Patterns of connectivity and hot-spots of recruitment: a basis for prioritising high value coastal rivers. Provision of water for agricultural, industrial and residential use is becoming increasingly difficult in Australia. By determining the need for important migratory fish species to have access to marine conditions, this project aims to assist managers to identify river systems where changing flow patterns will be particularly detrimental. The project will provide information about the ne ....Patterns of connectivity and hot-spots of recruitment: a basis for prioritising high value coastal rivers. Provision of water for agricultural, industrial and residential use is becoming increasingly difficult in Australia. By determining the need for important migratory fish species to have access to marine conditions, this project aims to assist managers to identify river systems where changing flow patterns will be particularly detrimental. The project will provide information about the need for artificial opening of estuary mouths, fish ladders and other practical means to ensure the continued survival of these species. Read moreRead less
Phylogeography, Conservation Genetics and Stocking Management of Perches and Basses. This project will use DNA data to address fundamental questions about the origin and maintenance of biodiversity in a popular and widely distributed fish group. From a conservation perspective, the project will produce a benchmark about management of fish resources. We will investigate questions related to important conservation issues (including the recovery plan of a nationally threatened species) and the mana ....Phylogeography, Conservation Genetics and Stocking Management of Perches and Basses. This project will use DNA data to address fundamental questions about the origin and maintenance of biodiversity in a popular and widely distributed fish group. From a conservation perspective, the project will produce a benchmark about management of fish resources. We will investigate questions related to important conservation issues (including the recovery plan of a nationally threatened species) and the management of stocking activities in recreational fisheries of coastal and inland waters. The latter is particularly relevant to rural communities since they provide both social and economic benefits to rural people.Read moreRead less
Restoration genetics of five endangered fish species from the Murray-Darling Basin. Extended drought and environmental degradation have caused unprecedented loss of aquatic biodiversity in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia's most important agricultural region. This project will reduce the risk of extinction of two endangered and three critically endangered freshwater fish species from the lower MDB. It will provide major benefits to the broader Australian community by addressing governme ....Restoration genetics of five endangered fish species from the Murray-Darling Basin. Extended drought and environmental degradation have caused unprecedented loss of aquatic biodiversity in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia's most important agricultural region. This project will reduce the risk of extinction of two endangered and three critically endangered freshwater fish species from the lower MDB. It will provide major benefits to the broader Australian community by addressing government policies regarding sustainable water management in rural areas, biodiversity protection and recovery of threatened species. The study will also increase the research profile of Australia in the international scientific community by improving our understanding about genetic diversity in captive breeding and restoration programs.Read moreRead less
Improved biomonitoring of urban freshwater ecosystems using DNA barcodes. This project aims to provide rapid diagnostic detection of environmental change in aquatic ecosystems at reduced cost. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) can transform monitoring of aquatic ecosystems by identifying many species in multiple biological samples. This project aims to use NGS technology to identify macroinvertebrate species as biological indicators in urban freshwater ecosystems to provide more rapid, sensitive ....Improved biomonitoring of urban freshwater ecosystems using DNA barcodes. This project aims to provide rapid diagnostic detection of environmental change in aquatic ecosystems at reduced cost. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) can transform monitoring of aquatic ecosystems by identifying many species in multiple biological samples. This project aims to use NGS technology to identify macroinvertebrate species as biological indicators in urban freshwater ecosystems to provide more rapid, sensitive and cost-effective monitoring compared to traditional methods. The project uses DNA barcodes that identify species to detect species in samples processed with NGS. The project also plans to use previously collected samples to explore species diversity and detect indicator species.Read moreRead less
Subterranean invertebrate communities of arid zone Western Australia: diversity, assessment and food-web structure. The diverse and unique subterranean fauna associated with aquifers of the Western Australia arid zone is potentially threatened by water extraction, mining and other human impacts. This project aims to apply a powerful combination of molecular genetic analyses and compound specific isotope analyses to study, for the first time, the food web structure and source of energy of these g ....Subterranean invertebrate communities of arid zone Western Australia: diversity, assessment and food-web structure. The diverse and unique subterranean fauna associated with aquifers of the Western Australia arid zone is potentially threatened by water extraction, mining and other human impacts. This project aims to apply a powerful combination of molecular genetic analyses and compound specific isotope analyses to study, for the first time, the food web structure and source of energy of these groundwater ecosystems. The project aims to also develop novel procedures for monitoring their biodiversity using environmental DNA within the groundwater. The results will provide crucial information for the management of groundwater, and conservation of their associated ecosystems, and significantly improve the rigour of long-term environmental monitoring.Read moreRead less