Integrating the rice industry with biodiversity conservation: the spatial ecology of waterfowl in agricultural and natural landscapes. Waterfowl damage to rice crops is a significant problem for the rice industry worldwide. The management and conservation of waterfowl requires an explicit understanding of the effect of rice bays on habitat structure for waterfowl and how these interact with population processes operating at broad scales. This project will analyse the spatial ecology of waterfowl ....Integrating the rice industry with biodiversity conservation: the spatial ecology of waterfowl in agricultural and natural landscapes. Waterfowl damage to rice crops is a significant problem for the rice industry worldwide. The management and conservation of waterfowl requires an explicit understanding of the effect of rice bays on habitat structure for waterfowl and how these interact with population processes operating at broad scales. This project will analyse the spatial ecology of waterfowl in agricultural and natural landscapes in the Murray-Darling Basin. Specifically we will (1) track waterfowl, (2) analyse wetland distribution at fine and broad scales, (3) develop spatial models to describe the relationships between waterfowl movements and wetland distribution, including rice bays, and (4) develop models of agronomic risk based on landscape structure and the known responses of waterfowl.Read moreRead less
Satellite tracking of health threats from grass pollen exposure. This project aims to discover why pollen exposure has increased since the 1960s. Grass pollens are the main environmental allergen source in Australia and the primary cause of allergic diseases. This project will investigate the ecological causes of changing pollen allergen exposures through integrating 40 years of satellite data, field phenology cameras, and pollen traps that track grass pollen sources, their evolution and impact ....Satellite tracking of health threats from grass pollen exposure. This project aims to discover why pollen exposure has increased since the 1960s. Grass pollens are the main environmental allergen source in Australia and the primary cause of allergic diseases. This project will investigate the ecological causes of changing pollen allergen exposures through integrating 40 years of satellite data, field phenology cameras, and pollen traps that track grass pollen sources, their evolution and impact areas. The outcomes are expected to advance knowledge of environmental drivers and enable more accurate pollen forecasts that alleviate the medical and socioeconomic burden of allergic diseases, estimated to cost 30 billion dollars.Read moreRead less
Messing with their minds: using deception to improve pest management. This project aims to develop new approaches to improve wildlife management by showing how deceit and misinformation can alter decision-making in pest animals. Using wild house mice as a model, it will test new theory on how animals decide whether or not to interact with wildlife control devices, like traps and baits, which is critical to all pest control efforts. The expected outcomes include new pest control tools that make s ....Messing with their minds: using deception to improve pest management. This project aims to develop new approaches to improve wildlife management by showing how deceit and misinformation can alter decision-making in pest animals. Using wild house mice as a model, it will test new theory on how animals decide whether or not to interact with wildlife control devices, like traps and baits, which is critical to all pest control efforts. The expected outcomes include new pest control tools that make strategic use of misinformation to alter decision making, to reduce a pest's ability to damage important agricultural crops such as wheat, boost the attraction of lures to traps, and improve bait uptake. These outcomes should provide significant new options for vertebrate pest control in Australia and globally.Read moreRead less