Bioeconomic Modelling of Marine Reserves. Australian waters contain a huge range of biodiversity, but are under threat from human activities. To face this challenge and resolve the problems of depleted fisheries and habitat destruction, innovative approaches are required to integrate marine biology with fisheries economics. The research meets this immediate need by developing bioeconomic models of marine reserves to determine reserve location and size, and analyse interactions between reserves a ....Bioeconomic Modelling of Marine Reserves. Australian waters contain a huge range of biodiversity, but are under threat from human activities. To face this challenge and resolve the problems of depleted fisheries and habitat destruction, innovative approaches are required to integrate marine biology with fisheries economics. The research meets this immediate need by developing bioeconomic models of marine reserves to determine reserve location and size, and analyse interactions between reserves and harvested areas under environmental uncertainty. The models will be developed using the latest developments in economics, biology and numerical methods and will be used to conserve Australia's marine biodiversity and improve fisheries management.Read moreRead less
Plutonium - A new tracer of sediment transport into the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon. This work will quantify one of the most controversial threats to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, namely the amount of sediment reaching the reef as a consequence of human activities. It will have economic implications for this major Australian tourist attraction, as well as the commercial fishing and agricultural and horticultural industries in the region. The direct economic value associated with these indust ....Plutonium - A new tracer of sediment transport into the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon. This work will quantify one of the most controversial threats to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, namely the amount of sediment reaching the reef as a consequence of human activities. It will have economic implications for this major Australian tourist attraction, as well as the commercial fishing and agricultural and horticultural industries in the region. The direct economic value associated with these industries exceeds $1 billion per annum, and around 1 million people visit the inshore areas every year. Management of the park will benefit through improved understanding of the transport of sediment from the rivers to the lagoon and inner reef areas, and the fraction of the sediment attributable to anthropogenic practices. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0237912
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$200,000.00
Summary
Acoustic tracking key marine species in Tasmania using new technology. We will use new passive listening receivers and uniquely indentifiable acoustic tags to track key marine species (squid, octopus, fish and crustaceans) in Tasmania. This technology allows us to remotely track species with a level of detail previously not available. By using a large number of receivers we will build listening 'curtains'. A series of curtains will then form a multi-species listening grid. This equipment wi ....Acoustic tracking key marine species in Tasmania using new technology. We will use new passive listening receivers and uniquely indentifiable acoustic tags to track key marine species (squid, octopus, fish and crustaceans) in Tasmania. This technology allows us to remotely track species with a level of detail previously not available. By using a large number of receivers we will build listening 'curtains'. A series of curtains will then form a multi-species listening grid. This equipment will allow us to reconstruct movement between habitats, and migration routes to better understand and manage this marine ecosystem. An important feature will involve monitoring organism movements into and out of marine protected areas.Read moreRead less
Links between marine biotic evolution and carbonate platform and petroleum reservoir development in the South China sea. This project will aim to discover the major environmental controls over the historical development of the high biodiversity of Indo-Pacific coral reefs. By investigating fossils from rocky outcrops we will enhance the ability of petroleum companies to predict the occurrence of hydrocarbons in sub-surface reef limestones.
THE CORAL RECORD OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF:QUANTIFICATION OF ANTHROPOGENIC FLUXES. The objective of this proposal is to quantify the environmental impacts of enhanced terrestrial fluxes and climate change on the coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef. This will be achieved by using an integrated approach based on coral proxy records of river plumes and sea surface temperatures that are preserved in carbonate skeletons of the long-lived (200-400 year old) Porites coral. ....THE CORAL RECORD OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF:QUANTIFICATION OF ANTHROPOGENIC FLUXES. The objective of this proposal is to quantify the environmental impacts of enhanced terrestrial fluxes and climate change on the coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef. This will be achieved by using an integrated approach based on coral proxy records of river plumes and sea surface temperatures that are preserved in carbonate skeletons of the long-lived (200-400 year old) Porites coral. This will be integrated with monitoring and process studies of river flood plumes and coral reefs and provide a scientific basis to ensure the long-term sustainability of the GBR.Read moreRead less
Best practice biodiversity management in reserves and other natural areas. Well designed studies including rigorous experimental work are needed to quantify biotic responses to fire and invasive species control. This is essential to help guide managers of parks, military training areas and state forests in best practice methods to manage fire, invasive species and biodiversity. Thus, this project will have far reaching implications for improved environmental and biodiversity management in a wide ....Best practice biodiversity management in reserves and other natural areas. Well designed studies including rigorous experimental work are needed to quantify biotic responses to fire and invasive species control. This is essential to help guide managers of parks, military training areas and state forests in best practice methods to manage fire, invasive species and biodiversity. Thus, this project will have far reaching implications for improved environmental and biodiversity management in a wide range of sectors. Rapid climate change will exacerbate problems associated with altered fire regimes and invasive species. New insights from this research will enhance the capacity to manage Australia and overseas landscapes in response to rapid climate change.Read moreRead less
Development and Testing of an Australia-wide Biodiversity Conservation Assessment and Planning System. This project aims to develop and test a Conservation Planning System that can be used by governments, industry, land managers and other stakeholders concerned with the long-term conservation of Australia's biodiversity. The project comprises three interrelated research foci: (1) addressing knowledge gaps about large scale ecological processes critical to long term biodiversity conservation toge ....Development and Testing of an Australia-wide Biodiversity Conservation Assessment and Planning System. This project aims to develop and test a Conservation Planning System that can be used by governments, industry, land managers and other stakeholders concerned with the long-term conservation of Australia's biodiversity. The project comprises three interrelated research foci: (1) addressing knowledge gaps about large scale ecological processes critical to long term biodiversity conservation together with the landscape linkages needed to maintain their integrity; (2) developing and testing a new computer based conservation assessment and planning tool that incorporates information about these ecological processes; and (3) investigating how these can be used to facilitate biodiversity conservation assessment and planning.Read moreRead less
Sustainable Farms: Tree Regeneration and the Future of Farmland Biodiversity. While many government and community initiatives aim to enhance the sustainability of Australian farming systems, none specifically target the important regional-scale threatening process of tree recruitment failure. Unless this problem is addressed urgently, many farming landscapes may be virtually treeless in the future, with severe negative ramifications for both biodiversity and agricultural productivity. 'Sustainab ....Sustainable Farms: Tree Regeneration and the Future of Farmland Biodiversity. While many government and community initiatives aim to enhance the sustainability of Australian farming systems, none specifically target the important regional-scale threatening process of tree recruitment failure. Unless this problem is addressed urgently, many farming landscapes may be virtually treeless in the future, with severe negative ramifications for both biodiversity and agricultural productivity. 'Sustainable Farms' will have major national and community benefits because it will: (1) identify more sustainable farming practices that are conducive to successful tree recruitment in the future, and (2) raise awareness about a much neglected threat to the sustainability of Australian farming landscapes.Read moreRead less
Long-term Recovery Of Trawled Marine Communities 25 Years After The World’s Largest Adaptive Management Experiment
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$400,000.00
Summary
Foreign trawling off NW Australia (1960-1980s) caused extensive impact on benthic and fish communities reflected in a 2-orders of magnitude reduction in sponge bycatch and high value emperor fish stocks giving way to low value lizard fish and threadfin bream. This process was investigated in the largest ever adaptive management experiment on a commercial fishery using a series of closures in the 1980s-early 1990s. This gave rise to the current management arrangements for the Pilbara Trawl Fisher ....Foreign trawling off NW Australia (1960-1980s) caused extensive impact on benthic and fish communities reflected in a 2-orders of magnitude reduction in sponge bycatch and high value emperor fish stocks giving way to low value lizard fish and threadfin bream. This process was investigated in the largest ever adaptive management experiment on a commercial fishery using a series of closures in the 1980s-early 1990s. This gave rise to the current management arrangements for the Pilbara Trawl Fishery which has protected some previously heavily trawled areas in long term closures. A quarter century on, this situation and the awarding of 4 weeks RV Investigator time in late 2017 provides the opportunity to quantitatively examine >35 years recovery of trawled habitat and to determine whether the climax community of large sponges and the fish communities they supported ever fully recovered. NW Australia is uniquely able to provide long term information for VME habitats that is directly applicable to several trawl fisheries in northern Australia and is potentially the only source of such information internationally for adoption by FAO/MSC. Further, NW Australia is uniquely able to test new methods proposed for Ecological Risk Assessment of seabed impacts and validate their reliability. Lastly, both the Pilbara Trawl and Trap Fisheries are looking towards Fishery Improvement Plans and/or MSC certification and will require the information obtained in this project. Objectives: 1. The overarching goal of this project is to determine the extent to which trawled communities of the NWS have recovered from high levels of trawling activity prior to the exclusion of foreign fleets (1990) and subsequent to the imposition in the early 1990s of the current tightly controlled spatial management of both trawl and trap fishing effort. By contrasting the diversity, abundance, biomass and size/age composition of the demersal fish community and epibenthic, habitat forming invertebrates across these gradients of historical and recent fishing effort, and by comparing these measures with data collected in the 1980s, we aim to make firm conclusions about the long term rates of recovery of habitats from foreign trawling in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and to evaluate how well the current spatial closures, controls on effort and fishing practices are performing from the point of view of sustaining healthy benthic habitats. We will test the prediction that areas where trawling has been dramatically reduced will be characterised by re-establishment of benthic habitats with greater coverage and complexity of larger habitat forming filter feeder communities, and of higher production of key fish (families: Lethrinidae, Lutjanidae), compared to previously and currently trawled habitats. The study will also take into account other environmental parameters which influence both the distribution of benthic and demersal community assemblages and their rates of recovery. Read moreRead less
The effects of prescribed fire on biota in a diverse range of carefully managed vegetation communities. This project will be a large-scale retrospective and prospective longitudinal study of the effects of fire on the vertebrate biota (mammals, birds and reptiles) inhabiting a range of vegetation types. The key aim of this study will be to quantify changes in vertebrate biota (reptiles, birds, arboreal marsupials and terrestrial mammals) within vegetation types subject to alternate burning strat ....The effects of prescribed fire on biota in a diverse range of carefully managed vegetation communities. This project will be a large-scale retrospective and prospective longitudinal study of the effects of fire on the vertebrate biota (mammals, birds and reptiles) inhabiting a range of vegetation types. The key aim of this study will be to quantify changes in vertebrate biota (reptiles, birds, arboreal marsupials and terrestrial mammals) within vegetation types subject to alternate burning strategies. The investigation will provide critical new knowledge for use in fire management, vegetation management and biodiversity conservation within national parks, state forests and similar types of land.Read moreRead less