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Species traits, substrates and stormwater grates: improving the health of urban trees by using polluted stormwater as a resource. This project uses plant traits to select existing and novel tree species for glasshouse studies to quantify the uptake of stormwater and polluting nutrients as well as drought tolerance in stormwater street tree systems. In collaboration with water industry and tree nursery industry partners and a syndicate of local councils, the project aims to install passive stormw ....Species traits, substrates and stormwater grates: improving the health of urban trees by using polluted stormwater as a resource. This project uses plant traits to select existing and novel tree species for glasshouse studies to quantify the uptake of stormwater and polluting nutrients as well as drought tolerance in stormwater street tree systems. In collaboration with water industry and tree nursery industry partners and a syndicate of local councils, the project aims to install passive stormwater street tree systems into existing suburbs and new greenfield developments in Melbourne. Models will be used to design and predict the performance of these stormwater street tree systems, and the glasshouse/field research outputs are expected to refine the leading industry and government relevant urban catchment model.Read moreRead less
Resilient and adaptable urban landscapes: low input woody meadows. Cities around the world are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in urban green spaces. This project aims to improve the quality of low input public landscapes and make our cities more liveable. Typical low maintenance plantings have low diversity, visual appeal and function. This project expects to develop a novel low-cost and resilient approach to urban greening by utilising Australian shrublands as templates for woody mea ....Resilient and adaptable urban landscapes: low input woody meadows. Cities around the world are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in urban green spaces. This project aims to improve the quality of low input public landscapes and make our cities more liveable. Typical low maintenance plantings have low diversity, visual appeal and function. This project expects to develop a novel low-cost and resilient approach to urban greening by utilising Australian shrublands as templates for woody meadows. Through interdisciplinary research and collaborations with eight Partner Organisations, the expected outcomes include knowledge and skill sharing for widespread adoption of resilient, management-friendly woody meadows to enhance and expand urban green spaces in Australia and around the world. Read moreRead less
Turning water into carbon: a synthesis of plant water-use efficiency from leaf to globe. The efficiency with which plants use water to gain carbon is a fundamental aspect of plant growth that has been frequently measured but is poorly understood. Using our new theory to draw together major datasets, the project will make a dramatic advance in our ability to understand and predict this key aspect of ecosystem function.
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354740
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
CaGaWaLo: regulation of carbon gain and water loss by woody vegetation. Trees and shrubs are widely perceived as central to solving problems of national and international significance. Seed funding is sought to facilitate establishment of a research network focused on their ability to sequester carbon and transmit water to the atmosphere. The proposed network is broadly based in plant physiology and ecology and contains a strong cross-section of leading international expertise in relevant sub- ....CaGaWaLo: regulation of carbon gain and water loss by woody vegetation. Trees and shrubs are widely perceived as central to solving problems of national and international significance. Seed funding is sought to facilitate establishment of a research network focused on their ability to sequester carbon and transmit water to the atmosphere. The proposed network is broadly based in plant physiology and ecology and contains a strong cross-section of leading international expertise in relevant sub-disciplines. By leveraging the huge pool of international expertise and focusing on a range of scales (from molecular to biosphere scales), this network will yield new ideas and approaches that will produce outputs and outcomes of national significance.Read moreRead less
Measuring tree water use and calculating stand water use. The national benefit of this project is significant. Woodlands and forests transpire vast amounts of water into the atmosphere and this water is thus lost to human consumptive use. Given large variation in rainfall between years and between seasons, it is vital that water and catchment resource managers are able to estimate how much water is lost through trees. This allows estimation of the amount of water available for irrigation, drinki ....Measuring tree water use and calculating stand water use. The national benefit of this project is significant. Woodlands and forests transpire vast amounts of water into the atmosphere and this water is thus lost to human consumptive use. Given large variation in rainfall between years and between seasons, it is vital that water and catchment resource managers are able to estimate how much water is lost through trees. This allows estimation of the amount of water available for irrigation, drinking, other industrial uses or maintaining ecosystem health. This project will be the first to generate a mechanistic understanding thereby allowing estimates of water use across a range of woody ecosystems in Australia.Read moreRead less
Toxic cyanobacterial blooms in a carbon dioxide (CO2)-rich world: assessing the impacts of global climate change. Cyanobacterial blooms in Australia cost the country over $150 million every year because of their impacts on water quality and animal and human health. The frequency, distribution and intensity of these blooms are all expected to increase worldwide as global climate change impacts increase over the next century. This project will provide much needed information of the severity of imp ....Toxic cyanobacterial blooms in a carbon dioxide (CO2)-rich world: assessing the impacts of global climate change. Cyanobacterial blooms in Australia cost the country over $150 million every year because of their impacts on water quality and animal and human health. The frequency, distribution and intensity of these blooms are all expected to increase worldwide as global climate change impacts increase over the next century. This project will provide much needed information of the severity of impacts on cyanobacteria commonly causing blooms in Australian aquatic ecosystems. This information will be important to authorities responsible for managing our precious water resources.Read moreRead less
Towards sustainable bioproduction systems: harnessing organic nitrogen for plant growth. It is of great concern that over 50% of nitrogen fertiliser applied to crops is lost to the environment, resulting in a large environmental footprint and greenhouse gas emission. Future farming systems have to reduce nitrogen fertiliser use but this threatens crop and biofuel production. Alternatives to man-made nitrogen fertilisers are crop residues and organic materials which are more stable in soils but l ....Towards sustainable bioproduction systems: harnessing organic nitrogen for plant growth. It is of great concern that over 50% of nitrogen fertiliser applied to crops is lost to the environment, resulting in a large environmental footprint and greenhouse gas emission. Future farming systems have to reduce nitrogen fertiliser use but this threatens crop and biofuel production. Alternatives to man-made nitrogen fertilisers are crop residues and organic materials which are more stable in soils but less available to plants. How plants can best access organic nitrogen will be explored, based on our recent discovery that plants can use protein as a nitrogen source for growth. The project will produce essential knowledge for nitrogen-efficient bioproduction.Read moreRead less
Ecohydrological feedbacks between vegetation and soil in natural and engineered landforms in arid Australia. We address 'An Environmentally Sustainable Australia'. 1. Water is the binding factor in our project, defining vegetation, geomorphology and hydrology. 2. Rehabilitation is an integral part of the mining business. Our project is instrumental in developing ecological engineering approaches to rehabilitation. 3. Ultimate goal of the project is to develop stable landforms, protecting underly ....Ecohydrological feedbacks between vegetation and soil in natural and engineered landforms in arid Australia. We address 'An Environmentally Sustainable Australia'. 1. Water is the binding factor in our project, defining vegetation, geomorphology and hydrology. 2. Rehabilitation is an integral part of the mining business. Our project is instrumental in developing ecological engineering approaches to rehabilitation. 3. Ultimate goal of the project is to develop stable landforms, protecting underlying rock. 4. We investigate locally adapted native plant species for use in arid-zone land rehabilitation, to preserve biodiversity. 5. The area of study is exposed to long droughts and cyclonic rainfall. Understanding the resilience of the landscape will provide pivotal insight into the impact and potential adaptive response to climate variability.Read moreRead less
Mechanisms of arsenic tolerance in plants: how do symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi reduce uptake? Arsenic contamination of soil is a major problem caused by irrigation with contaminated ground-water, mining and application of pesticides. Plant uptake leads to entry into food chains, with severe consequences for crop growth and human health. This project will aid the search for mechanisms to reduce plant arsenic accumulation by exploring roles of beneficial plant-fungus symbioses in r ....Mechanisms of arsenic tolerance in plants: how do symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi reduce uptake? Arsenic contamination of soil is a major problem caused by irrigation with contaminated ground-water, mining and application of pesticides. Plant uptake leads to entry into food chains, with severe consequences for crop growth and human health. This project will aid the search for mechanisms to reduce plant arsenic accumulation by exploring roles of beneficial plant-fungus symbioses in reducing uptake. Results will be relevant to most crop plants, because of the widespread occurrence of the symbioses. The project will enhance collaboration with China where arsenic toxicity is prevalent, provide education and training in an internationally recognised laboratory and enhance Australia's reputation for tackling soil contamination.Read moreRead less
ARC Australia-New Zealand Research Network for Vegetation Function. Plant species vary widely in quantitative functional traits, and in their relations to climate, soils and geography. Global generalizations are emerging. Vegetation Function network will reach from plant function into genomics and crop breeding, into palaeoecology and vegetation history, into landscape management for carbon, water and salinity outcomes, into forecasting future ecosystems under global change, and into phylogeny, ....ARC Australia-New Zealand Research Network for Vegetation Function. Plant species vary widely in quantitative functional traits, and in their relations to climate, soils and geography. Global generalizations are emerging. Vegetation Function network will reach from plant function into genomics and crop breeding, into palaeoecology and vegetation history, into landscape management for carbon, water and salinity outcomes, into forecasting future ecosystems under global change, and into phylogeny, ecoinformatics and evolutionary theory. Across this span, working groups will target nine identified opportunities for breakthrough research. Each research target needs input from two or more disciplines. Together, the nine targets link across disciplines, as a network that spans from genomic to planetary scales.Read moreRead less