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.
New models for predicting species' distributions. This project will deliver new and more robust methods for generating the information that underpins sound conservation and resource management decisions, with particular focus on new statistical techniques to predict species' distributions. Results will be relevant to a wide range of applications including management of rare and/or threatened species and ecosystems, setting realistic targets for species and ecosystem restoration, improved managem ....New models for predicting species' distributions. This project will deliver new and more robust methods for generating the information that underpins sound conservation and resource management decisions, with particular focus on new statistical techniques to predict species' distributions. Results will be relevant to a wide range of applications including management of rare and/or threatened species and ecosystems, setting realistic targets for species and ecosystem restoration, improved management of pest species, and sustainable harvesting of species. Emphasis will be placed on transfer of knowledge to users, fostering the development of new skills among Australian environmental and conservation managers, and contributing to the sustainable use of our biodiversity.Read moreRead less
A balancing act: Resolving coastal wetland water, carbon and solute fluxes. Coastal wetlands offer an impressive capacity to regulate the Earth’s climate by altering the way carbon dioxide is extracted from the atmosphere and stored while simultaneously influencing the water cycle, thus providing ecosystem services such as carbon storage, abating flood waters, improving water quality and protecting the coastline from sea level rise. This project aims to address the current gaps in understanding .... A balancing act: Resolving coastal wetland water, carbon and solute fluxes. Coastal wetlands offer an impressive capacity to regulate the Earth’s climate by altering the way carbon dioxide is extracted from the atmosphere and stored while simultaneously influencing the water cycle, thus providing ecosystem services such as carbon storage, abating flood waters, improving water quality and protecting the coastline from sea level rise. This project aims to address the current gaps in understanding the critical exchanges of water and greenhouse gases (GHGs) combining field methodologies and hydrological models, under different climatic conditions. The intended outcomes will benefit management of GHG emissions, coastal flooding and vulnerable groundwater dependent habitats.Read moreRead less
New approach to sensitivity assessment of complex simulation models for environmental management. The aims are (1) to develop new techniques that improve and extend the capabilities of sensitivity analysis of large and complex computer models for environmental management; and (2) with the industry partners, to test these techniques on models for salinity management in the Murray-Darling Basin. The project's significance is in providing new techniques able to answer a range of model users? questi ....New approach to sensitivity assessment of complex simulation models for environmental management. The aims are (1) to develop new techniques that improve and extend the capabilities of sensitivity analysis of large and complex computer models for environmental management; and (2) with the industry partners, to test these techniques on models for salinity management in the Murray-Darling Basin. The project's significance is in providing new techniques able to answer a range of model users? questions at acceptable computational cost, for complex models with outputs measured in a wide variety of ways. The outcomes will be new sensitivity assessment tools and experience of their use in an environmental application of great importance to Australia.Read moreRead less
Practical, powerful and cost effective indicators of sustainable forest management for the conservation of biological diversity. Much debate about appropriate use of Australia's forests stems from uncertainty about the magnitude of impacts on abundances and distributions of forest-dependent species, a key indicator of sustainable management under the Montreal Process. An opportunity exists to develop new tools to substantially improve our ability to detect and assess change. This project will de ....Practical, powerful and cost effective indicators of sustainable forest management for the conservation of biological diversity. Much debate about appropriate use of Australia's forests stems from uncertainty about the magnitude of impacts on abundances and distributions of forest-dependent species, a key indicator of sustainable management under the Montreal Process. An opportunity exists to develop new tools to substantially improve our ability to detect and assess change. This project will develop optimal monitoring design and analysis strategies for detecting population trends against a background of natural fluctuation and observation error. It will result in templates for coherent reporting on indicators at regional and national levels. It will exploit recent findings regarding observation error in surveys, advances in statistical control processes, simulation methods, and power analysis to develop a world-class species monitoring system.Read moreRead less
Biodiversity planning in the urban fringe: multiple actors, multiple conservation actions, multiple uncertainties. Accelerating urbanisation in Australia is considered one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, with over 50% of threatened species occurring in urban fringe areas. Conservation planners in the urban fringe lack tools that can simultaneously prioritize multiple conservation actions by multiple actors and reconcile complicated tradeoffs. This project addresses the important gap bet ....Biodiversity planning in the urban fringe: multiple actors, multiple conservation actions, multiple uncertainties. Accelerating urbanisation in Australia is considered one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, with over 50% of threatened species occurring in urban fringe areas. Conservation planners in the urban fringe lack tools that can simultaneously prioritize multiple conservation actions by multiple actors and reconcile complicated tradeoffs. This project addresses the important gap between conservation theory and real world practice, providing tools for managers to develop optimal strategies given real-world constraints. It will result in better theories and models for designing and evaluating conservation policy and plans to ensure good biodiversity outcomes. Results will be generalisable to any complex conservation planning scenario.Read moreRead less
Reimagining the Australian Suburb: Biodiversity planning in urban fringe landscapes. Over 40% of nationally listed threatened ecological communities occur in urban areas. Accelerating urbanisation in Australia is considered one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. This threat will increase without a more strategic approach to conservation planning in urban environments. Protection of biodiversity in urban areas brings numerous societal benefits but involves complicated tradeoffs between com ....Reimagining the Australian Suburb: Biodiversity planning in urban fringe landscapes. Over 40% of nationally listed threatened ecological communities occur in urban areas. Accelerating urbanisation in Australia is considered one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. This threat will increase without a more strategic approach to conservation planning in urban environments. Protection of biodiversity in urban areas brings numerous societal benefits but involves complicated tradeoffs between competing land uses including housing development, agricultural production and conservation. This project builds on recent advancements in ecological modelling and mathematical optimisation to develop and test tools to facilitate transparent decisions based on optimal trade-offs between competing values. It will result in a more strategic approach to planning conservation in urban environments.Read moreRead less
Testing the utility of habitat models in making conservation planning decisions. Habitat models are used in conservation decisions. The aim of this project is to develop a system for assessing models that explicitly tests and demonstrates the link between model reliability and planning outcome. This research is significant because it will explore the importance of a suite of implicit assumptions that underlie current approaches to conservation planning in Australia and internationally. The resul ....Testing the utility of habitat models in making conservation planning decisions. Habitat models are used in conservation decisions. The aim of this project is to develop a system for assessing models that explicitly tests and demonstrates the link between model reliability and planning outcome. This research is significant because it will explore the importance of a suite of implicit assumptions that underlie current approaches to conservation planning in Australia and internationally. The results of this research will provide natural resource managers and planners with a protocol for evaluating the reliability of the habitat maps at their disposal, and their utility in supporting decisions involving the allocation of land to different uses.Read moreRead less
Modelling dynamics in spatial ecology. This project addresses how birth, death and movement drive patterns of plants and animals in space and time. We aim to apply and extend dynamical statistical models grounded in theory. Dynamical models are needed for us to understand how species and ecological communities respond to environmental change and disturbance including bushfires, climate change and extremes and species invasion. Using data from forest plots and animal movement, we aim to understan ....Modelling dynamics in spatial ecology. This project addresses how birth, death and movement drive patterns of plants and animals in space and time. We aim to apply and extend dynamical statistical models grounded in theory. Dynamical models are needed for us to understand how species and ecological communities respond to environmental change and disturbance including bushfires, climate change and extremes and species invasion. Using data from forest plots and animal movement, we aim to understand influences on individuals and species, and how to use that to generate robust predictions. The project is expected to produce statistical models and software for use by ecologists. This should help predict, and manage, ecological impacts of environmental change and disturbances.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100040
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,000.00
Summary
Integrated Greenhouse Gas Measurement System (IGMS) for monitoring agricultural emissions at field to regional scales. Measurement of greenhouse gases is critical to Australia’s obligations to reduce carbon emissions. The measurement facility will provide urgently needed accurate emission data from Australian agriculture to establish emission baselines and develop methods to extend the point-scale measurements to whole farm, regional and national scales.