Resolving the threat of ocean deoxygenation to coral resilience. This project aims to uncover the role low oxygen plays in shaping healthy corals over space and time. Climate change and land use development are rapidly deoxygenating shallow water coral reefs, yet we have no knowledge of how less oxygen availability affects critical life history factors that govern coral resilience: growth, reproduction, and stress tolerance. This project unites a multidisciplinary team of experts to, for the fir ....Resolving the threat of ocean deoxygenation to coral resilience. This project aims to uncover the role low oxygen plays in shaping healthy corals over space and time. Climate change and land use development are rapidly deoxygenating shallow water coral reefs, yet we have no knowledge of how less oxygen availability affects critical life history factors that govern coral resilience: growth, reproduction, and stress tolerance. This project unites a multidisciplinary team of experts to, for the first time, couple advanced oxygen sensing, metabolic physiology, coral reproductive and stress biology to transform our understanding of oxygen thresholds that are diagnostic of reduced coral competitive fitness across life stages (adults, juveniles, larvae), needed to improve coral reef ecosystem management.Read moreRead less
Diagnosing coral health tipping points under accelerating coastal hypoxia. This project aims to unlock the role hypoxia plays in shaping the healthy functioning of corals over space and time. Climate change and land use development are rapidly deoxygenating shallow water coral reefs and amplifying hypoxia exposure, yet we have no knowledge of the oxygen thresholds that sustain ‘normal’ coral functioning, or the mechanisms corals’ employ to tolerate hypoxia. This project will couple advanced oxyg ....Diagnosing coral health tipping points under accelerating coastal hypoxia. This project aims to unlock the role hypoxia plays in shaping the healthy functioning of corals over space and time. Climate change and land use development are rapidly deoxygenating shallow water coral reefs and amplifying hypoxia exposure, yet we have no knowledge of the oxygen thresholds that sustain ‘normal’ coral functioning, or the mechanisms corals’ employ to tolerate hypoxia. This project will couple advanced oxygen sensing, metabolic physiology and functional genomics techniques to transform our understanding of how corals and their associated microbial communities respond to reduced oxygen conditions, which is essential to improve coral reef ecosystem management.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100142
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$396,000.00
Summary
Elemental diagnostic of coral resilience to future reef climates. This project aims to integrate elemental stoichiometry, bio-elemental imaging and metabolomics to develop a common ‘elemental currency’ as an entirely new diagnostic of coral fitness. Coral reefs generate invaluable ecosystem services, but are on the verge of global collapse. Efforts to resolve coral traits that promote ecological resilience have been unable to integrate biological and environmental complexities of reef systems in ....Elemental diagnostic of coral resilience to future reef climates. This project aims to integrate elemental stoichiometry, bio-elemental imaging and metabolomics to develop a common ‘elemental currency’ as an entirely new diagnostic of coral fitness. Coral reefs generate invaluable ecosystem services, but are on the verge of global collapse. Efforts to resolve coral traits that promote ecological resilience have been unable to integrate biological and environmental complexities of reef systems into a unifying diagnostic of reef health. Natural extremes will provide the platform to identify key metabolic traits vital for future survival, to establish adaptive elemental signatures that can scale from organism to ecosystem. The project is expected to enhance capacity of marine managers and reef stakeholders to effectively manage and safeguard Australia’s reefs and the cultural and ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Evolution of palaeoenvironments on the volcanic landscapes of West New Britain, P.N.G. This research will define and explain the responses of environmental processes to catastrophic vulcanism in West New Britain (P.N.G.) during the last 10,000 years. It will provide a crucial perspective to our understanding of past human-landscape relationships, thus filling an important gap in models, of social response to environmental conditions, which are merging from current archaeological and palaeoenviro ....Evolution of palaeoenvironments on the volcanic landscapes of West New Britain, P.N.G. This research will define and explain the responses of environmental processes to catastrophic vulcanism in West New Britain (P.N.G.) during the last 10,000 years. It will provide a crucial perspective to our understanding of past human-landscape relationships, thus filling an important gap in models, of social response to environmental conditions, which are merging from current archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research. The project will develop predictive models for environmental recovery under various conditions. The close relationship between this research and the ground breaking regional archaeological study allows this unique case study to contribute to a global discussion of past human-landscape relationships.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
Do root microbiomes control seagrass response to environmental stress? The project aims to determine the role root microbes play in controlling seagrass responses to environmental stress. By integrating marine and microbial ecology, environmental genomics and ecosystem function (e.g., biogeochemical cycling), this project is significant as it will create new knowledge of the processes that confer seagrass resilience to global environmental issues. An expected outcome is an increased understandin ....Do root microbiomes control seagrass response to environmental stress? The project aims to determine the role root microbes play in controlling seagrass responses to environmental stress. By integrating marine and microbial ecology, environmental genomics and ecosystem function (e.g., biogeochemical cycling), this project is significant as it will create new knowledge of the processes that confer seagrass resilience to global environmental issues. An expected outcome is an increased understanding of how microbes control seagrass health and an enhanced capacity to develop effective restoration strategies for Australia's valuable seagrass ecosystems. Benefits include improving the extensive environmental, economic, social/cultural services Australian communities derive from seagrass ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Reproductive plasticity and climate change: insights from a region of opportunistic birds. Understanding how animal species respond behaviourally and physiologically to climatic variability is key to predicting how they will adapt to a changing climate. Australasia is home to a number of native and introduced species that breed across a range of climates and seasons. This project will establish collaborative infrastructure and a research network to systematically study and identify the constrain ....Reproductive plasticity and climate change: insights from a region of opportunistic birds. Understanding how animal species respond behaviourally and physiologically to climatic variability is key to predicting how they will adapt to a changing climate. Australasia is home to a number of native and introduced species that breed across a range of climates and seasons. This project will establish collaborative infrastructure and a research network to systematically study and identify the constraints and adaptations that birds have to adjust to a variable climate across Australasia. This large-scale comparative project will provide important insight into the globally observed patterns of reproductive failure and changes in breeding and migration times in birds, which have been related to a changing climate and pose a threat to biodiversity.Read moreRead less
Silicon: a novel solution to reduce water use and pest damage in wheat. The project aims to improve Australian wheat production by increasing drought resilience and reducing reliance on pesticides. This is achieved by incorporating amorphous silicon (Si), an abundant national resource. Si uptake by wheat has been proven to alleviate stress from drought and pests, but mechanisms and agronomic feasibility remain to be fully assessed. The project will deliver a mechanistic understanding of how Si a ....Silicon: a novel solution to reduce water use and pest damage in wheat. The project aims to improve Australian wheat production by increasing drought resilience and reducing reliance on pesticides. This is achieved by incorporating amorphous silicon (Si), an abundant national resource. Si uptake by wheat has been proven to alleviate stress from drought and pests, but mechanisms and agronomic feasibility remain to be fully assessed. The project will deliver a mechanistic understanding of how Si alleviates stress in wheat, from gene to farm scale, providing cost-benefit analysis and a best–practice toolbox for implementation by farmers. Outcomes are anticipated to provide a cheaper and more environmentally sustainable solution to issues of water scarcity and yield losses to pests in Australia’s leading crop.Read moreRead less
Improving the success of hybrid living shorelines for coastal protection. This project aims to improve the success of hybrid living shorelines that combine the restoration of mangroves and oysters with engineered structures to enhance restoration outcomes and coastal hazard resilience. It expects to generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of innovative coastal-manager-led solutions that have not yet been robustly evaluated. Expected outcomes of this project include delivery of the technical ....Improving the success of hybrid living shorelines for coastal protection. This project aims to improve the success of hybrid living shorelines that combine the restoration of mangroves and oysters with engineered structures to enhance restoration outcomes and coastal hazard resilience. It expects to generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of innovative coastal-manager-led solutions that have not yet been robustly evaluated. Expected outcomes of this project include delivery of the technical guidelines needed to practically design and implement nature-based coastal protection at scale. This should provide significant socio-economic and environmental benefits through improving Australia’s capacity to adapt to increased erosion and flood risk caused by climate change and coastal urbanisation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100649
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$415,416.00
Summary
Green or crispy: Which plants use transpiration to survive heatwaves? Heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity, and extreme heat poses a significant threat to tree growth and survival. This project aims to investigate how different Australian tree species respond to extreme heat by tracking dynamic changes in water use during both natural and experimental heatwaves, representing current and future stress levels. Identification of a predictable response among plant functional types cou ....Green or crispy: Which plants use transpiration to survive heatwaves? Heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity, and extreme heat poses a significant threat to tree growth and survival. This project aims to investigate how different Australian tree species respond to extreme heat by tracking dynamic changes in water use during both natural and experimental heatwaves, representing current and future stress levels. Identification of a predictable response among plant functional types could be used to better forecast the potential effects of climate change on forest ecosystems. This project also expects to identify heat-tolerant tree species and their relevant physiological traits, which can improve the success of urban tree plantings to help create cooler, greener cities throughout Australia.Read moreRead less