Diatom frustules: nanostructures at the base of ocean food webs. Molecules interacting with surfaces are fundamental to biological, chemical and physical processes, including desalinization membrane design, lab-on-a-chip systems, industrial catalysis, bioremediation, neurophysiology and uptake of nutrients for incorporation into food webs. Here, we use diatoms as models for molecule-surface interactions to find basic principles that underlay all of these interactions. This research will train st ....Diatom frustules: nanostructures at the base of ocean food webs. Molecules interacting with surfaces are fundamental to biological, chemical and physical processes, including desalinization membrane design, lab-on-a-chip systems, industrial catalysis, bioremediation, neurophysiology and uptake of nutrients for incorporation into food webs. Here, we use diatoms as models for molecule-surface interactions to find basic principles that underlay all of these interactions. This research will train students and scientists and establish collaborations with leading international scientists in the field.Read moreRead less
Physical and Ecological Structure at the Base of Ocean Food Webs. The coastal ocean is a crucial resource to Australia. In founding a research area on coastal food web function we provide international scientific leadership, train scientists in a cutting edge area, and lay the foundation for improved management of fisheries, aquaculture and species invasions. This work boosts Australia's participation in the International Polar Year, and knowledge about Antarctic Territorial waters. Infrastructu ....Physical and Ecological Structure at the Base of Ocean Food Webs. The coastal ocean is a crucial resource to Australia. In founding a research area on coastal food web function we provide international scientific leadership, train scientists in a cutting edge area, and lay the foundation for improved management of fisheries, aquaculture and species invasions. This work boosts Australia's participation in the International Polar Year, and knowledge about Antarctic Territorial waters. Infrastructure benefit comes from the French government paying for an outstanding French scientist to come to Australia 6 months/yr for 5 yrs. This grant acts as the base for larger projects that import EU and American funds.Read moreRead less
Keystone microbes and planktonic guilds in Australia's oceans. This project aims to unveil the ocean’s hidden sentinels, “keystone microbes” that underpin precious ecosystem services, and which can be used to monitor and model changes in ocean function. Marine microbes account for 90 per cent of oceanic biomass and every litre of seawater contains ~20,000 different species, but it is not known which species control ocean health and productivity. This project intends to provide definitive evidenc ....Keystone microbes and planktonic guilds in Australia's oceans. This project aims to unveil the ocean’s hidden sentinels, “keystone microbes” that underpin precious ecosystem services, and which can be used to monitor and model changes in ocean function. Marine microbes account for 90 per cent of oceanic biomass and every litre of seawater contains ~20,000 different species, but it is not known which species control ocean health and productivity. This project intends to provide definitive evidence of these keystones’ cellular level biogeochemical and metabolic capacity. Ultimately, this knowledge is expected to predict the resilience of ocean ecosystems and their response to change. The capacity to predict their dynamics will help provide investment clarity and increase healthy outcomes from activities involving human-ocean interactions such as recreation, food production and tourism.Read moreRead less
Carbon costs of plant nutrient and water uptake. This project aims to investigate how much carbon plants need to invest belowground in return for water and nutrients. By using economic principles of supply and demand the project will quantify carbon expenditure for water and nutrients in grasslands and crops under different climate and land management scenarios. This project will use triple and quadruple isotope labelling techniques and explore the dependency of carbon investment on plant-microb ....Carbon costs of plant nutrient and water uptake. This project aims to investigate how much carbon plants need to invest belowground in return for water and nutrients. By using economic principles of supply and demand the project will quantify carbon expenditure for water and nutrients in grasslands and crops under different climate and land management scenarios. This project will use triple and quadruple isotope labelling techniques and explore the dependency of carbon investment on plant-microbial interactions and availability of belowground resources. Expected outcomes include new knowledge to build a universal framework about plant carbon-water-nutrient economics. This will benefit global carbon cycling models and efforts to increase nutrient and water use efficiencies in agricultural crops.Read moreRead less