Advancing knowledge of microbial symbioses underpinning coral health and reef resilience and predicting their responses to climate change. Coral reefs are complex, diverse ecosystems in which microbial communities form associations with host corals. However, the roles these associations play in coral stress responses are unknown. This project unlocks the black-box of coral microbial complexity and determines how the reef’s smallest members have the greatest influence on reef health.
Quantifying the impacts of environmental stress on marine microorganisms. Microorganisms underpin marine ecosystem health, yet there is limited understanding of how they will respond to different environmental pressures. This project will resolve this critical knowledge gap by developing a unique molecular platform for deriving quantitative stress thresholds for microbial communities inhabiting key reef habitats (seawater, sediments, invertebrates). Quantifying how reef microorganisms respond to ....Quantifying the impacts of environmental stress on marine microorganisms. Microorganisms underpin marine ecosystem health, yet there is limited understanding of how they will respond to different environmental pressures. This project will resolve this critical knowledge gap by developing a unique molecular platform for deriving quantitative stress thresholds for microbial communities inhabiting key reef habitats (seawater, sediments, invertebrates). Quantifying how reef microorganisms respond to a broad suite of environmental perturbations (temperature, nutrients, contaminants), will generate stress-response data that can be incorporated alongside eukaryotic data in environmental assessments, greatly improving the ecological relevance and reliability of risk and vulnerability assessments.Read moreRead less
Deciphering the coral minimal microbiome. This project aims to decipher the functions of coral-associated bacteria by taking advantage of low-diversity microbiomes that are naturally found in some coral species. A further aim is to unveil the importance of bacterial genome evolution in coral adaptation to climate change. Climate warming is the biggest threat to coral reefs with half of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) corals dead due to recent summer heat waves. Expected outcomes are an incr ....Deciphering the coral minimal microbiome. This project aims to decipher the functions of coral-associated bacteria by taking advantage of low-diversity microbiomes that are naturally found in some coral species. A further aim is to unveil the importance of bacterial genome evolution in coral adaptation to climate change. Climate warming is the biggest threat to coral reefs with half of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) corals dead due to recent summer heat waves. Expected outcomes are an increased understanding of how bacteria contribute to coral heat tolerance, and new knowledge to assist in the development of bacterial probiotics for enhancing coral thermal tolerance. This should provide significant benefits to the protection of the GBR and Australia’s economy.Read moreRead less
A Changing Climate on the Great Barrier Reef: Present and Future Implications. The Great Barrier Reef is fundamental to the economy of Australia. This national and international icon needs to be preserved in the face of a changing world to ensure on-going sustainability of our marine resources. Ocean acidification, warming water temperatures, increased freshwater disrupt the sensitive symbiotic association of corals the major structure building organisms of reefs. Understanding how these enviro ....A Changing Climate on the Great Barrier Reef: Present and Future Implications. The Great Barrier Reef is fundamental to the economy of Australia. This national and international icon needs to be preserved in the face of a changing world to ensure on-going sustainability of our marine resources. Ocean acidification, warming water temperatures, increased freshwater disrupt the sensitive symbiotic association of corals the major structure building organisms of reefs. Understanding how these environmental stressors result in the decrease in coral health is fundamental to prevent loss of our coral reefs and an important step towards preserving them for future generations.Read moreRead less
Revealing the structure, evolution and sensitivity of symbioses in basal metazoa. This project will explore the complex interactions between each component of the sponge holobiont (virus, bacteria, sponge) during thermal stress. This will also provide the first molecular assessment of sponge viruses and provide insights into how sponges may adapt to a changing climate.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100248
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$368,600.00
Summary
Annotating unknown microbial gene functions with organic matter change. This project intends to develop a new method for determining the function of microbial genomes. Microbes are all pervasive on Earth. It is now possible to routinely sequence microbial genomes. However, the function of most genes encoded on these genomes remains elusive, severely limiting our understanding of most ecosystems. This project seeks to develop new methods to assign function to uncharacterised genes, by correlating ....Annotating unknown microbial gene functions with organic matter change. This project intends to develop a new method for determining the function of microbial genomes. Microbes are all pervasive on Earth. It is now possible to routinely sequence microbial genomes. However, the function of most genes encoded on these genomes remains elusive, severely limiting our understanding of most ecosystems. This project seeks to develop new methods to assign function to uncharacterised genes, by correlating changes in metabolite abundance with gene expression in a model permafrost thaw peatland. Determining the function of uncharacterised genes has widespread implications for microbial ecology and its numerous real-world applications, from determining soil greenhouse gas emissions to understanding human intestinal flora.Read moreRead less
Incorporating new knowledge of phytoplankton diversity and nutrient utilisation into an ocean-climate model to improve forecasts of ocean function. Phytoplankton drives ocean biogeochemical cycles and regulate Earth’s climate yet are poorly represented in ocean-climate models. This project will use advanced cell sorting and analysis techniques and innovative selection experiments to gain a deeper understanding of phytoplankton diversity and nutrient utilisation under projected climate change. Th ....Incorporating new knowledge of phytoplankton diversity and nutrient utilisation into an ocean-climate model to improve forecasts of ocean function. Phytoplankton drives ocean biogeochemical cycles and regulate Earth’s climate yet are poorly represented in ocean-climate models. This project will use advanced cell sorting and analysis techniques and innovative selection experiments to gain a deeper understanding of phytoplankton diversity and nutrient utilisation under projected climate change. This new knowledge will be used to improve the biological structure of an existing coupled ocean-climate model and reduce key uncertainties in forecasts of ocean function. This research will provide managers and industry with more accurate insight into the effects of ongoing climate change on the delivery of ecosystem services in eastern Australian waters.Read moreRead less
Ecology, physiology and molecular microbiology of coral disease on the Great Barrier Reef. Ecological, physiological, molecular and micro-biological techniques will be used to examine the disease of corals of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Molecular techniques include the development of diagnostic techniques for disease identification, using Fluorescent In Situ hybridisation (FISH) and DNA microarrays (CHIPS); physiological experiments include examining the effects of temperature and sediment o ....Ecology, physiology and molecular microbiology of coral disease on the Great Barrier Reef. Ecological, physiological, molecular and micro-biological techniques will be used to examine the disease of corals of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Molecular techniques include the development of diagnostic techniques for disease identification, using Fluorescent In Situ hybridisation (FISH) and DNA microarrays (CHIPS); physiological experiments include examining the effects of temperature and sediment on virulence and host susceptibility to disease infection; ecological surveys will examine the extent and seasonality of disease in northern and southern parts of the GBR and on isolated reefs in the central GBR. Management implications of the current coral-disease status of the GBR will be targeted.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100870
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$342,000.00
Summary
Unravelling the microbial mechanisms of soil nitrous oxide emissions. Soil ecosystems are believed to be the most dominant sources of global nitrous oxide emissions. However, mitigations of nitrous oxide are strongly hindered by lack of knowledge on microbial mechanisms underpinning its production. This project aims to integrate a range of advanced approaches to identify the key nitrogen cycling genes as best predictors of nitrous oxide in field studies, to disentangle relative contribution of m ....Unravelling the microbial mechanisms of soil nitrous oxide emissions. Soil ecosystems are believed to be the most dominant sources of global nitrous oxide emissions. However, mitigations of nitrous oxide are strongly hindered by lack of knowledge on microbial mechanisms underpinning its production. This project aims to integrate a range of advanced approaches to identify the key nitrogen cycling genes as best predictors of nitrous oxide in field studies, to disentangle relative contribution of microbial pathways to nitrous oxide in glasshouse and microcosm studies, and to validate these findings across various land-use types in Australia and China. This will provide a critical framework incorporating microbial data into the nitrous oxide prediction models for better mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.Read moreRead less
Microbial genomics of the southern ocean: monitoring environmental health. This program will derive an integrated understanding of microbial ecology which is essential for determining ways of preserving the health of the World's ecosystems. Through the development of a unique microbial genomics program, Australia will remain a world leader in Antarctic biology, strengthening Australia's reputation in technologically innovative scientific programs of global significance, training local scientists ....Microbial genomics of the southern ocean: monitoring environmental health. This program will derive an integrated understanding of microbial ecology which is essential for determining ways of preserving the health of the World's ecosystems. Through the development of a unique microbial genomics program, Australia will remain a world leader in Antarctic biology, strengthening Australia's reputation in technologically innovative scientific programs of global significance, training local scientists in cutting edge genomic biology and fostering the interests of the international community in sciences ranging from microbial ecology to climate change.Read moreRead less