ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9843-4362
Current Organisations
The University of Canberra
,
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Ecosystem Function | Environmental Science and Management | Conservation and Biodiversity | Freshwater Ecology
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Fresh, Ground and Surface Water Environments | Fresh, Ground and Surface Water Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity |
Related Links
Publications
Anthropogenic influence on an urban colony of the little penguin Eudyptula minor
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2008
DOI: 10.1071/MF08003
Abstract: Native animals exploit resources in cities and inhabit anthropogenic structures worldwide. One ex le of this is the little penguin, Eudyptula minor, population nesting between boulders on the St Kilda breakwater in Melbourne. This population is attracted by safe hiding places, a lack of predators and the presence of prey. However, living close to urbanisation poses many threats to the colony, including boating, lighting, noise and human visitation. We investigated the effects of human disturbance by comparing the number of penguins and breeding sites in the publicly accessible region with those in the restricted region of the breakwater. Penguins and nest sites were not equally distributed along the breakwater, with the mean number of birds and nest sites present per 20-m section in the restricted region significantly greater (typically double) than the number in the publicly accessible region. Although the penguins show a clear preference to nest in the restricted region of the breakwater, their continued presence in the publicly accessible region when nest sites are not limiting indicates that human disturbance is not incompatible with some nesting activity. In a global context these results illustrate some of the benefits and costs to animals that use anthropogenically altered habitats and urban environments.
A cross‐scale assessment of productivity–diversity relationships
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-08-2020
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.13165
The influence of native replanting on stream ecosystem metabolism in a degraded landscape: can a little vegetation go a long way?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-08-2013
DOI: 10.1111/FWB.12236
An experimental demonstration of the critical depth principle
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 02-03-2015
Abstract: Sverdrup's critical depth hypothesis, which has had an almost canonical status in biological oceanography, has recently been challenged as a universal explanation for the formation of oceanic spring blooms, and several alternative hypotheses have been proposed. Arguments pro and contra alternative explanations have so far relied on theoretical considerations and purely observational data. In this paper, we propose that mesocosm experiments with natural plankton communities could make important contributions to the resolution of the issue. We first briefly review the foundations of the critical depth concept and derive an approximate relationship that relates optically scaled critical depth (=“critical optical depth”, i.e. the product of the light attenuation coefficient and the critical depth) to light-dependent phytoplankton production in the mixed surface layer. We describe how this relationship can be used to scale experimental mesocosms such that they reproduce ambient light conditions of natural water columns from the surface down to the critical depth and beyond. We illustrate the power of the approach with a mesocosm study in which we experimentally controlled the onset of the spring bloom of a lake plankton community through the manipulation of optically scaled mixed-layer depth. This experiment may be the first experimental demonstration of the critical depth principle acting on a natural plankton community. Compensation light intensity (=minimum average mixed-layer light intensity required to trigger a bloom of the ambient plankton community) could be constrained to be somewhat above 3.2 moles PAR m−2 d−1, corresponding to a critical optical depth of 10.5. We compare these numbers to estimates from marine systems and end with a discussion of how experiments could be designed to (i) more accurately determine the critical depth in a given system and (ii) resolve among competing hypotheses for vernal bloom onset.
Mapping change in biodiversity and ecosystem function research: food webs foster integration of experiments and science policy
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2019
Importance of exposure route in determining nanosilver impacts on a stream detrital processing chain
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2021
A synthesis of floodplain aquatic ecosystem metabolism and carbon flux using causal criteria analysis
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2023
DOI: 10.1002/LNO.12253
Abstract: The transformation of solar energy into organic matter by autotrophs (gross primary production [GPP]) and the use of that energy by autotrophs and heterotrophs (ecosystem respiration [ER]) describe the total energy available to support food webs. Rates of GPP and ER vary with temperature, light, hydrology, nutrients, and organic matter supply and quality yet despite their obvious importance, spatiotemporal variation of metabolic patterns among floodplain habitats, and their relationship to inundation dynamics remain unclear. We set out to review the peer‐reviewed literature surrounding the influence of the magnitude, frequency, and duration of floodplain inundation on aquatic ecosystem metabolism and carbon flux by rigorously testing a suite of cause–effect hypotheses using a causal criteria analysis. Causal criteria analysis is a literature synthesis approach developed to address a lack of experimental data and subsequent weak inference of causal relationships. We found support for 3 of the 14 hypotheses we tested relating to putative causal relationships: (1) large floods transfer more carbon from floodplains to the river channel than small floods via the increase in inundation area leading to more overall leaching of floodplain litter, (2) in high turbidity floodplain habitats rates of GPP are reduced by restrictions to photic depth, and (3) a positive correlation between nutrients and GPP—generally GPP in floodplain wetlands increases with nutrient levels. We obtained inconsistent evidence for a causal relationship between macrophytes and aquatic GPP, with studies reporting both a negative influence from decreased light caused by macrophyte shading and a positive influence from structural support provided by macrophytes for periphyton growth. For the remaining 10 hypotheses, there was insufficient evidence to support causal relationships, including for any hypotheses relating to frequency or duration of floodplain inundation. Our results emphasize that despite an apparent wealth of metabolic studies in riverine ecosystems, floodplain metabolic dynamics remain poorly studied, likely due to less investment and increased difficulty compared to lotic waters. The review also highlighted aspects of floodplain aquatic ecosystem metabolism for which there are significant knowledge gaps in the literature, in particular metabolic responses to inundation frequency and duration. Our results call attention to the importance of site specificity and temporal changes when predicting putative cause–effect relationships between floodplain inundation and metabolic patterns.
Biodiversity of leaf litter fungi in streams along a latitudinal gradient
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2019.01.122
Abstract: Global patterns of bio ersity have emerged for soil microorganisms, plants and animals, and the extraordinary significance of microbial functions in ecosystems is also well established. Virtually unknown, however, are large-scale patterns of microbial ersity in freshwaters, although these aquatic ecosystems are hotspots of bio ersity and biogeochemical processes. Here we report on the first large-scale study of bio ersity of leaf-litter fungi in streams along a latitudinal gradient unravelled by Illumina sequencing. The study is based on fungal communities colonizing standardized plant litter in 19 globally distributed stream locations between 69°N and 44°S. Fungal richness suggests a hump-shaped distribution along the latitudinal gradient. Strikingly, community composition of fungi was more clearly related to thermal preferences than to biogeography. Our results suggest that identifying differences in key environmental drivers, such as temperature, among taxa and ecosystem types is critical to unravel the global patterns of aquatic fungal ersity.
Flagship umbrella species needed for the conservation of overlooked aquatic biodiversity
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-12-2016
DOI: 10.1111/COBI.12813
A multitrophic perspective on biodiversity–ecosystem functioning research
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2019
Global Patterns and Controls of Nutrient Immobilization on Decomposing Cellulose in Riverine Ecosystems
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 03-2022
DOI: 10.1029/2021GB007163
Abstract: Microbes play a critical role in plant litter decomposition and influence the fate of carbon in rivers and riparian zones. When decomposing low‐nutrient plant litter, microbes acquire nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from the environment (i.e., nutrient immobilization), and this process is potentially sensitive to nutrient loading and changing climate. Nonetheless, environmental controls on immobilization are poorly understood because rates are also influenced by plant litter chemistry, which is coupled to the same environmental factors. Here we used a standardized, low‐nutrient organic matter substrate (cotton strips) to quantify nutrient immobilization at 100 paired stream and riparian sites representing 11 biomes worldwide. Immobilization rates varied by three orders of magnitude, were greater in rivers than riparian zones, and were strongly correlated to decomposition rates. In rivers, P immobilization rates were controlled by surface water phosphate concentrations, but N immobilization rates were not related to inorganic N. The N:P of immobilized nutrients was tightly constrained to a molar ratio of 10:1 despite wide variation in surface water N:P. Immobilization rates were temperature‐dependent in riparian zones but not related to temperature in rivers. However, in rivers nutrient supply ultimately controlled whether microbes could achieve the maximum expected decomposition rate at a given temperature. Collectively, we demonstrated that exogenous nutrient supply and immobilization are critical control points for decomposition of organic matter.
Effect of Native Vegetation Loss on Stream Ecosystem Processes: Dissolved Organic Matter Composition and Export in Agricultural Landscapes
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-09-2014
Thermocline deepening boosts ecosystem metabolism: evidence from a large‐scale lake enclosure experiment simulating a summer storm
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-10-2016
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.13512
Abstract: Extreme weather events can pervasively influence ecosystems. Observations in lakes indicate that severe storms in particular can have pronounced ecosystem-scale consequences, but the underlying mechanisms have not been rigorously assessed in experiments. One major effect of storms on lakes is the redistribution of mineral resources and plankton communities as a result of abrupt thermocline deepening. We aimed at elucidating the importance of this effect by mimicking in replicated large enclosures (each 9 m in diameter, ca. 20 m deep, ca. 1300 m
A meta food web for invertebrate species collected in a European grassland
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-03-2019
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.2679
Abstract: Patterns of feeding interactions between species are thought to influence the stability of communities and the flux of nutrients and energy through ecosystems. However, surprisingly few well-resolved food webs allow us to evaluate factors that influence the architecture of species interactions. We constructed a meta food web consisting of 714 invertebrate species collected over 9 years of suction and pitfall s ling c aigns in the Jena Experiment, a long-term grassland bio ersity experiment located in Jena, Germany. We summarize information on the 51,496 potential trophic links, which were established using information on diet specificity and species traits that typically constrain feeding interactions (trophic group, body size, and vertical stratification). The list of species identities, traits, and link-derivation rules will be useful not only for tests of plant ersity effects on food web structure within the Jena Experiment, but also for considering consistent construction of food webs from empirical data, and for comparisons of network structure across ecosystems. No copyright or proprietary restrictions are associated with the use of this data set other than citation of this Data Paper.
Forecasting functional implications of global changes in riparian plant communities
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2013
DOI: 10.1890/120056
How sensitive are invertebrates to riparian-zone replanting in stream ecosystems?
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1071/MF14360
Abstract: Clearing native vegetation has pervasive effects on stream and river ecosystems worldwide. The stated aims of replanting riparian vegetation often are to restore water quality and to re-establish biotic assemblages. However reach-scale restoration may do little to combat catchment-scale degradation, potentially inhibiting restoration success. Whether reinstating bio ersity is a realistic goal or appropriate indicator of restoration success over intermediate timeframes ( years) is currently unclear. We measured the response of aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages to riparian replanting in a chronosequence of replanted reaches on agricultural streams in south-eastern Australia. Sites had been replanted with native vegetation 8–22 years before the study. Indices of macroinvertebrate sensitivity did not respond to replanting over the time gradient, probably because replanting had little benefit for local water quality or in-stream habitat. The invertebrate assemblages were influenced mainly by catchment-scale effects and geomorphological characteristics, but were closer to reference condition at sites with lower total catchment agricultural land cover. Reach-scale replanting in heavily modified landscapes may not effectively return bio ersity to pre-clearance condition over decadal time-scales. Restoration goals, and the spatial and temporal scale of processes required to meet them, should be carefully considered, and monitoring methods explicitly matched to desired outcomes.
A niche for ecosystem multifunctionality in global change research.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-12-2019
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.14528
Abstract: Concern about human modification of Earth's ecosystems has recently motivated ecologists to address how global change drivers will impact the simultaneous provisioning of multiple functions, termed ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF). However, metrics of EMF have often been applied in global change studies with little consideration of the information they provide beyond single functions, or how and why EMF may respond to global change drivers. Here, we critically review the current state of this rapidly expanding field and provide a conceptual framework to guide the effective incorporation of EMF in global change research. In particular, we emphasize the need for a priori identification and explicit testing of the biotic and abiotic mechanisms through which global change drivers impact EMF, as well as assessing correlations among multiple single functions because these patterns underlie shifts in EMF. While the role of bio ersity in mediating global change effects on EMF has justifiably received much attention, empirical support for effects via other biotic and physicochemical mechanisms are also needed. Studies also frequently stated the importance of measuring EMF responses to global change drivers to understand the potential consequences for multiple ecosystem services, but explicit links between measured functions and ecosystem services were missing from many such studies. While there is clear potential for EMF to provide novel insights to global change research, predictive understanding will be greatly improved by insuring future research is strongly hypothesis-driven, is designed to explicitly test multiple abiotic and biotic mechanisms, and assesses how single functions and their covariation drive emergent EMF responses to global change drivers.
How Might Cross-System Subsidies in Riverine Networks be Affected by Altered Flow Variability?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-06-2015
fluxweb: An R package to easily estimate energy fluxes in food webs
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-11-2018
Fast processing of diel oxygen curves: Estimating stream metabolism with BASE (BAyesian Single-station Estimation)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2015
DOI: 10.1002/LOM3.10011
Plant diversity alters the representation of motifs in food webs
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-03-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-019-08856-0
Abstract: Changes in the ersity of plant communities may undermine the economically and environmentally important consumer species they support. The structure of trophic interactions determines the sensitivity of food webs to perturbations, but rigorous assessments of plant ersity effects on network topology are lacking. Here, we use highly resolved networks from a grassland bio ersity experiment to test how plant ersity affects the prevalence of different food web motifs, the smaller recurrent sub-networks that form the building blocks of complex networks. We find that the representation of tri-trophic chain, apparent competition and exploitative competition motifs increases with plant species richness, while the representation of omnivory motifs decreases. Moreover, plant species richness is associated with altered patterns of local interactions among arthropod consumers in which plants are not directly involved. These findings reveal novel structuring forces that plant ersity exerts on food webs with potential implications for the persistence and functioning of multitrophic communities.
Exploring the Suitability of Ecosystem Metabolomes to Assess Imprints of Brownification and Nutrient Enrichment on Lakes
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 05-2021
DOI: 10.1029/2020JG005903
Abstract: Loadings of colored dissolved organic matter (cDOM) and nutrients affect lake ecosystem functioning in opposite ways, rendering assessments of combined effects challenging. We used the “ecosystem metabolome” as a conceptual framework to overcome this problem by characterizing the chemically erse pool of DOM in lakes. The underlying rationale is that the ersity of dissolved metabolites bears the legacy of allochthonous inputs, autochthonous primary production, and a wealth of organic matter transformations resulting from microbial or photodegradation. Our objective was to assess whether high‐resolution mass‐spectrometric analyses can unlock that information on DOM origin and transformation pathways as well as environmental drivers imprinting the lake ecosystem metabolome. We performed a large‐scale enclosure experiment to assess the influences of brownification and nutrient enrichment on the composition and ersity of DOM, and a complementary bottle incubation to isolate the effect of photodegradation. For validation, we assessed whether the same patterns emerge from published observational data from 109 Swedish lakes. Ultra‐high‐resolution mass spectrometry distinguished ∼3000 metabolites in solid‐phase extracts of lake water. Network analysis revealed five metabolite clusters that could be related to different source processes based on molecular weight, position in van Krevelen diagrams and assignment to molecular categories (peptides, lipids, etc.). Emergent DOM properties such as molecular ersity provided insights into the processes generating each of the five DOM clusters. Overall, our data suggest that the thousands of molecular formulas comprising ecosystem metabolomes of lakes arise from few major processes and reflect imprints of environmental drivers such as brownification and nutrient enrichment.
Biodiversity enhances the multitrophic control of arthropod herbivory
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 06-11-2020
Abstract: Increasing plant ersity controls herbivory by limiting energetic gains and enhancing predation of arthropod herbivores.
Related Organisations
German Center For Integrative Biodiversity Research
Location: Germany
Leibniz Institute Of Freshwater Ecology And Inland Fisheries
Location: Germany
Commonwealth Scientific And Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Location: Australia
Related Funding Activities
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100032
Start Date: 08-2021
End Date: 01-2025
Amount: $456,645.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity