Balancing Water Quality and Ecosystem Health with Water Yield -- Ecosystem Response to Thinning in Wungong Catchment. Reduced rainfall in past decades and future climate uncertainty have added a sense of urgency in Australia to search for new water resources to sustain a growing economy and population. A forest thinning trial is planned in the Wungong Catchment, Western Australia, to substantially increase water yield. Thinning is attractive as a low-cost option, and is potentially suitable for ....Balancing Water Quality and Ecosystem Health with Water Yield -- Ecosystem Response to Thinning in Wungong Catchment. Reduced rainfall in past decades and future climate uncertainty have added a sense of urgency in Australia to search for new water resources to sustain a growing economy and population. A forest thinning trial is planned in the Wungong Catchment, Western Australia, to substantially increase water yield. Thinning is attractive as a low-cost option, and is potentially suitable for other catchments. However the potential environmental and ecological impacts, which are major community concerns, must be investigated. This project will assess the levels of impact, associated ecosystem responses and the capacity of catchment ecosystems to sustain such management intervention.Read moreRead less
Impacts of deforestation and afforestation on greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon and water resources in the Daly River catchment, north Australia. Over the last decade, north Australia have been viewed as a potentially exploitable resource, given issues of salinisation, soil acidification, over-allocation of water resources and rainfall declines in south Australian agricultural regions. Improved pastures and plantation forestry are two land uses that may expand in the NT. Clearing of savanna v ....Impacts of deforestation and afforestation on greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon and water resources in the Daly River catchment, north Australia. Over the last decade, north Australia have been viewed as a potentially exploitable resource, given issues of salinisation, soil acidification, over-allocation of water resources and rainfall declines in south Australian agricultural regions. Improved pastures and plantation forestry are two land uses that may expand in the NT. Clearing of savanna vegetation would be required, with implications for greenhouse gas emissions, soil health, water resources and dry season environmental flows. This project will track greenhouse emissions and water use from uncleared and cleared savanna that has been converted to pasture and timber plantations, providing critical understanding of the environmental implication of such land use change in savanna.Read moreRead less
Nonlinear spatial and spatiotemporal econometrics: theory with applications. Modern societies like Australia have major challenges in the forecasting, measuring and managing of risks associated with global economic and environmental/climate changes. These tasks require advanced econometric techniques in modelling and forecasting of complex nonlinear spatiotemporal variability in economic and social systems. This project will develop frontier econometric technologies that enable more accurate eco ....Nonlinear spatial and spatiotemporal econometrics: theory with applications. Modern societies like Australia have major challenges in the forecasting, measuring and managing of risks associated with global economic and environmental/climate changes. These tasks require advanced econometric techniques in modelling and forecasting of complex nonlinear spatiotemporal variability in economic and social systems. This project will develop frontier econometric technologies that enable more accurate economic and climate forecasts. The tools produced will provide Australia's scientists and policy-makers with a greater capacity to manage the risks associated with these challenges. A side-benefit of the research will be high-quality publications that enhance the nation's reputation in this cutting edge research.Read moreRead less
Simulation Technology for Modelling Extreme Bushfire Behaviour. Extreme fires cause immeasurable damage to communities through destruction of homes and damage to infrastructure. Large, highly intense fires reduce biodiversity, take decades for recovery, increase greenhouse gas emissions and reduce carbon storage capacity. Climate change is likely to increase the frequency of extreme fire weather increasing the need for reliable fire spread prediction under extreme conditions and to reduce impa ....Simulation Technology for Modelling Extreme Bushfire Behaviour. Extreme fires cause immeasurable damage to communities through destruction of homes and damage to infrastructure. Large, highly intense fires reduce biodiversity, take decades for recovery, increase greenhouse gas emissions and reduce carbon storage capacity. Climate change is likely to increase the frequency of extreme fire weather increasing the need for reliable fire spread prediction under extreme conditions and to reduce impact by preparedness and suppression. Incorporating an evidence-based fire spread model into a fire location forecasting system will give fire agencies early warning of potentially disastrous fires, enable early response to prevent fires and mitigate the consequence to life, property and the environment. Read moreRead less
Protecting the safe havens: will granite outcrop environments serve as refuges for flora threatened by anthropogenic climate change? Anthropogenic climate change threatens the Earth's biota and human society. By identifying areas that can act as refuges under projected climate conditions, adaptation and conservation activities can be focused where they will provide greatest benefit. This transdisciplinary project in the Australian global biodiversity hotspot examines the role of granite outcrops ....Protecting the safe havens: will granite outcrop environments serve as refuges for flora threatened by anthropogenic climate change? Anthropogenic climate change threatens the Earth's biota and human society. By identifying areas that can act as refuges under projected climate conditions, adaptation and conservation activities can be focused where they will provide greatest benefit. This transdisciplinary project in the Australian global biodiversity hotspot examines the role of granite outcrops as safe havens for species in the face of climate change. Knowing areas where species will retreat and maintain biodiversity under climate change will support decision making for protection of key refuges. Large financial, social and biodiversity returns follow from implementation of effective climate change adaptation management programs in Australian landscapes.Read moreRead less
Cellular automata model of forest stands to predict size-class distribution and survival. Existing forest growth models predict well stand level processes such as growth. However, they provide little information on forest structure and how this affects commercial forest products, risks of growing plantations and stand dynamics that determine carbon sequestration and water-use and result in age-related decline in productivity and self-thinning. By using newly developed technology to quantify in ....Cellular automata model of forest stands to predict size-class distribution and survival. Existing forest growth models predict well stand level processes such as growth. However, they provide little information on forest structure and how this affects commercial forest products, risks of growing plantations and stand dynamics that determine carbon sequestration and water-use and result in age-related decline in productivity and self-thinning. By using newly developed technology to quantify inter-tree competition, tree level resource supply, between tree genetic differences and the importance of chance events this project will draw on complexity theory to develop an innovative model that partitions stand level production to forecast the growth and size of individual trees.Read moreRead less
The ARC Earth System Science Research Network. The ARC Earth System Science Network incorporates data collectors, modellers and impacts researchers to address the impacts of climate change and variability on Human, biological and physical systems. Our capacity to adapt to changes in water availability, agricultural productivity, the likelihood of species extinctions, and risks to human health will be enhanced through the Network's use of frontier technologies. The enhanced capacity to use data a ....The ARC Earth System Science Research Network. The ARC Earth System Science Network incorporates data collectors, modellers and impacts researchers to address the impacts of climate change and variability on Human, biological and physical systems. Our capacity to adapt to changes in water availability, agricultural productivity, the likelihood of species extinctions, and risks to human health will be enhanced through the Network's use of frontier technologies. The enhanced capacity to use data and model the Earth System will allow policymakers to make more informed decisions with regard to water, biodiversity, human health, industry and agriculture sustainability; thereby enhancing the national capacity to respond to climate change and variability and securing our common interest.Read moreRead less
Impact of land use on cloud formation. Large scale land clearing has the potential to significantly modify regional climates yet current climate models do not incorporate an adequate representation of the land surface. Within Western Australia the rabbit fence provides a unique environment in which the interaction between the land surface and the atmosphere can be studied without other competing influences. A combination of satellite, aircraft and ground based observations will be used to relate ....Impact of land use on cloud formation. Large scale land clearing has the potential to significantly modify regional climates yet current climate models do not incorporate an adequate representation of the land surface. Within Western Australia the rabbit fence provides a unique environment in which the interaction between the land surface and the atmosphere can be studied without other competing influences. A combination of satellite, aircraft and ground based observations will be used to relate cloud formation to land characteristics and provide a clearer insight into the climatic impact of human-induced land surface changes.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882509
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$400,000.00
Summary
High resolution airborne radar for environmental research: soil moisture, vegetation, salinity and terrain mapping. There is a rapidly increasing demand for a range of environmental data. For example, information on soil moisture status is required for efficient and sustainable water use. Moreover, irrigation practices and large scale clearing have led to serious land degradation through increased salinity from rising water tables. Combined soil moisture and salinity measurement will provide im ....High resolution airborne radar for environmental research: soil moisture, vegetation, salinity and terrain mapping. There is a rapidly increasing demand for a range of environmental data. For example, information on soil moisture status is required for efficient and sustainable water use. Moreover, irrigation practices and large scale clearing have led to serious land degradation through increased salinity from rising water tables. Combined soil moisture and salinity measurement will provide important insight to this complex issue. Further, understanding the complex and rich biodiversity of Australian flora and its adaptation to droughts and fire is essential to ensuring Australian ecosystem longevity. Knowledge of flora changes through time as a function of soil moisture content and salinity is key to gaining this understanding.Read moreRead less
Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in afforested ecosystems in southeastern Australia - fluxes, processes and regional budget. There are no data available about the extent of emissions of the non-CO2 greenhouse gases nitrous oxide and methane from soils of forest ecosystems in Australia and the current methodolgy to quantify these emissions contains high uncertainties. Using the latest technology available we propose to i) measure emission rates of afforested ecosystems for non-CO2 greenhouse gase ....Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in afforested ecosystems in southeastern Australia - fluxes, processes and regional budget. There are no data available about the extent of emissions of the non-CO2 greenhouse gases nitrous oxide and methane from soils of forest ecosystems in Australia and the current methodolgy to quantify these emissions contains high uncertainties. Using the latest technology available we propose to i) measure emission rates of afforested ecosystems for non-CO2 greenhouse gases in relation to previous land-use in southeastern Australia, ii) identify the processes controlling the emissions, iii) use the obtained data to calibrate a biogeochemical model, and iv) use the model to estimate regional inventories for non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in southeastern Australia.Read moreRead less