Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100414
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$415,266.00
Summary
Ocean mixing under Antarctic sea ice: a missing climate link. The 2016 sudden decline of Antarctic sea ice after decades of growth took the research community by surprise. Leveraging international collaborations, this interdisciplinary project aims to solve the puzzle of Antarctic sea ice, by assessing the ocean's role using key observations collected with state-of-the-art technology. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of why Antarctic sea ice is changing, impacts on sea ice ecosys ....Ocean mixing under Antarctic sea ice: a missing climate link. The 2016 sudden decline of Antarctic sea ice after decades of growth took the research community by surprise. Leveraging international collaborations, this interdisciplinary project aims to solve the puzzle of Antarctic sea ice, by assessing the ocean's role using key observations collected with state-of-the-art technology. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of why Antarctic sea ice is changing, impacts on sea ice ecosystems, and improved predictions of future changes. This project addresses knowledge gaps identified by the global climate community. It will strategically position Australia with new expertise and essential context to understand changing dynamics in a region that regulates global weather and climate.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100606
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,400.00
Summary
Effects of environmental change on seafood micronutrients: a SE Asian focus. This project aims to track variability in flows of essential micronutrients through marine food webs, to quantify how environmental changes will affect micronutrient supply to humans in seafood – findings that will be highly significant as governments grapple with increases in both malnutrition and ecological degradation. Expected outcomes: world-first models for accurately estimating nutrient production from SE Asian r ....Effects of environmental change on seafood micronutrients: a SE Asian focus. This project aims to track variability in flows of essential micronutrients through marine food webs, to quantify how environmental changes will affect micronutrient supply to humans in seafood – findings that will be highly significant as governments grapple with increases in both malnutrition and ecological degradation. Expected outcomes: world-first models for accurately estimating nutrient production from SE Asian reef fisheries up to 2050, under conditions of predicted climate change. Major expected benefits: new capacity to plan for food and nutrition security into an uncertain future, for Australia, our region, and beyond; with improvements to human nutrition and health, in accord with UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger).Read moreRead less
Ancient Ecology: Changes in penguin diet over ~30,000 years in Antarctica. This project proposes the first direct study of ancient ecology using a combination of second-generation DNA sequencing and targeted gene recovery. The food web of the Antarctic Ocean is a classic textbook example of energy and nutrient cycling in the marine environment. Although a great deal is known about the current status of this food web, understanding how this complex set of predator / prey relationships have change ....Ancient Ecology: Changes in penguin diet over ~30,000 years in Antarctica. This project proposes the first direct study of ancient ecology using a combination of second-generation DNA sequencing and targeted gene recovery. The food web of the Antarctic Ocean is a classic textbook example of energy and nutrient cycling in the marine environment. Although a great deal is known about the current status of this food web, understanding how this complex set of predator / prey relationships have changed over long periods of time is vital to understanding the nature of the system itself. The project intends to track changes in the diet of Adélie penguins from serially preserved ancient fecal (guano) remains dating back approximately 30,000 years. These remains are known to contain microscopic remnants of penguin prey.Read moreRead less
Bridging the land–sea divide to ensure food security under climate change. This project aims to comprehensively evaluate ocean-based food solutions to meet food security needs under climate change. It will resolve a critical blind spot in current plans that isolate land and sea food systems and neglect their interdependencies. Combining global models and data, it will assess the constraints of ocean-based food solutions by anticipating and accounting for land-sea links including: agricultural ru ....Bridging the land–sea divide to ensure food security under climate change. This project aims to comprehensively evaluate ocean-based food solutions to meet food security needs under climate change. It will resolve a critical blind spot in current plans that isolate land and sea food systems and neglect their interdependencies. Combining global models and data, it will assess the constraints of ocean-based food solutions by anticipating and accounting for land-sea links including: agricultural runoff, shared feed resources for farmed animals, and trade-offs for biodiversity and climate mitigation. It will deliver a major leap in our capacity to undertake holistic ecosystem assessment of future food production pathways. Benefits will include integrated food–biodiversity–climate policies for Australia and the world.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100203
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$385,000.00
Summary
Autonomous benthic observing system. This project seeks to improve our ability to monitor marine habitats and characterise their variability by enhancing the Integrated Marine Observing system (IMOS) Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Facility. The new AUV infrastructure will reduce operating costs, increase robustness of the sampling effort and insure continued operation for the next decade.
Resolving human-flying fox conflict in the face of environmental change. Resolving human-flying fox conflict in the face of environmental change. This project aims to identify socially-acceptable priority areas to be managed for the long-term viability of flying-foxes under a changing climate, and develop strategies to mitigate human-flying fox conflict, using ecological and social analysis in a decision-theoretic framework. Flying-foxes are nationally protected mammals pivotal to Australia’s fo ....Resolving human-flying fox conflict in the face of environmental change. Resolving human-flying fox conflict in the face of environmental change. This project aims to identify socially-acceptable priority areas to be managed for the long-term viability of flying-foxes under a changing climate, and develop strategies to mitigate human-flying fox conflict, using ecological and social analysis in a decision-theoretic framework. Flying-foxes are nationally protected mammals pivotal to Australia’s forest ecosystems, but are threatened by habitat loss, extreme weather and legal culls at orchards. Their exceptional mobility puts them in frequent conflict with human settlements, leading to forced dispersals from roosts. Anticipated outcomes are the conservation of Australia’s flying-foxes and international understanding of how to resolve human conflict with highly mobile species that are threatened but locally abundant and controversial.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100220
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$150,000.00
Summary
Free ocean carbon enrichment infrastructure for the Southern Ocean: measuring impacts of ocean acidification on biological communities. As the amount of carbon dioxide has risen in the atmosphere there has been a corresponding rise of carbon dioxide going into the ocean, changing its chemistry and making it more acidic. The project will conduct the first polar region carbon dioxide enrichment experiment to assess the vulnerability of polar organisms to continuing carbon dioxide emissions.
Calcification and shell chemistry response of Southern Ocean planktic foraminifers to ocean acidification and changing climates. Plankton that form tiny calcium carbonate shells will be cultured to determine how they will respond to acidification of the Southern Ocean caused by rising CO2 in the atmosphere. The same experiments will be used to gauge from their fossil shells how the Southern Ocean has caused and responded to changing atmosphere CO2 over the last glacial climate cycle
Multi-model predictions of ecosystem flux under climate change based on novel genetic and image analysis methods. Improving the forecasts of ecosystem shifts must be a key focus of future ecological research if we are to preserve our unique Australian landscapes. Our proposal is of clear benefit to Australia because of the urgent need for integrated methods to predict the cumulative impact of shifts in climate and land use. We will also contribute innovative tools involving genetic and image ana ....Multi-model predictions of ecosystem flux under climate change based on novel genetic and image analysis methods. Improving the forecasts of ecosystem shifts must be a key focus of future ecological research if we are to preserve our unique Australian landscapes. Our proposal is of clear benefit to Australia because of the urgent need for integrated methods to predict the cumulative impact of shifts in climate and land use. We will also contribute innovative tools involving genetic and image analysis, and state-of-the-art modelling. The damage modern human societies are inflicting on global environments has led to a great demand for logistically feasible and cost-effective ways to prevent biodiversity loss.Read moreRead less
Defining winning strategies in a changing Southern Ocean . The ecosystem of the Southern Ocean is extremely complex, and understanding its response to rapid climate change is challenging. The aim of the project is to use changes in the behaviour of marine predators to provide new measures of integrated changes in eastern Antarctic ecosystems throughout the winter. With novel combinations of electronic tagging, natural biogeochemical markers, and simulation modelling, the project expects to recon ....Defining winning strategies in a changing Southern Ocean . The ecosystem of the Southern Ocean is extremely complex, and understanding its response to rapid climate change is challenging. The aim of the project is to use changes in the behaviour of marine predators to provide new measures of integrated changes in eastern Antarctic ecosystems throughout the winter. With novel combinations of electronic tagging, natural biogeochemical markers, and simulation modelling, the project expects to reconstruct changes in animal behaviour in response to changes in the environment. The data is anticipated to explain ongoing large-scale shifts in Southern Ocean ecosystems, providing information needed to underpin future management and adaptation strategies.Read moreRead less