Genetic solution or dilution: can selective breeding future-proof oysters? This project aims to test whether the flow of beneficial genes from farmed oysters into wild oysters can make natural oyster beds and the ecological communities that they support more resilient to environmental change. Wild oysters are critical to the function of coastal ecosystems. However, wild oyster populations are threatened by environmental change in Australia and around the world. Selectively bred oysters bearing s ....Genetic solution or dilution: can selective breeding future-proof oysters? This project aims to test whether the flow of beneficial genes from farmed oysters into wild oysters can make natural oyster beds and the ecological communities that they support more resilient to environmental change. Wild oysters are critical to the function of coastal ecosystems. However, wild oyster populations are threatened by environmental change in Australia and around the world. Selectively bred oysters bearing stress resistance genotypes are now commercially farmed in many estuaries on Australia's east coast and may be used to bolster wild oyster populations. This project endeavours to develop novel genetic strategies to future-proof oysters. Thus, the outcome of this project has potential to benefit entire ecosystems that depend upon oysters.Read moreRead less
Creating coolspots: eco-engineering heat-resistant intertidal communities. This project aims to identify structural characteristics of marine intertidal habitat patches, formed by seaweeds and shellfish, that protect associated species from thermal extremes. This project will generate new knowledge about how thermally sensitive intertidal species can persist in stressful environments. Expected outcomes of this project
include new approaches for building heat-tolerant ecological communities on co ....Creating coolspots: eco-engineering heat-resistant intertidal communities. This project aims to identify structural characteristics of marine intertidal habitat patches, formed by seaweeds and shellfish, that protect associated species from thermal extremes. This project will generate new knowledge about how thermally sensitive intertidal species can persist in stressful environments. Expected outcomes of this project
include new approaches for building heat-tolerant ecological communities on coastal infrastructure, and improved tools for predicting the response of intertidal seaweeds and animals to environmental change. The results of this project will benefit coastal management by identifying conservation and rehabilitation strategies that maximise the
resilience of coastal ecosystems to environmental change.Read moreRead less
The role of plant-soil feedback in biodiversity maintenance along fertility gradients: from patterns to mechanisms. Plants strongly modify soils and their associated biota, which in turn has important consequences for plant growth. This is known as 'plant-soil feedback'. This project will determine whether such feedback plays a role in maintaining the exceptionally high levels of plant biodiversity found in the kwongan shrublands of south-western Australia.
Prioritising socially and economically viable land- and sea-based investments to protect coral reefs. Coral reefs are the world's most diverse marine ecosystem and are vital to hundreds of millions of people. This project will enable us to choose the best investments for coral reef conservation whether they are on the land (forest protection) or sea (marine protected areas).
Peridinin-chlorophyll-protein complex: unravelling the unique photosynthetic apparatus of dinoflagellates in response to climatic variation. Dinoflagellates sustain the food chain. They live in coral and in ice, and also create toxic algal blooms. This project will dissect the unique photosynthetic machinery of these organisms to learn how they adapt and thrive in extreme environments. This new knowledge will predict how dinoflagellate-based ecosystems will respond to future climate change.
Formation and stabilisation of coastal blue carbon. Blue carbon is organic carbon stored within coastal vegetated ecosystems. This project will examine the composition, formation and dynamics of blue carbon in a range of coastal ecosystems. Combining advanced analytical chemistry with environmental microbiology, we will discover how blue carbon is stabilised and destabilised, a critical factor in nature-based climate change mitigation strategies. Further, we will gain a quantitative understandin ....Formation and stabilisation of coastal blue carbon. Blue carbon is organic carbon stored within coastal vegetated ecosystems. This project will examine the composition, formation and dynamics of blue carbon in a range of coastal ecosystems. Combining advanced analytical chemistry with environmental microbiology, we will discover how blue carbon is stabilised and destabilised, a critical factor in nature-based climate change mitigation strategies. Further, we will gain a quantitative understanding of blue carbon contributions to carbon cycling, providing enhanced modeling and prediction of climate-cycle feedbacks in response to biotic and environmental change. This research will significantly benefit Australia’s effective management of coastal vegetated ecosystems for maximum carbon offsets.Read moreRead less
Bioinvasions: the interactive effects of propagule pressure and pollution. The successful establishment of species outside their native range is an increasingly frequent occurrence and can cause reductions in biodiversity and ecosystem disruption. Bioinvasions may also cause public health risks and damage to agriculture and fisheries. Nowhere is the accelerating pace of bioinvasions more dramatic than in ports and harbours. This project will determine the effects of pollution on invasion in a ma ....Bioinvasions: the interactive effects of propagule pressure and pollution. The successful establishment of species outside their native range is an increasingly frequent occurrence and can cause reductions in biodiversity and ecosystem disruption. Bioinvasions may also cause public health risks and damage to agriculture and fisheries. Nowhere is the accelerating pace of bioinvasions more dramatic than in ports and harbours. This project will determine the effects of pollution on invasion in a marine system. This project is in the national interest because it will identify mechanisms through which the invasion of exotic species are encouraged and assist in the identification and prioritisation of effective management strategies to prevent invasion.Read moreRead less
Do pollution events facilitate biotic invasion in marine systems? This project aims to determine whether pollution affects the biological resistance of assemblages to invasion. The discharge of toxicants into coastal waters is an increasingly important source of disturbance that has the potential to make marine assemblages more susceptible to biotic invasion. The project will determine if pollution events facilitate the colonisation, persistence and spread of non-native species and how initial a ....Do pollution events facilitate biotic invasion in marine systems? This project aims to determine whether pollution affects the biological resistance of assemblages to invasion. The discharge of toxicants into coastal waters is an increasingly important source of disturbance that has the potential to make marine assemblages more susceptible to biotic invasion. The project will determine if pollution events facilitate the colonisation, persistence and spread of non-native species and how initial assemblage diversity modifies this response. The generality of several important ecological hypotheses developed in plant communities are tested in marine systems for the first time and extended to include the role of toxic disturbances.Read moreRead less
Critical flux paths influencing ecological processes in an urban estuary. This study will focus on the roles of benthic algae, denitrification and consumers on nutrient fluxes and planktonic production in the Swan River estuary, Western Australia. A 5-year research program of measurements and numerical modelling has identified these processes as poorly quantified, critical to the estuary trophic status, and essential data in order to accurately predict potential impacts of remediation strategie ....Critical flux paths influencing ecological processes in an urban estuary. This study will focus on the roles of benthic algae, denitrification and consumers on nutrient fluxes and planktonic production in the Swan River estuary, Western Australia. A 5-year research program of measurements and numerical modelling has identified these processes as poorly quantified, critical to the estuary trophic status, and essential data in order to accurately predict potential impacts of remediation strategies. We will validate the impacts of denitrification through in situ measurements, review data on higher order consumers, and use this information in a numerical model to understand the interactions of biogeochemical fluxes, plant, animal and microbial communities, and transport processes in the estuary.Read moreRead less
New tracer methods for revealing the hidden connections between ecosystems. As humans modify the biosphere, many complex landscape-level problems are emerging. New methods are required to work on these large-scale problems. The aim of this project is to develop novel methods involving trace elements and isotopes, opening up new ways to explore the large-scale connections between terrestrial ecosystems and downstream estuaries. It is planned to use these new methods to test for unexpected positiv ....New tracer methods for revealing the hidden connections between ecosystems. As humans modify the biosphere, many complex landscape-level problems are emerging. New methods are required to work on these large-scale problems. The aim of this project is to develop novel methods involving trace elements and isotopes, opening up new ways to explore the large-scale connections between terrestrial ecosystems and downstream estuaries. It is planned to use these new methods to test for unexpected positive benefits of floods for estuarine fisheries. The project is significant and innovative because it develops two fundamentally new types of tracer work, one at the sediment-animal level and one at the within-molecule level. The expected outcomes include a new toolkit for tracing the hidden connections between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.Read moreRead less