they must be cross-validated against existing methods to derive the best ’toolbox’. Working with Melbourne Water and CSIRO the investigators aim to do this using demonstration estuaries in Victoria.Read moreRead less