Effects of European colonisation on indigenous ecosystems: multiple-scale spatial structure of pre- and post-settlement Callitris forests. Since European colonisation, altered disturbance regimes, especially fire and grazing, have greatly affected intact ecosystems across the globe. However, the extent and causes of changes are often hotly contested. This study will examine how European colonisation has affected natural ecosystems, by documenting historical fire regimes and comparing pre- and po ....Effects of European colonisation on indigenous ecosystems: multiple-scale spatial structure of pre- and post-settlement Callitris forests. Since European colonisation, altered disturbance regimes, especially fire and grazing, have greatly affected intact ecosystems across the globe. However, the extent and causes of changes are often hotly contested. This study will examine how European colonisation has affected natural ecosystems, by documenting historical fire regimes and comparing pre- and post-settlement forest patterns across multiple spatial scales. The study will be conducted in temperate Callitris forests, and will provide the first, multiple-scale, spatial analysis of post-settlement vegetation changes in Australia. Results will enhance our global understanding of European environmental impacts and provide quantitative benchmarks to inform vegetation management.Read moreRead less
Sediment and seed bank dynamics in river systems of southeastern Australia: Implications for vegetation-based river rehabilitation. Every year in Australia millions of dollars are spent revegetating degraded riparian corridors as part of best practice river rehabilitation. The planting and maintenance of riparian tubestock is an expensive but essential component of current on-the-ground river management across the country. What if the success rate of riparian rehabilitation could be enhanced by ....Sediment and seed bank dynamics in river systems of southeastern Australia: Implications for vegetation-based river rehabilitation. Every year in Australia millions of dollars are spent revegetating degraded riparian corridors as part of best practice river rehabilitation. The planting and maintenance of riparian tubestock is an expensive but essential component of current on-the-ground river management across the country. What if the success rate of riparian rehabilitation could be enhanced by combining geomorphic and ecological knowledge to maximise the germination of native seeds stored in riparian seed banks? As the conservation of biodiversity becomes integral to environmental management, understanding riparian seed bank dynamics and seedling establishment within a geomorphic framework is an essential tool in river rehabilitation practice.Read moreRead less
Novel species interactions arising from synergistic environmental changes. Synergistic environmental changes, including climate and land use change, are altering Australia's ecosystems and creating novel species assemblages. We know little about how these assemblages develop and function, and yet they are likely to become more pervasive and provide a significant conservation and restoration challenge. We aim to improve our understanding of the factors affecting the creation of novel plant assemb ....Novel species interactions arising from synergistic environmental changes. Synergistic environmental changes, including climate and land use change, are altering Australia's ecosystems and creating novel species assemblages. We know little about how these assemblages develop and function, and yet they are likely to become more pervasive and provide a significant conservation and restoration challenge. We aim to improve our understanding of the factors affecting the creation of novel plant assemblages (through invasions and changes in species' ranges) in the York Gum woodlands of Western Australia. We will examine how novel assemblages function, improve the ability to predict potential ongoing changes in assemblages and provide guidance for the management of these and other internationally important plant communities.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989680
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$300,000.00
Summary
Interuniversity Elemental and Structural Analytical Facility. The items in this proposal will form the first stage of a larger facility for Elemental and Structural analytical programs in materials engineering and the natural sciences. The vision is to create an analytical facility which will have at its core and at the outset true collaboration leading to great national benefit. The equipment will be available via on-line access management allowing equitable and transparent access for users fro ....Interuniversity Elemental and Structural Analytical Facility. The items in this proposal will form the first stage of a larger facility for Elemental and Structural analytical programs in materials engineering and the natural sciences. The vision is to create an analytical facility which will have at its core and at the outset true collaboration leading to great national benefit. The equipment will be available via on-line access management allowing equitable and transparent access for users from multiple institutions. The resulting facility will complement existing microstructural capabilities and networks and will be open for all researchers and collaborators to use, further enhancing the national benefit.Read moreRead less
Why conserve genetic variation? Is this misdirected effort or a crucial concern? In attempting to conserve populations of threatened plants, ecosystem managers must prioritise allocation of resources to both immediate and long-term threats, including loss of genetic variation. This study will determine the importance of maintaining existing genetic variation within populations of several species in a major Australian plant group. As well as advancing theory in the area of plant ecological genet ....Why conserve genetic variation? Is this misdirected effort or a crucial concern? In attempting to conserve populations of threatened plants, ecosystem managers must prioritise allocation of resources to both immediate and long-term threats, including loss of genetic variation. This study will determine the importance of maintaining existing genetic variation within populations of several species in a major Australian plant group. As well as advancing theory in the area of plant ecological genetics and evolutionary biology, our results will provide a stronger scientific basis for the development of conservation policy and management decisions for conserving threatened plant species. Read moreRead less
Does Ecological Restoration Work? Invertebrate Diversity And Fundamental Ecological Processes In Restored Remnants Of Agricultural Landscapes. The restoration of native vegetation is critical to ensuring the success of long-term biodiversity conservation in Australia. Despite massive effort and expenditure on revegetation in damaged ecosystems, little is known of the effectiveness of different approaches. This project assesses the success of current practices of native vegetation restorat ....Does Ecological Restoration Work? Invertebrate Diversity And Fundamental Ecological Processes In Restored Remnants Of Agricultural Landscapes. The restoration of native vegetation is critical to ensuring the success of long-term biodiversity conservation in Australia. Despite massive effort and expenditure on revegetation in damaged ecosystems, little is known of the effectiveness of different approaches. This project assesses the success of current practices of native vegetation restoration in agricultural landscapes using insects and their ecological roles as indicators of the sustainability of restoration efforts. By describing the extent to which fundamental ecological processes have returned to restored areas this project will generate assessment techniques and data identifying priorities for future restoration efforts.Read moreRead less
Impacts of climate change on sustainability of temperate native pasture: an experiment. The sustainable use of temperate native pastures is important economically because of grazing and for biodiversity since they are home to many threatened plants. Native pasture sustainability depends on maintaining species diversity and vegetation productivity. Climate change is likely to have major impacts on both factors. The aims of this project are to elucidate the impacts of climate change on the species ....Impacts of climate change on sustainability of temperate native pasture: an experiment. The sustainable use of temperate native pastures is important economically because of grazing and for biodiversity since they are home to many threatened plants. Native pasture sustainability depends on maintaining species diversity and vegetation productivity. Climate change is likely to have major impacts on both factors. The aims of this project are to elucidate the impacts of climate change on the species composition, productivity and nutritional quality of a grazed native pasture. This is important, as it will allow us to predict likely problems caused by global climate change and increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying these changes.Read moreRead less
Dealing with an indigenous despot - the Noisy Miner, a keystone species in the rural landscape of eastern Australia. This study will identify sustainable means of limiting the domination of remnant native and planted woodland by the hyper-aggressive Noisy Miner. This species excludes insectivorous birds from remnant woodlands, contributing to the decline of birds in eucalypt woodlands in rural southern Australia. Halting the decline in insectivorous birds in our agricultural areas is critical if ....Dealing with an indigenous despot - the Noisy Miner, a keystone species in the rural landscape of eastern Australia. This study will identify sustainable means of limiting the domination of remnant native and planted woodland by the hyper-aggressive Noisy Miner. This species excludes insectivorous birds from remnant woodlands, contributing to the decline of birds in eucalypt woodlands in rural southern Australia. Halting the decline in insectivorous birds in our agricultural areas is critical if we are to ever achieve truly sustainable agricultural production. This study will identify habitat characteristics that can be manipulated by land holders to make remnants and plantations less suitable for Noisy Miners, while enhancing the re-establishment of other threatened birds.Read moreRead less
Synthesising prior information for ecological research and management. While using existing information to design studies and compare results, ecologists rarely use existing information in their analyses. We will combine the results of previous ecological studies to summarise the existing information. We will test how well the traits of plants and animals can be predicted from previous research, and the benefit of this existing information for environmental management. By taking advantage of the ....Synthesising prior information for ecological research and management. While using existing information to design studies and compare results, ecologists rarely use existing information in their analyses. We will combine the results of previous ecological studies to summarise the existing information. We will test how well the traits of plants and animals can be predicted from previous research, and the benefit of this existing information for environmental management. By taking advantage of the wealth of previous ecological research, our project can save time and money for ecological research by scientists and environmental management by federal and state agencies. This will fundamentally change the way that ecology is conducted.Read moreRead less
Ecology and conservation of a unique, threatened guanophilic invertebrate community. This project aims to study the biology and ecology of a unique assemblage of insects and other invertebrates that live specifically in bat guano at Naracoorte Caves World Heritage Area. The caves are a major ecotourism and research location because of their world famous Pliestocene fossils, and because one cave is a critical breeding site for the large bentwing bat, Miniopterus s. bassianii. The guano cave, whic ....Ecology and conservation of a unique, threatened guanophilic invertebrate community. This project aims to study the biology and ecology of a unique assemblage of insects and other invertebrates that live specifically in bat guano at Naracoorte Caves World Heritage Area. The caves are a major ecotourism and research location because of their world famous Pliestocene fossils, and because one cave is a critical breeding site for the large bentwing bat, Miniopterus s. bassianii. The guano cave, which contains numerous endemic invertebrates, is potentially threatened by both direct and indirect human impacts. The results of this research will form the basis of a long-term management strategy to conserve this diverse community.Read moreRead less