Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL120100108
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,849,770.00
Summary
Surrogate ecology: when and where can it work to improve environmental management? New empirical analyses and new ecological theory will be used to discover where, when and how to best apply surrogates. New capacity will be built in surrogate ecology and the results used to significantly enhance the effective management and monitoring of environments and biodiversity both in Australia and worldwide.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100468
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$355,359.00
Summary
Developing tools for coupling marine mammal pollutant exposure to effects. This project aims to investigate the impact of marine pollution on marine mammals. Environmental pollution threatens the viability of marine ecosystems worldwide. Marine mammals are essential parts of these ecosystems but our understanding of contaminant exposure and associated effects in these animals is still insufficient to inform biodiversity conservation and management strategies. This project seeks to address this p ....Developing tools for coupling marine mammal pollutant exposure to effects. This project aims to investigate the impact of marine pollution on marine mammals. Environmental pollution threatens the viability of marine ecosystems worldwide. Marine mammals are essential parts of these ecosystems but our understanding of contaminant exposure and associated effects in these animals is still insufficient to inform biodiversity conservation and management strategies. This project seeks to address this problem by developing computer-based models that determine how these species absorb, metabolise and eliminate pollutants, and what effects exposure has on the animals over time, thereby providing a new framework for evaluating current and future impacts of environmental changes. This risk assessment aims to benefit international conservation and species management efforts for these threatened species.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL130100090
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,417,754.00
Summary
Restore or protect: could habitat restoration ever be a better investment than habitat protection for biodiversity and ecosystem service conservation? Australia's multi-billion dollar national investment programs in nature conservation vacillate between two grand paradigms - prevention and cure. This project will resolve this contest by developing the first rigorous quantitative framework for deciding whether protecting habitat is better than restoring habitat.
Improving the potential of biodiversity offsetting to reconcile development and conservation: will good environmental outcomes counterbalance the bad? Attempts to reduce conflict between development and conservation are increasingly reliant upon environmental offsetting: generating an environmental benefit to compensate for environmental damage elsewhere. However, whether different offset approaches can achieve their goal of ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity is unknown. By building simulations of th ....Improving the potential of biodiversity offsetting to reconcile development and conservation: will good environmental outcomes counterbalance the bad? Attempts to reduce conflict between development and conservation are increasingly reliant upon environmental offsetting: generating an environmental benefit to compensate for environmental damage elsewhere. However, whether different offset approaches can achieve their goal of ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity is unknown. By building simulations of the long-term biodiversity consequences (both intended and unintended) of current offset approaches, This project aims to test how each approach and associated sources of uncertainty influence the long-term persistence of biodiversity. It will identify limitations of biodiversity offsetting, shed new light on the most effective approaches, and help develop global standards for offsetting biodiversity loss.Read moreRead less
Robust strategies for restoring aquatic and riparian biodiversity. Effective restoration of Australia's degraded river ecosystems requires a diverse range of spatial data, models and a structured decision-making framework to predict ecological responses to alternative management interventions. This collaboration of universities and National Resource Management agencies will create the necessary tools to make and validate such predictions.
Best practice temperate woodland assessment, management and monitoring. This ARC proposal is central to the goals of National Research Priority #1 – An environmentally sustainable Australia. The loss of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes in rural Australia is a major social, economic and ecological issue. Australian governments and local communities invest considerable money restoring temperate woodlands in agricultural landscapes. However, there remains considerable uncertainty about the e ....Best practice temperate woodland assessment, management and monitoring. This ARC proposal is central to the goals of National Research Priority #1 – An environmentally sustainable Australia. The loss of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes in rural Australia is a major social, economic and ecological issue. Australian governments and local communities invest considerable money restoring temperate woodlands in agricultural landscapes. However, there remains considerable uncertainty about the effectiveness of this investment. This project will produce an unparalleled evidence-base for individuals and organisations that make long-term investments in these landscapes for conservation.Read moreRead less
Acoustics for Large Scale Biodiversity Assessment. Aims: This project will investigate using automated acoustic recording to efficiently census biodiversity assessment at a continental scale.
Significance: To generate new techniques for analysing environmental acoustic data and assessing Australian biodiversity, verified empirical estimates of biodiversity, an understanding of causes of variation in biodiversity.
Expected outcomes: methods for large-scale and accurate assessment of biodiversity ....Acoustics for Large Scale Biodiversity Assessment. Aims: This project will investigate using automated acoustic recording to efficiently census biodiversity assessment at a continental scale.
Significance: To generate new techniques for analysing environmental acoustic data and assessing Australian biodiversity, verified empirical estimates of biodiversity, an understanding of causes of variation in biodiversity.
Expected outcomes: methods for large-scale and accurate assessment of biodiversity, enhanced capacity to detect causes of variation in biodiversity, open-source software tools for analysing environmental audio data, biodiversity datasets.
Benefits: measuring and understanding biodiversity change, allowing enhanced management, conservation, and use of Australian natural resources.
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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101182
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$368,500.00
Summary
Navigating the complexity of conservation's illegal wildlife trade crisis. This project seeks to investigate the conditions under which policies that prohibit or regulate trade in wildlife products are more likely to lead to conservation outcomes. Illegal trade in wildlife is a pressing conservation issue, threatening numerous species with extinction. The crisis has attracted over US$350 million in donor and government funding since 2012, primarily for enforcement of trade bans. Fierce debates r ....Navigating the complexity of conservation's illegal wildlife trade crisis. This project seeks to investigate the conditions under which policies that prohibit or regulate trade in wildlife products are more likely to lead to conservation outcomes. Illegal trade in wildlife is a pressing conservation issue, threatening numerous species with extinction. The crisis has attracted over US$350 million in donor and government funding since 2012, primarily for enforcement of trade bans. Fierce debates rage in the academic literature about the conditions under which regulated markets may yield better outcomes. Policy options are also constrained by opinions about whether pro-use policies for wildlife are morally appropriate. The project aims to investigate this issue and assess the impact of stakeholder values and preferences on policy decisions.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101030
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$442,638.00
Summary
Road to recovery: evidence-based conservation of threatened ecosystems. The project aims to develop novel decision-support tools to cost-effectively recover threatened ecosystems, through landscape-scale, evidence-based ecological restoration. This project expects to develop strategic frameworks to reverse ecosystem declines and promote recovery using a novel combination of ecological theory, expert elicitation, evidence synthesis and prioritisation techniques. Anticipated outcomes include decis ....Road to recovery: evidence-based conservation of threatened ecosystems. The project aims to develop novel decision-support tools to cost-effectively recover threatened ecosystems, through landscape-scale, evidence-based ecological restoration. This project expects to develop strategic frameworks to reverse ecosystem declines and promote recovery using a novel combination of ecological theory, expert elicitation, evidence synthesis and prioritisation techniques. Anticipated outcomes include decision-support tools for setting realistic recovery goals, identifying effective restoration actions and planning for full recovery of threatened ecosystems. This project should provide significant benefits to the Australian federal and state governments, by informing policy and management of threatened ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Mammal declines in northern Australia: science for conservation and recovery. Australia’s unique mammal fauna is a rich biological heritage for the nation. It provides a wealth of ecosystem services, and many mammal species have special cultural or aesthetic value. However, our mammals are sadly depleted, and we already have the worst record of recent mammal extinction of any nation. Preventing further mammal extinctions, and managing environments to allow declined mammals to recover, will be of ....Mammal declines in northern Australia: science for conservation and recovery. Australia’s unique mammal fauna is a rich biological heritage for the nation. It provides a wealth of ecosystem services, and many mammal species have special cultural or aesthetic value. However, our mammals are sadly depleted, and we already have the worst record of recent mammal extinction of any nation. Preventing further mammal extinctions, and managing environments to allow declined mammals to recover, will be of great benefit to Australian biodiversity and to the ecosystem processes and human values that depend on it.Read moreRead less