Growing up with global change. This project aims to quantify how native bird populations will respond to global warming. The project will investigate how vulnerable nestling birds are to high temperatures, and the impact of early-life heat stress on adult performance and fitness in the wild. Although growing animals are most sensitive to heat, and stress during early-life often has irreversible negative effects, we know very little about long-term consequences of early-life heat stress. The inte ....Growing up with global change. This project aims to quantify how native bird populations will respond to global warming. The project will investigate how vulnerable nestling birds are to high temperatures, and the impact of early-life heat stress on adult performance and fitness in the wild. Although growing animals are most sensitive to heat, and stress during early-life often has irreversible negative effects, we know very little about long-term consequences of early-life heat stress. The intended outcomes will increase our capacity to predict impacts of climate warming before population declines become evident. Improved predictions are beneficial to identify urgent threats and optimise conservation efforts.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
Buffering the ecosystem impact of invasive cane toads. This project aims to address the devastating ecological problems caused by invasive species, by developing a novel approach that does not rely upon eradicating the invader through training vulnerable native predators not to eat toxic cane toads. Expected outcomes of this project include building a broad coalition of conservation-focused groups, from private land-owners and local businesses through to Indigenous groups and government and non- ....Buffering the ecosystem impact of invasive cane toads. This project aims to address the devastating ecological problems caused by invasive species, by developing a novel approach that does not rely upon eradicating the invader through training vulnerable native predators not to eat toxic cane toads. Expected outcomes of this project include building a broad coalition of conservation-focused groups, from private land-owners and local businesses through to Indigenous groups and government and non-government agencies across the entire Kimberley region. It will also result in the evaluation of methods for deployment of taste-aversion at a landscape scale. This should provide significant benefits by conserving vulnerable fauna and building a powerful network within a region of high biodiversity in tropical Australia.Read moreRead less
Resolving the role of kelp in blue carbon cycles to enable management. We aim to uncover how kelp forests contribute to carbon storage, biodiversity enhancement and nutrient mitigation in Australia. We will combine mapping and modelling to identify local variation in kelp carbon stocks and sequestration potential and verify kelp carbon export to deep ocean sinks through genetic tracing in seawater and sediments. Co-benefits will be identified through nutrient experiments and reef surveys. We wil ....Resolving the role of kelp in blue carbon cycles to enable management. We aim to uncover how kelp forests contribute to carbon storage, biodiversity enhancement and nutrient mitigation in Australia. We will combine mapping and modelling to identify local variation in kelp carbon stocks and sequestration potential and verify kelp carbon export to deep ocean sinks through genetic tracing in seawater and sediments. Co-benefits will be identified through nutrient experiments and reef surveys. We will also assess the risk that calcification and production of halogenic gas within the kelp forest could offset its climate mitigation potential. Project outcomes will enable management to consider kelp ecosystem services broadly and optimize our capacity to meet current emission reduction and biodiversity commitments.Read moreRead less
Assessing fish connectivity across highly-modified seascapes. This project aims to quantify the effects of large-scale infrastructure on fish connectivity and populations by advancing our understanding of critical ecological processes within these modified coastal seascapes. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of fish seascape ecology and management using an innovative approach which considers all life history stages within a metapopulation modelling context. Expected outco ....Assessing fish connectivity across highly-modified seascapes. This project aims to quantify the effects of large-scale infrastructure on fish connectivity and populations by advancing our understanding of critical ecological processes within these modified coastal seascapes. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of fish seascape ecology and management using an innovative approach which considers all life history stages within a metapopulation modelling context. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of an integrated modelling approaches to better predict the effects of habitat modifications. This should provide significant benefits by allowing assessment of development and management actions before they take place, supporting long-term planning.Read moreRead less
Improving stream management using ecological modelling and DNA barcodes. Rivers and streams provide invaluable ecosystem services, yet are commonly degraded by human activities: a problem likely to be exacerbated by thermal and flow regimes being altered by climate change. Stream biodiversity is both a value and an indicator of ecological health: effective stream management requires prediction of biodiversity responses to natural environmental and human-impact gradients. By compiling a dataset o ....Improving stream management using ecological modelling and DNA barcodes. Rivers and streams provide invaluable ecosystem services, yet are commonly degraded by human activities: a problem likely to be exacerbated by thermal and flow regimes being altered by climate change. Stream biodiversity is both a value and an indicator of ecological health: effective stream management requires prediction of biodiversity responses to natural environmental and human-impact gradients. By compiling a dataset of macroinvertebrate species using new DNA metabarcoding, modelling their distributions, and ranking biodiversity by reach, we will develop molecular and quantitative spatial tools to provide data-driven, landscape-scale decision support for protecting and restoring streams: an urgent need for stream managers globally.Read moreRead less
Early-life climate sensitivity: direct and indirect mechanisms. This project aims to investigate how climate change threatens animal populations by determining the mechanisms causing DNA damage (short telomeres) in nestling birds growing up in hot conditions. Telomeres are biomarkers of individual life expectancy, and short telomeres in young birds predict a decline in future population viability. Our project aims to determine the importance for heat-induced telomere shortening of: (1) nestling ....Early-life climate sensitivity: direct and indirect mechanisms. This project aims to investigate how climate change threatens animal populations by determining the mechanisms causing DNA damage (short telomeres) in nestling birds growing up in hot conditions. Telomeres are biomarkers of individual life expectancy, and short telomeres in young birds predict a decline in future population viability. Our project aims to determine the importance for heat-induced telomere shortening of: (1) nestling heat stress responses; (2) inheritance of heat-shortened sperm telomeres; and (3) parental buffering of heat effects. Expected benefits include enhanced reliability of climate change predictions and improved ability to identify climate change mitigation strategies before population declines are evident.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100330
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$461,299.00
Summary
Creating shellfish reefs for hazard risk reduction and habitat restoration. Living shorelines are a potentially powerful solution to two pervasive problems: an increased need for coastal protection; and the restoration of lost habitats. This project aims to investigate the effective application of living shorelines using shellfish reefs. It expects to generate new knowledge to ensure living shorelines achieve both hazard risk reduction and habitat restoration goals. Expected outcomes of this pro ....Creating shellfish reefs for hazard risk reduction and habitat restoration. Living shorelines are a potentially powerful solution to two pervasive problems: an increased need for coastal protection; and the restoration of lost habitats. This project aims to investigate the effective application of living shorelines using shellfish reefs. It expects to generate new knowledge to ensure living shorelines achieve both hazard risk reduction and habitat restoration goals. Expected outcomes of this project include an enhanced capacity within Australia for the application of nature-based coastal defence, and a better understanding of effective living shoreline design. This should provide significant socio-economic and environmental benefits through the development of a sustainable and adaptive method of coastal defence.Read moreRead less
Improving the effectiveness of marine habitat restoration. Habitat restoration is a global priority to halt and reverse declines in biodiversity, but many of these efforts fail to achieve these goals. This project aims to improve the outcomes of marine habitat restoration through greater consideration of animal behaviour. Insights into how animals evaluate restored habitats and which components of habitats are most important to animals are essential but missing ingredients in modern restoration ....Improving the effectiveness of marine habitat restoration. Habitat restoration is a global priority to halt and reverse declines in biodiversity, but many of these efforts fail to achieve these goals. This project aims to improve the outcomes of marine habitat restoration through greater consideration of animal behaviour. Insights into how animals evaluate restored habitats and which components of habitats are most important to animals are essential but missing ingredients in modern restoration methodology. By applying novel experimental and modelling approaches to current marine habitat restoration programs, this project will generate new knowledge to underpin a fundamental change in how natural resource managers restore marine habitats, with significantly improved outcomes for biodiversity.Read moreRead less