Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL120100108
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,849,770.00
Summary
Surrogate ecology: when and where can it work to improve environmental management? New empirical analyses and new ecological theory will be used to discover where, when and how to best apply surrogates. New capacity will be built in surrogate ecology and the results used to significantly enhance the effective management and monitoring of environments and biodiversity both in Australia and worldwide.
Time consistency, risk-mitigation and partially observable systems. This project aims to find optimal decision rules that mitigate risk in a time consistent manner for partially observable systems. Many problems in conservation management and engineering systems are dependent on random environments and entail risk of failure. The challenge of consistently minimising such a risk while achieving satisfactory and sustainable resource consumption is considerable. This project aims to develop analyti ....Time consistency, risk-mitigation and partially observable systems. This project aims to find optimal decision rules that mitigate risk in a time consistent manner for partially observable systems. Many problems in conservation management and engineering systems are dependent on random environments and entail risk of failure. The challenge of consistently minimising such a risk while achieving satisfactory and sustainable resource consumption is considerable. This project aims to develop analytical and numerical methods for optimal control in such scenarios. These methods will have application to fishery management, communication networks, power systems and social resource allocation scenarios.Read moreRead less
Can eco-evolutionary theories explain outcomes of microbiome coalescence . Environmental microbial communities are among the most abundant and diverse natural communities, responsible for many ecologically and economically important ecosystem functions, including primary productivity and climate regulation. This project aims to identify the biotic and abiotic factors that regulate community and functional outcomes of microbiome coalescence (the mixing of two different communities) caused by natu ....Can eco-evolutionary theories explain outcomes of microbiome coalescence . Environmental microbial communities are among the most abundant and diverse natural communities, responsible for many ecologically and economically important ecosystem functions, including primary productivity and climate regulation. This project aims to identify the biotic and abiotic factors that regulate community and functional outcomes of microbiome coalescence (the mixing of two different communities) caused by natural and anthropogenic activities. The outcomes will provide a unifying ecological framework to predict variation in microbiomes across different scales, ecosystem types and disturbances, and will generate critical knowledge for the development of effective microbiome products, a rapidly growing industryRead moreRead less
Multitrophic interactions drive diversity-ecosystem function relationships. Soil communities, among the most abundant and diverse in nature are responsible for many critical ecosystem functions, including nutrient cycling and climate regulation. This project will determine whether consideration and quantification of interactions between different biotic communities – specifically among plants, soil microbes and animals, within and across trophic levels - can address underlying shortcomings in pr ....Multitrophic interactions drive diversity-ecosystem function relationships. Soil communities, among the most abundant and diverse in nature are responsible for many critical ecosystem functions, including nutrient cycling and climate regulation. This project will determine whether consideration and quantification of interactions between different biotic communities – specifically among plants, soil microbes and animals, within and across trophic levels - can address underlying shortcomings in predictions from classical biodiversity-ecosystem function theory. By advancing understanding of biological complexity and its impacts on ecosystem functions, the project will provide a unifying framework for understanding variation in ecosystem functions across scales, ecosystem types and multiple environmental disturbances.Read moreRead less
Creating a sustainable, healthy, and equitable food system. This project aims to develop a whole-of-food system approach that will result in a more healthy, sustainable, and equitable food environment. A multi-disciplinary approach, based on the US Vermont Farm to Plate initiative, will bring together key stakeholders to collectively increase availability and access to locally sourced food, increase consumer awareness of sustainable food choices, accompanied with a retail “Love Local” campaign. ....Creating a sustainable, healthy, and equitable food system. This project aims to develop a whole-of-food system approach that will result in a more healthy, sustainable, and equitable food environment. A multi-disciplinary approach, based on the US Vermont Farm to Plate initiative, will bring together key stakeholders to collectively increase availability and access to locally sourced food, increase consumer awareness of sustainable food choices, accompanied with a retail “Love Local” campaign. Knowledge created by this research will inform policy and legislative reforms that will empower local governments and communities to respond to food system challenges. This case study in regional NSW will demonstrate the effectiveness of a framework that can be upscaled to other areas and countries.Read moreRead less
A systemic environmental impact metric for companies and investors. Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) metrics are marketed as measures of environmental performance, but they often track exposure to environmental risk rather than generation of environmental impacts. This project aims to develop and test a science-based, systemic environmental impact score for corporate activities. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of cross-scale interactions in the Earth system and tools to assess a bus ....A systemic environmental impact metric for companies and investors. Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) metrics are marketed as measures of environmental performance, but they often track exposure to environmental risk rather than generation of environmental impacts. This project aims to develop and test a science-based, systemic environmental impact score for corporate activities. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of cross-scale interactions in the Earth system and tools to assess a business or investment’s systemic environmental impacts from activities including water extraction, deforestation and carbon emissions. These outcomes should provide benefits including improved business decision-making on impact mitigation, environmental quality, productivity and corporate environmental reputation.Read moreRead less
Synthetic Biology Derived Electroactive Whole Cell Microbial Biosensors. The aim of this project is to develop, using synthetic biology, electrically integrated microbial biosensors for the detection of heavy metals in the environment. Building on our existing technology, this project aims to produce novel ‘biobricks’ capable of electrically integrating electric microbes into real time environmental monitors for heavy metal contaminants. This expansion of synthetic biology, and integration of el ....Synthetic Biology Derived Electroactive Whole Cell Microbial Biosensors. The aim of this project is to develop, using synthetic biology, electrically integrated microbial biosensors for the detection of heavy metals in the environment. Building on our existing technology, this project aims to produce novel ‘biobricks’ capable of electrically integrating electric microbes into real time environmental monitors for heavy metal contaminants. This expansion of synthetic biology, and integration of electric bacteria into sensor systems, will result in a new platform technology that expands our abilities to protect the ecology, agriculture and health of terrestrial, marine and agricultural at risk areas from economic and environmental damage.Read moreRead less
Deeper and broader life cycle risk assessment - extending the frontier for hybrid methodologies. This project is about combining detailed and global perspectives of environmental health risk from different fields of planning practice. It aims to improve the depth and breadth of the types of information used by government regulators and the community in decisions about the development of capital works.
What's the catch? Social and environmental sustainability of seafood. This project aims to improve the social and environmental sustainability of wild caught seafood globally. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of seafood trade and sustainability using interdisciplinary approaches that account for social sustainability concepts and the displacement of fishing impacts. Expected outcomes include innovative approaches that can improve the traceability and sustainability of s ....What's the catch? Social and environmental sustainability of seafood. This project aims to improve the social and environmental sustainability of wild caught seafood globally. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of seafood trade and sustainability using interdisciplinary approaches that account for social sustainability concepts and the displacement of fishing impacts. Expected outcomes include innovative approaches that can improve the traceability and sustainability of seafood and new international collaborations. This should provide significant benefits to the ocean, by proposing innovative ways for protecting the ocean through improving the sustainability of trade policies, and to the billions of people that depend on a healthy ocean for their health and livelihood. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100423
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Sustainable reactive nitrogen management for Australian ecosystems. This project aims to quantify the overall nitrogen budget and its influencing factors in Australia; benchmark Australian performance against other nations; assess the costs and benefits of reactive nitrogen (Nr) use; and analyse policy settings and their feasibility for addressing the challenges of Australian Nr management. Nr, if poorly managed, can cause significant environmental degradation, but is essential for ecosystems, e ....Sustainable reactive nitrogen management for Australian ecosystems. This project aims to quantify the overall nitrogen budget and its influencing factors in Australia; benchmark Australian performance against other nations; assess the costs and benefits of reactive nitrogen (Nr) use; and analyse policy settings and their feasibility for addressing the challenges of Australian Nr management. Nr, if poorly managed, can cause significant environmental degradation, but is essential for ecosystems, especially agro-ecosystems. The project expects to provide a framework for the future sustainable use of Nr in relation to food production, environment protection and climate change in dry regions.Read moreRead less