Resilience of eucalypts to future droughts. This project aims to examine how resilient Eucalyptus species are to future droughts by combining data synthesis, manipulative experiments and modelling. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, magnitude and duration of future droughts, with major environmental and socio-economic consequences for Australia. Current predictive capacity is extremely limited: experiments are limited in scale and cannot capture important global change interac ....Resilience of eucalypts to future droughts. This project aims to examine how resilient Eucalyptus species are to future droughts by combining data synthesis, manipulative experiments and modelling. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, magnitude and duration of future droughts, with major environmental and socio-economic consequences for Australia. Current predictive capacity is extremely limited: experiments are limited in scale and cannot capture important global change interactions, whilst models do not represent the functional characteristics and adaptions of eucalypts. This project will develop a strong evidence- and process-based understanding to quantify the functional behaviour of drought-adapted Eucalyptus species and leverage this insight to make future model projections.Read moreRead less
Identifying climate-resilient wheat for a warmer, high CO2 world. This project aims to reveal which plant traits help maintain or increase crop yield under the CO2 and temperature conditions predicted for the next few decades, thus providing early insights for generating climate-resilient wheat. Wheat production is vital to global food security, but its yield decreases 5-6% per 1 degree Celsius of warming. Elevated CO2 may offset yield losses, but reduces grain protein and nutrients. As the firs ....Identifying climate-resilient wheat for a warmer, high CO2 world. This project aims to reveal which plant traits help maintain or increase crop yield under the CO2 and temperature conditions predicted for the next few decades, thus providing early insights for generating climate-resilient wheat. Wheat production is vital to global food security, but its yield decreases 5-6% per 1 degree Celsius of warming. Elevated CO2 may offset yield losses, but reduces grain protein and nutrients. As the first study to evaluate Australian wheat performance under the dual pressures of elevated CO2 and temperature, the project will deliver important fundamental knowledge on wheat productivity and quality resilience traits, novel inputs for future breeding programs, and help enable food security in a changing climate.Read moreRead less
A step change in modeling leaf respiration-photosynthesis relationships . This project aims to use innovative, high-throughput technologies to develop a novel framework that links daytime photosynthesis and starch/amino acid mobilisation to variations in night-time leaf respiration. Variations in leaf respiration can have large impacts on ecosystem functioning and the Earth’s climate. Although advances have been made in respiration modelling, current models are unable to predict dynamic, day-to- ....A step change in modeling leaf respiration-photosynthesis relationships . This project aims to use innovative, high-throughput technologies to develop a novel framework that links daytime photosynthesis and starch/amino acid mobilisation to variations in night-time leaf respiration. Variations in leaf respiration can have large impacts on ecosystem functioning and the Earth’s climate. Although advances have been made in respiration modelling, current models are unable to predict dynamic, day-to-day variations in respiratory rates. Expected outcomes include equations that predict daily variations in night-time leaf respiration for environments across Australia and overseas. Benefits to planners include the ability to more accurately model vegetation-atmosphere carbon exchange and future changes in climate. Read moreRead less
Revealing the impacts of super-charged photosynthesis on leaf respiration. This project aims to use state-of-the-art technologies to develop a novel framework that links a super-charged version of photosynthesis (known as C4 photosynthesis) to changes in nocturnal leaf respiration. A quarter of global land photosynthesis occurs in C4 plants that include several important cereal crops. Although advances have been made in modelling C4 photosynthesis, these advances are unable to model variations i ....Revealing the impacts of super-charged photosynthesis on leaf respiration. This project aims to use state-of-the-art technologies to develop a novel framework that links a super-charged version of photosynthesis (known as C4 photosynthesis) to changes in nocturnal leaf respiration. A quarter of global land photosynthesis occurs in C4 plants that include several important cereal crops. Although advances have been made in modelling C4 photosynthesis, these advances are unable to model variations in nocturnal respiration. Expected outcomes include equations that predict respiration in C4 plants growing in current/future climates. Benefits to include knowledge needed to engineer faster-growing crops and providing climate modelers the ability to more accurately predict carbon exchange in C4-dominated ecosystems. Read moreRead less
Connecting ocean tides to the large-scale ocean circulation. This project aims to investigate the impact of tides on the ocean circulation and future climate change by combining new theory with next-generation numerical ocean models. The expected outcomes include ocean model configurations that will improve estimates of key processes affected by tides, such as Antarctic ice shelf melt rates, ocean warming and the ocean's overturning circulation. The project is thus anticipated to provide signifi ....Connecting ocean tides to the large-scale ocean circulation. This project aims to investigate the impact of tides on the ocean circulation and future climate change by combining new theory with next-generation numerical ocean models. The expected outcomes include ocean model configurations that will improve estimates of key processes affected by tides, such as Antarctic ice shelf melt rates, ocean warming and the ocean's overturning circulation. The project is thus anticipated to provide significant benefits in predicting future climate change, sea level rise, coastal erosion and marine heatwaves. Furthermore, it will enable the Australian and global communities to better target conservation and mitigation efforts, and thus reduce the environmental, social and economic impact of climate change.Read moreRead less
Reef Breath Testing (RBT): exhaled volatile-gas biomarkers of coral health. This Project aims to uncover volatile gas "fingerprints" of coral reef taxa and how they are diagnostic of healthy reef functioning over space and time. All organisms emit distinct volatile gases via physiological fine-tuning and signalling as their environments change. Whilst coral reef taxa and coral reefs are hotspots for volatile gas emissions, which gases are produced, when and why, is entirely unexplored. This proj ....Reef Breath Testing (RBT): exhaled volatile-gas biomarkers of coral health. This Project aims to uncover volatile gas "fingerprints" of coral reef taxa and how they are diagnostic of healthy reef functioning over space and time. All organisms emit distinct volatile gases via physiological fine-tuning and signalling as their environments change. Whilst coral reef taxa and coral reefs are hotspots for volatile gas emissions, which gases are produced, when and why, is entirely unexplored. This project unites a multidisciplinary team of experts to, for the first time, couple volatile gas assessment, metabolic physiology and functional genomics techniques to transform understanding of how key volatile gases underpin coral resilience to stress and disease, which is essential to improve coral reef ecosystem management.Read moreRead less
An ensemble approach to studying the ocean's role in climate change. Using a newly-developed ocean model that harnesses the power of graphical processing units (GPUs) instead of the common central processing units (CPUs) we can run global ocean simulations at 1/50th the cost. Utilising this speed up, we aim to pioneer a modelling framework to perform ensembles of eddy-resolving global ocean simulations under various climate-change scenarios. This ensemble approach will enable us to separate the ....An ensemble approach to studying the ocean's role in climate change. Using a newly-developed ocean model that harnesses the power of graphical processing units (GPUs) instead of the common central processing units (CPUs) we can run global ocean simulations at 1/50th the cost. Utilising this speed up, we aim to pioneer a modelling framework to perform ensembles of eddy-resolving global ocean simulations under various climate-change scenarios. This ensemble approach will enable us to separate the changes we see in future projections that are due to climate change from the changes that occur in the due to the natural variations of the climate system. The project's outcomes will increase our confidence in future climate change projections, including ocean heat uptake, and sea level rise.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100144
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$446,548.00
Summary
Linking changes in plant-pollinator networks to plant reproduction. The project aims to investigate how human actions in agricultural landscapes affect the activity of pollinating insects and the consequence for the plants that rely on them for reproduction. The project seeks to reveal how the structure of plant-pollinator networks is related to the reproductive success of plants through the novel application of networks that describe patterns in species interactions. The knowledge gained from t ....Linking changes in plant-pollinator networks to plant reproduction. The project aims to investigate how human actions in agricultural landscapes affect the activity of pollinating insects and the consequence for the plants that rely on them for reproduction. The project seeks to reveal how the structure of plant-pollinator networks is related to the reproductive success of plants through the novel application of networks that describe patterns in species interactions. The knowledge gained from this study will enhance our ability to forecast the effects of insect declines for plant seed production in Australia and the world. The intended benefit is an improved capacity to identify vulnerable plant species and maintain pollination services in managed landscape for both wild and cultivated plant populations.Read moreRead less
Is there a climatic tipping point for Antarctic Bottom Water formation? Antarctic Bottom Water plays an important role in global ocean circulation and climate and yet its formation is also highly sensitive to climate change. This project will analyse new seafloor, core and water samples from the understudied Cape Darnley, East Antarctica, collected on a voyage in early 2022. This new data will be used in combination with an improved high resolution regional ocean model, to understand modern and ....Is there a climatic tipping point for Antarctic Bottom Water formation? Antarctic Bottom Water plays an important role in global ocean circulation and climate and yet its formation is also highly sensitive to climate change. This project will analyse new seafloor, core and water samples from the understudied Cape Darnley, East Antarctica, collected on a voyage in early 2022. This new data will be used in combination with an improved high resolution regional ocean model, to understand modern and past Antarctic Bottom Water formation under different climate states (warmer and colder than present), to determine if there are climate tipping points for the shut down of Antarctic Bottom Water formation. The anticipated benefits include a better understanding of future climate change on this important water mass.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200100005
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$36,000,000.00
Summary
Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future. This program aims to deliver unprecedented research capability for securing Antarctic environments in the face of uncertain change.
By integrating a highly skilled team with new approaches and breakthrough technologies, the program anticipates discovery science, enhanced environmental forecasting and optimised decision-making to advance Australia’s position as an influential Antarctic nation.
Expected outcomes include better environmental management ....Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future. This program aims to deliver unprecedented research capability for securing Antarctic environments in the face of uncertain change.
By integrating a highly skilled team with new approaches and breakthrough technologies, the program anticipates discovery science, enhanced environmental forecasting and optimised decision-making to advance Australia’s position as an influential Antarctic nation.
Expected outcomes include better environmental management, unparalleled strategic decision-support for an effective Antarctic Treaty, and new minds to address Antarctica’s new challenges.
Anticipated benefits are the means to transform environmental forecasting and management in the Antarctic, for Australia, and to the advantage of global security.Read moreRead less