Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100043
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$454,000.00
Summary
Kangaroos, feral herbivores and bushfires: Consequences for forest dynamics. This project aims to investigate the functional role of native and introduced herbivores in forest ecosystems using a powerful, highly replicated, herbivore exclosure experiment. This project expects to create new knowledge of the effects of mammalian herbivores, particularly kangaroos and invasive deer, on forest plants, soils and productivity. Expected outcomes include fundamental insights into above and belowground i ....Kangaroos, feral herbivores and bushfires: Consequences for forest dynamics. This project aims to investigate the functional role of native and introduced herbivores in forest ecosystems using a powerful, highly replicated, herbivore exclosure experiment. This project expects to create new knowledge of the effects of mammalian herbivores, particularly kangaroos and invasive deer, on forest plants, soils and productivity. Expected outcomes include fundamental insights into above and belowground interactions in forests, and an enhanced capacity to predict effects of changing herbivore populations across environmental gradients, and following bushfire. This should produce significant benefits for forest management in Australia, allowing informed, targeted, and pre-emptive management of invasive herbivore populations.Read moreRead less
Reintroduction of ecosystem engineers as a woodland restoration tool. Can we help restore woodlands by reintroducing extinct native mammals? Through a strategic partnership combining innovative research and conservation action, this project will investigate how returning extinct 'ecosystem engineers' could be used as a tool for restoring healthy temperate woodland ecosystems.
Understanding grassy woodlands as whole ecosystems. Restoring Australia's once vast grassy woodlands needs a sound understanding of the whole ecosystem and robust scientific evidence to inform conservation action. This project will generate such evidence by establishing a National Outdoor Laboratory to inform the sustainable management of our nation's precious remaining woodlands.