Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100510
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Manganese heavy metal toxicity in plants: new perspective on a neglected problem. This project addresses the current absence of Australian research into its agricultural problem of manganese (Mn) heavy metal toxicity. Novel Australian plants exhibiting extreme Mn tolerance, along with recent US findings on plant Mn toxicity will offer new insight benefiting agricultural research and the forecasting of climate change impacts.
Integrating climate adaptation into rainforest restoration plantings. This project aims to investigate the impact of within species adaptation to climate on restoratoin success in the Australian Wet Tropics. For a suite of six species of tropical tree frequently employed in rainforest restoration plantings in northeast Queensland, this project aims to test the hypothesis that collecting seed from populations in similar ecoclimatic settings to the planting site will result in superior seedling gr ....Integrating climate adaptation into rainforest restoration plantings. This project aims to investigate the impact of within species adaptation to climate on restoratoin success in the Australian Wet Tropics. For a suite of six species of tropical tree frequently employed in rainforest restoration plantings in northeast Queensland, this project aims to test the hypothesis that collecting seed from populations in similar ecoclimatic settings to the planting site will result in superior seedling growth and survival. The expected outcome is to provide practical advice to restoration practitioners about the importance of matching the provenance of seed source to planting sites, and opportunities for selecting provenances pre-adapted to predicted future climatic conditions at planting sites.Read moreRead less
Computing the climate-life history nexus for Australia's fauna. Life histories are the trajectories organisms follow as they develop, grow, reproduce and age; they are shaped by evolution and limited by the physical and biological environment. Recent breakthroughs by the CI allow the computation of life histories in any sequence of climatic environments, with demonstrated potential to gain new insights into the past, present and future responses of species to climate variability and change. This ....Computing the climate-life history nexus for Australia's fauna. Life histories are the trajectories organisms follow as they develop, grow, reproduce and age; they are shaped by evolution and limited by the physical and biological environment. Recent breakthroughs by the CI allow the computation of life histories in any sequence of climatic environments, with demonstrated potential to gain new insights into the past, present and future responses of species to climate variability and change. This project aims to apply the new methods to understand how species' life histories have adapted to Australia's unique physical conditions and predict how they will respond to future conditions. It will simultaneously lay the foundations for a long-term, open-access research program on species' climate responses.Read moreRead less
Growing up with global change. This project aims to quantify how native bird populations will respond to global warming. The project will investigate how vulnerable nestling birds are to high temperatures, and the impact of early-life heat stress on adult performance and fitness in the wild. Although growing animals are most sensitive to heat, and stress during early-life often has irreversible negative effects, we know very little about long-term consequences of early-life heat stress. The inte ....Growing up with global change. This project aims to quantify how native bird populations will respond to global warming. The project will investigate how vulnerable nestling birds are to high temperatures, and the impact of early-life heat stress on adult performance and fitness in the wild. Although growing animals are most sensitive to heat, and stress during early-life often has irreversible negative effects, we know very little about long-term consequences of early-life heat stress. The intended outcomes will increase our capacity to predict impacts of climate warming before population declines become evident. Improved predictions are beneficial to identify urgent threats and optimise conservation efforts.Read moreRead less
The basis of oyster resilience to global environmental change. This project aims to investigate the impact of global environmental change on the survival of Australia’s oyster industry, by combining the science of genetics, physiology and ecology to identify already resilient oysters. Through the first complete understanding of resilience in oysters, including the trade-offs they have made in other fitness traits, the project develops new capacities to 'climate and future-proof' our natural oyst ....The basis of oyster resilience to global environmental change. This project aims to investigate the impact of global environmental change on the survival of Australia’s oyster industry, by combining the science of genetics, physiology and ecology to identify already resilient oysters. Through the first complete understanding of resilience in oysters, including the trade-offs they have made in other fitness traits, the project develops new capacities to 'climate and future-proof' our natural oyster populations and the Australian oyster industry, to enable the restoration of degraded oyster habitats. This project will ensure the future of an iconic and economically important national industry and food source and contribute to preserving the critical cultural links of Indigenous Australians with their lands.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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100660
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$409,805.00
Summary
Unravelling the impacts of global warming on whole ecological communities. This project aims to resolve how entire ecological communities respond to global warming and identify the mechanisms that underpin these responses. Combining manipulations of marine invertebrate communities with assays of energy use, the project expects to reveal emergent effects that cannot be predicted from responses of individual species. The expected outcome is a mechanistic understanding of how warming affects resour ....Unravelling the impacts of global warming on whole ecological communities. This project aims to resolve how entire ecological communities respond to global warming and identify the mechanisms that underpin these responses. Combining manipulations of marine invertebrate communities with assays of energy use, the project expects to reveal emergent effects that cannot be predicted from responses of individual species. The expected outcome is a mechanistic understanding of how warming affects resource use of entire communities that will increase our capacity to predict the consequences of climate change on food-web stability and productivity. These findings should reveal how species interactions alter energy use and invasion risk which is vital to manage ecosystems in a warmer world.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100601
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Incorporating developmental plasticity into models of species distributions. This project aims to develop a generalizable framework for predicting effects of environmental variability on organisms’ developmental strategies, using anuran tadpoles as a test case. This framework will reveal how environmental variability influences geographic variation in developmental strategies, and provide tools to account for that variation in mechanistic models of species distributions. These tools are expected ....Incorporating developmental plasticity into models of species distributions. This project aims to develop a generalizable framework for predicting effects of environmental variability on organisms’ developmental strategies, using anuran tadpoles as a test case. This framework will reveal how environmental variability influences geographic variation in developmental strategies, and provide tools to account for that variation in mechanistic models of species distributions. These tools are expected to increase the capacity to predict extinction risk in changing environments, and be amenable to any taxon or environment, providing a solid foundation for understanding the evolution of life-history strategies in variable environments.Read moreRead less
Living in a high carbon dioxide world: impacts on freshwater phytoplankton populations from elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. This project will investigate likely changes in phytoplankton populations in reservoirs that will be caused by increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the next century. The project will provide water supply managers with the necessary information to plan future strategies for water treatment and operating procedures.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE100100041
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$100,000.00
Summary
A high-resolution isotope facility for low cost analysis of water, plant, and soil/sediment samples to understand environmental change. The most significant environmental challenges facing Australia include ensuring sustainable management of our water resources and conservation of both terrestrial and marine biodiversity, particularly in the face of our changing climate and land-use. The new instruments will accelerate progress across a number of projects aimed at understanding the developme ....A high-resolution isotope facility for low cost analysis of water, plant, and soil/sediment samples to understand environmental change. The most significant environmental challenges facing Australia include ensuring sustainable management of our water resources and conservation of both terrestrial and marine biodiversity, particularly in the face of our changing climate and land-use. The new instruments will accelerate progress across a number of projects aimed at understanding the development of groundwater resources, the relative dependency of ecosystems on groundwater versus soil and surface water, and an assessment of the likely impacts of altered hydrology, especially dewatering and salinisation, on ecosystems. In addition, they will also be used to extend our knowledge of climate variability in the recent past and increase understanding of critical marine resources.Read moreRead less