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Building resilient alpine environments with less snow. In this project, we aim to build resilience into alpine National Parks and Alpine Resorts to counter the effects of ongoing declines in snow. Alpine environments depend on snow to regulate water flows, insulate vegetation, control soil erosion and promote proper ecosystem functioning. How these processes will operate in a snow-free future is unknown. We will determine how and where snow characteristics drive soil water availability for plant ....Building resilient alpine environments with less snow. In this project, we aim to build resilience into alpine National Parks and Alpine Resorts to counter the effects of ongoing declines in snow. Alpine environments depend on snow to regulate water flows, insulate vegetation, control soil erosion and promote proper ecosystem functioning. How these processes will operate in a snow-free future is unknown. We will determine how and where snow characteristics drive soil water availability for plants and which plant species have the best adaptation and regeneration potential under extreme conditions such as heat, frost and drought. Benefits of the project include innovative land management and rehabilitation solutions, to safeguard Australia's alpine areas under changing environmental conditions.Read moreRead less
Crops for a phosphorus-scarce future: plant adaptation to fluctuating phosphorus availability. Phosphorus is commonly used on farmland to ensure high yields. However, rock phosphate reserves are declining and leaching of phosphorus from farmlands into native vegetation and water bodies causes significant environmental degradation. As a result, more phosphorus-efficient farming systems are urgently required. Many Australian native plants have adapted to low phosphorus soils and fast fluctuations ....Crops for a phosphorus-scarce future: plant adaptation to fluctuating phosphorus availability. Phosphorus is commonly used on farmland to ensure high yields. However, rock phosphate reserves are declining and leaching of phosphorus from farmlands into native vegetation and water bodies causes significant environmental degradation. As a result, more phosphorus-efficient farming systems are urgently required. Many Australian native plants have adapted to low phosphorus soils and fast fluctuations in phosphorus availability. This project aims to investigate plant adaptations to phosphorus fluctuations and the potential for storing phosphorus when it is abundant for later use. This should aid development of crops with improved phosphorus fertiliser-use efficiency in anticipation of a phosphorus-scarce future.Read moreRead less
Nutrient transfer across symbiotic membranes in soybean. Legume plants interact with soil bacteria that fix nitrogen from the air to obtain nitrogen required for growth, reducing their use of fertilisers. Understanding how nutrients are exchanged between bacteria and legumes may improve the efficiency of this process. This would make legumes a more valuable component of sustainable agricultural systems.
The key to making root nodules - new tricks for old hormones. This project aims to use and develop new chemical and microscopy-based tools to test whether the cell-type specific plant hormone changes induced by rhizobia in legumes can be triggered in non-legumes. Most crop plants rely on fossil fuel-derived nitrogen fertilisers, while legumes benefit from biologically-fixed nitrogen through a symbiosis with rhizobia bacteria that initiate nodules. It is not understood why non-legumes cannot form ....The key to making root nodules - new tricks for old hormones. This project aims to use and develop new chemical and microscopy-based tools to test whether the cell-type specific plant hormone changes induced by rhizobia in legumes can be triggered in non-legumes. Most crop plants rely on fossil fuel-derived nitrogen fertilisers, while legumes benefit from biologically-fixed nitrogen through a symbiosis with rhizobia bacteria that initiate nodules. It is not understood why non-legumes cannot form this symbiosis. This project aims to apply detailed knowledge of nodulation in model legumes to a phylogenetically diverse range of nodulating and non-nodulating plant species. This is expected to give new insight into the evolution of nodulation and advance the long held goal of extending nodulation to non-legumes.Read moreRead less
Facilitation of high leaf phosphorus-use efficiency by nitrate restraint. This project aims to determine the link between high phosphorus use efficiency and nitrogen metabolism in the Fabaceae, Myrtaceae and Proteaceace, the three families of plants that co-dominate the flora on the extremely phosphorus-impoverished soils of south-western Australia, a Global Biodiversity Hotspot. It is expected that the extremely high phosphorus use efficiency in these plants is inextricably linked to a low capa ....Facilitation of high leaf phosphorus-use efficiency by nitrate restraint. This project aims to determine the link between high phosphorus use efficiency and nitrogen metabolism in the Fabaceae, Myrtaceae and Proteaceace, the three families of plants that co-dominate the flora on the extremely phosphorus-impoverished soils of south-western Australia, a Global Biodiversity Hotspot. It is expected that the extremely high phosphorus use efficiency in these plants is inextricably linked to a low capacity for nitrogen uptake. An anticipated outcome is new insight into how these plants achieve highly efficient phosphorus and nitrogen use, providing new understanding into the functioning of plants in an exceptionally biodiverse ecosystem and into traits that may lead to to crops with higher fertilizer use efficiency.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC210100047
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,000,000.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre for Accelerated Future Crop Development . The Centre will create a new generation of leaders in the implementation of advanced gene and field technologies for the benefit of the Australian agriculture industry. We will build the workforce and foundations that will drive translation of breakthroughs in advanced breeding, phenotyping and genetic technologies into higher-yielding crops. This will increase productivity across the sector and create new markets. Our technical trai ....ARC Training Centre for Accelerated Future Crop Development . The Centre will create a new generation of leaders in the implementation of advanced gene and field technologies for the benefit of the Australian agriculture industry. We will build the workforce and foundations that will drive translation of breakthroughs in advanced breeding, phenotyping and genetic technologies into higher-yielding crops. This will increase productivity across the sector and create new markets. Our technical training programs for graduates, trainees and industry will interface with best evidence-based practices in the wider socio-economic, regulatory and environmental contexts. Coupled with community and stakeholder engagement, the Centre will redefine and secure Australia’s future in agriculture. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100784
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,058.00
Summary
Improving cereal grain quality using epigenetic regulators. The project aims to determine the epigenetic regulatory mechanisms that control cereal grain quality and yield under water-deficit and heat stress. The project will use next-generation sequencing to identify key epigenetic regulators and their functional target genes, which confer superior grain quality to elite genotypes under adverse environments. Project outcomes will benefit cereal breeding by providing more-tailored screening stra ....Improving cereal grain quality using epigenetic regulators. The project aims to determine the epigenetic regulatory mechanisms that control cereal grain quality and yield under water-deficit and heat stress. The project will use next-generation sequencing to identify key epigenetic regulators and their functional target genes, which confer superior grain quality to elite genotypes under adverse environments. Project outcomes will benefit cereal breeding by providing more-tailored screening strategies and superior parental germplasm with enhanced quality and yield. The development of nutritionally improved crops will benefit the Australian cereal industry and export opportunities.Read moreRead less
Novel methods for the production of micronutrient-enriched rice. The increasingly productive Australian rice industry generated AUD$1 billion revenue in 2012. By targeting a rice gene that we recently identified as a key regulator of iron uptake and transport, this project will produce high value, micronutrient-enriched rice grain to improve the nutritional health of people in Australia and throughout the world.
Ecophysiology of stem succulent halophytes subject to changes in salinity and water availability: distinguishing natural dynamics from potential mine-related impacts. This project contributes to the National Research Priority of an environmentally sustainable Australia. The project will underpin management strategies of vegetation in saline lakes/marshes; wetlands of national importance to biodiversity. Understanding the vegetation at the Fortescue Marshes will provide vital base-information for ....Ecophysiology of stem succulent halophytes subject to changes in salinity and water availability: distinguishing natural dynamics from potential mine-related impacts. This project contributes to the National Research Priority of an environmentally sustainable Australia. The project will underpin management strategies of vegetation in saline lakes/marshes; wetlands of national importance to biodiversity. Understanding the vegetation at the Fortescue Marshes will provide vital base-information for the future, and have flow-on benefits for improved strategies for revegetation of saline lands. Improvement of the publicly available Herbarium database on samphire species will also enable improved species identifications for conservation and/or rehabilitation efforts. The project will train a PhD student in an industry-relevant research area that is currently in high demand.Read moreRead less
Effects of environmental factors on ecophysiological performance in the toxic cyanobacterium Nodularia. Nodularia is a toxic cyanobacterium that causes problem blooms in Australian waters and worldwide. The effects of environmental conditions on physiological processes in Nodularia are poorly understood and information on the effects on macromolecular synthesis and photosynthesis in Nodularia is limited. This project is of fundamental biological importance, making a major contribution to under ....Effects of environmental factors on ecophysiological performance in the toxic cyanobacterium Nodularia. Nodularia is a toxic cyanobacterium that causes problem blooms in Australian waters and worldwide. The effects of environmental conditions on physiological processes in Nodularia are poorly understood and information on the effects on macromolecular synthesis and photosynthesis in Nodularia is limited. This project is of fundamental biological importance, making a major contribution to understanding the impacts of environmental conditions on the physiological performance and ecology of Nodularia. The research has significance, both nationally and internationally, for the prediction of algal blooms in coastal and estuarine ecosystems, and will increase our knowledge of the factors controlling growth and toxicity of Nodularia worldwide. Read moreRead less