Managing variable retention harvesting to maintain forest biodiversity—effects of forest influence and successional stage on recolonisation. The project will provide the ecological evidence that will allow forest harvesting practices to be designed to sustain the full range of biodiversity in managed forest systems. It therefore will provide the basis for sustainable forest management, with extensive economic implications. It will specifically test the biodiversity implications of the new and in ....Managing variable retention harvesting to maintain forest biodiversity—effects of forest influence and successional stage on recolonisation. The project will provide the ecological evidence that will allow forest harvesting practices to be designed to sustain the full range of biodiversity in managed forest systems. It therefore will provide the basis for sustainable forest management, with extensive economic implications. It will specifically test the biodiversity implications of the new and increasingly important variable retention methods of forest harvesting, and provide the basis for optimising these methods. In addition, the large database of DNA barcodes for forest beetles developed as a by-product by this project will provide a basis for less expensive and more accurate biodiversity assessments in sustainable management of forest systems in general.Read moreRead less
Site factors and genotype-site interaction affecting growth of eucalypt hybrids bred for commercial agro-forestry as a salinity management tool. Preliminary results indicate that with appropriate site-genotype matching, commercial plantation forestry can be pushed well below the current limit (650-700mm/yr). Outcomes from this project will potentially facilitate doubling of Australia's forest plantations, eliminate the annual trade deficit of $2 billion in forest products; ensure the long term e ....Site factors and genotype-site interaction affecting growth of eucalypt hybrids bred for commercial agro-forestry as a salinity management tool. Preliminary results indicate that with appropriate site-genotype matching, commercial plantation forestry can be pushed well below the current limit (650-700mm/yr). Outcomes from this project will potentially facilitate doubling of Australia's forest plantations, eliminate the annual trade deficit of $2 billion in forest products; ensure the long term environmental and productive sustainability of our agricultural production systems; diversify and drought proof farm income through the introduction of perennial tree crops whose yield and harvest is independent of short term seasonal fluctuations; and re-invigorate the economy of rural Australia brought about by investment in new, inland forest and wood processing industries.Read moreRead less
The Sustainable Effluent Irrigation Project - Effects of effluent irrigation on soil sodicity and groundwater quality. The land application of recycled municipal effluent is now regularly practised by a number of local authorities and agencies responsible for centralised collection of wastewater, its treatment and disposal. Treated municipal effluent is often land applied and used to grow hardwood plantations. Hardwood plantations are very effective in producing large amounts of biomass and also ....The Sustainable Effluent Irrigation Project - Effects of effluent irrigation on soil sodicity and groundwater quality. The land application of recycled municipal effluent is now regularly practised by a number of local authorities and agencies responsible for centralised collection of wastewater, its treatment and disposal. Treated municipal effluent is often land applied and used to grow hardwood plantations. Hardwood plantations are very effective in producing large amounts of biomass and also assist agencies in off-setting wastewater treatment and disposal costs associated with advanced wastewater treatment to remove nutrients. This project will examine the effects of effluent irrigation on soil chemistry and groundwater quality at two hardwood plantations in the Hunter Valley, NSW. It is increasingly clear that large-scale reuse schemes, particularly those involving hardwood plantations, must be designed to be sustainable and have no significant impact on soil chemistry (increasing sodicity) and groundwater. This project will develop irrigation regimes for hardwood plantations which will promote soil productivity and optimize effluent application rates for pollutant removal and biomass production.
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Hoop pine nitrogen and water use efficiency: improving the understanding and management with advanced stable isotope, physiological and molecular techniques. This project represents the first attempt to integrate the use of innovative stable isotope, physiological and molecular techniques for improving the understanding and management of genetic and environmental factors regulating hoop pine nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and water use efficiency (WUE). The successful conduct of the project will ....Hoop pine nitrogen and water use efficiency: improving the understanding and management with advanced stable isotope, physiological and molecular techniques. This project represents the first attempt to integrate the use of innovative stable isotope, physiological and molecular techniques for improving the understanding and management of genetic and environmental factors regulating hoop pine nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and water use efficiency (WUE). The successful conduct of the project will result in improved stable isotope, physiological and molecular techniques for NUE and WUE studies; improved understanding and management of hoop pine NUE and WUE for enhancing plantation productivity; and successful training of a high-calibre postgraduate student and sustaining a pool of world-class researchers to meet the needs of Australian forest industry.Read moreRead less
Understanding the health effects of landscape burning and biomass smoke in Australian towns and cities. Bushfires are increasingly affecting Australian towns and cities directly and indirectly from episodes of severe air pollution. An approach to manage bushfires is to reduce fuel loads by setting planned fires under stable weather conditions, yet this strategy is controversial because of community concerns about ecological sustainability and negative health impacts from smoke. The relative im ....Understanding the health effects of landscape burning and biomass smoke in Australian towns and cities. Bushfires are increasingly affecting Australian towns and cities directly and indirectly from episodes of severe air pollution. An approach to manage bushfires is to reduce fuel loads by setting planned fires under stable weather conditions, yet this strategy is controversial because of community concerns about ecological sustainability and negative health impacts from smoke. The relative importance of air pollution from planned and unplanned bushfires vs. wood heaters, agricultural burning and other sources of air pollution will be determined. Our study will enable evidence-based bushfire smoke management, help formulate national air quality standards and shape policies regarding biomass smoke and bushfire management.Read moreRead less
Bushfire smoke and the relationship between human and landscape health. A team of landscape ecologists, environmental chemists and public health specialists will determine the ecological causes and adverse health effects of different levels of bushfire smoke in Darwin. Darwin is an ideal setting for this research because the only source of air pollution is the high incidence of controlled and uncontrolled bushfires during the dry season causing variable air quality: a preliminary study found a ....Bushfire smoke and the relationship between human and landscape health. A team of landscape ecologists, environmental chemists and public health specialists will determine the ecological causes and adverse health effects of different levels of bushfire smoke in Darwin. Darwin is an ideal setting for this research because the only source of air pollution is the high incidence of controlled and uncontrolled bushfires during the dry season causing variable air quality: a preliminary study found a link between smoke pollution levels and asthma. The findings of the proposed research will contribute to improved fire management practices to reduce injurious smoke pollution events and contribute to setting appropriate national air quality standards.Read moreRead less
Coupled Atmosphere-Bushfire Modelling with Application to Canberra 2003. Large bushfires are by far the largest contributor to property losses in Australia. Prescribed fire is an important land management tool for farmers, foresters and park managers among others. There is a need to develop practical and accurate tools for predicting the behaviour and spread of both prescribed and uncontrolled fires. Australian bushfire research and land management would benefit greatly from the application of m ....Coupled Atmosphere-Bushfire Modelling with Application to Canberra 2003. Large bushfires are by far the largest contributor to property losses in Australia. Prescribed fire is an important land management tool for farmers, foresters and park managers among others. There is a need to develop practical and accurate tools for predicting the behaviour and spread of both prescribed and uncontrolled fires. Australian bushfire research and land management would benefit greatly from the application of modern, advanced computational methods. The time is ripe for the huge advances in computer technology and numerical modelling to be applied directly to fire problems, benefiting public safety and the safety of fire-fighting volunteers.Read moreRead less
Cellular automata model of forest stands to predict size-class distribution and survival. Existing forest growth models predict well stand level processes such as growth. However, they provide little information on forest structure and how this affects commercial forest products, risks of growing plantations and stand dynamics that determine carbon sequestration and water-use and result in age-related decline in productivity and self-thinning. By using newly developed technology to quantify in ....Cellular automata model of forest stands to predict size-class distribution and survival. Existing forest growth models predict well stand level processes such as growth. However, they provide little information on forest structure and how this affects commercial forest products, risks of growing plantations and stand dynamics that determine carbon sequestration and water-use and result in age-related decline in productivity and self-thinning. By using newly developed technology to quantify inter-tree competition, tree level resource supply, between tree genetic differences and the importance of chance events this project will draw on complexity theory to develop an innovative model that partitions stand level production to forecast the growth and size of individual trees.Read moreRead less
Explaining forest responses to rising carbon-dioxide concentrations at stand scale using a new, simple model of plant carbon economy. Australia is undergoing large changes in [CO2] and rainfall patterns, with 20% decreases in annual rainfall across southern Australia over the past 30 years, and large increases in north-western Australia. The impacts of rising [CO2] and altered rainfall must be factored into Australia's environmental and water-catchment management strategies. The outcome of this ....Explaining forest responses to rising carbon-dioxide concentrations at stand scale using a new, simple model of plant carbon economy. Australia is undergoing large changes in [CO2] and rainfall patterns, with 20% decreases in annual rainfall across southern Australia over the past 30 years, and large increases in north-western Australia. The impacts of rising [CO2] and altered rainfall must be factored into Australia's environmental and water-catchment management strategies. The outcome of this project will be a new simplified forest model that has been validated for Australia's leading climate-change experiment on forests, the Hawkesbury Forest Experiment, which includes both CO2 and watering treatments. The model will be readily transferable to new sites and at regional scale, so it can be applied as a tool for future management of Australia's forests.Read moreRead less
Stabilization of hydrology at waste disposal sites through revegetation. Persistent drought in the past 20 years has increased the extraction of groundwater reserves by more than 2-fold to meet domestic water requirements throughout Australia. This water resource could be threatened from poorly managed waste disposal sites, where removal of pre-existing vegetation often exacerbates adverse hydrological processes of deep drainage. This study will provide information for the waste management indus ....Stabilization of hydrology at waste disposal sites through revegetation. Persistent drought in the past 20 years has increased the extraction of groundwater reserves by more than 2-fold to meet domestic water requirements throughout Australia. This water resource could be threatened from poorly managed waste disposal sites, where removal of pre-existing vegetation often exacerbates adverse hydrological processes of deep drainage. This study will provide information for the waste management industry that has achieved an annual turnover of more than $200 million in recent years. It will present recommendations on how vegetation can be employed to meet regulatory requirements by the industry.Read moreRead less