Predicting climate change impacts on the biodiversity of Lord Howe Island: an approach using experimental and historical data. Climate change will have profound impacts on biodiversity. We will investigate both recent and future impacts of climate change on invertebrate and plant assemblages on Lord Howe Island, an important World Heritage Area. We will 1. compare current assemblages with a unique set of historical databases spanning the past 150 years, to investigate whether recent warming has ....Predicting climate change impacts on the biodiversity of Lord Howe Island: an approach using experimental and historical data. Climate change will have profound impacts on biodiversity. We will investigate both recent and future impacts of climate change on invertebrate and plant assemblages on Lord Howe Island, an important World Heritage Area. We will 1. compare current assemblages with a unique set of historical databases spanning the past 150 years, to investigate whether recent warming has affected community composition and 2. experimentally assess impacts of increasing temperature and CO2 on Lord Howe's unique flora and fauna. Our assessment of species vulnerability to climate change threats will be used to inform future conservation policy and species management on Lord Howe. Read moreRead less
Constructing a temporally-constrained palaeoecological model of Quaternary faunal evolution and extinction in eastern Australia. Increased climatic variability and human-induced environmental degradation have had severe impacts on biodiversity, socio-economic sustainability and possibly our own future survival, thus attracting global attention. This study will help unravel the causes of the extinctions of Australia's large-size animals (megafauna) during the periods of last glaciation and earlie ....Constructing a temporally-constrained palaeoecological model of Quaternary faunal evolution and extinction in eastern Australia. Increased climatic variability and human-induced environmental degradation have had severe impacts on biodiversity, socio-economic sustainability and possibly our own future survival, thus attracting global attention. This study will help unravel the causes of the extinctions of Australia's large-size animals (megafauna) during the periods of last glaciation and earliest human colonisation of Australia. Investigating the causes of megafauna extinction is essential for an understanding of how those prehistoric events shaped the modern biota, and for the development of conservation strategies for our endemic faunas in an era of increased climatic and environmental variability and vulnerability.Read moreRead less
Environmental change in northern Cenozoic Australia: a multidisciplinary approach. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that by 2020 to 2050, Australia will suffer significant biodiversity loss and water shortages. Our research will document and date the evolution of Australia's biota through three cycles of climate change over the last 25 million years to quantify and thereby better anticipate the nature and dimension of threats facing our natural and cultural communities ....Environmental change in northern Cenozoic Australia: a multidisciplinary approach. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that by 2020 to 2050, Australia will suffer significant biodiversity loss and water shortages. Our research will document and date the evolution of Australia's biota through three cycles of climate change over the last 25 million years to quantify and thereby better anticipate the nature and dimension of threats facing our natural and cultural communities. We will develop innovative techniques to date prehistoric biotic and climatic events and, using a range of tracers, characterize ancient environments and groundwater. This project will assist rural and regional Australia through education and job creation in geotourism and natural resource interpretation and provide a mechanism to combat generational skill shortage.Read moreRead less
Where will species go? Revolutionising projections of species distributions with climate change. Improving our capacity to predict climate change impacts on biodiversity is a National Research Priority and a priority under the National Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan (2004-2007). Our research will revolutionise the field of bioclimatic modelling by enabling the probability of losses/gains in species distributions to be calculated. This will enable policy makers to identify vulnerable ....Where will species go? Revolutionising projections of species distributions with climate change. Improving our capacity to predict climate change impacts on biodiversity is a National Research Priority and a priority under the National Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan (2004-2007). Our research will revolutionise the field of bioclimatic modelling by enabling the probability of losses/gains in species distributions to be calculated. This will enable policy makers to identify vulnerable species and provides a strong framework for prioritizing areas for research and monitoring. Our research will interface two disciplines, earth and biological sciences, and establish a new international collaboration that will ensure Australia is at the forefront of a rapidly developing research field. Read moreRead less
Global climate change and the future for coral reef fishes. Australia's coral reefs are icons of immense biological, economic and cultural importance. They are also threatened by climate change. This research will address the serious lack of knowledge about the impact of climate change on coral reef fishes and integrate with other research at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies to help find innovative solutions to the problem of climate change and promote the sustainable manageme ....Global climate change and the future for coral reef fishes. Australia's coral reefs are icons of immense biological, economic and cultural importance. They are also threatened by climate change. This research will address the serious lack of knowledge about the impact of climate change on coral reef fishes and integrate with other research at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies to help find innovative solutions to the problem of climate change and promote the sustainable management of Australia's extensive coral reef ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989072
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$100,000.00
Summary
High throughput nitrogen analysis for ecological studies. Australian environments are unproductive partly because they contain little Nitrogen (N) and changes in atmospheric CO2 will exacerbate this. Furthermore, animals cannot extract all the N from the plants they eat. An assay has been developed that measures how much they can extract (available N) and it is intended to use it to measure habitat quality and the effects of climate change over large tracts of land. This requires thousands of ....High throughput nitrogen analysis for ecological studies. Australian environments are unproductive partly because they contain little Nitrogen (N) and changes in atmospheric CO2 will exacerbate this. Furthermore, animals cannot extract all the N from the plants they eat. An assay has been developed that measures how much they can extract (available N) and it is intended to use it to measure habitat quality and the effects of climate change over large tracts of land. This requires thousands of N analyses. The equipment we are requesting - a LECO combustion analyser, allows us to analyse samples quickly and safely and uses fewer chemicals and much less water than do traditional machines.Read moreRead less
Responses of southern Australian mammal faunas to climate change before and after human arrival. In the past 170 years, southern Australia mammals have suffered one of the worst extinction rates in the world. More losses are predicted in the face of global warming. This recent extinction wave follows a major extinction event that saw 90% of Australia's large animals disappear 60,000-40,000 years ago. The causes are hotly debated. Some researchers argue for a human cause, others suggest that clim ....Responses of southern Australian mammal faunas to climate change before and after human arrival. In the past 170 years, southern Australia mammals have suffered one of the worst extinction rates in the world. More losses are predicted in the face of global warming. This recent extinction wave follows a major extinction event that saw 90% of Australia's large animals disappear 60,000-40,000 years ago. The causes are hotly debated. Some researchers argue for a human cause, others suggest that climate change was to blame. This study will refine our knowledge of the timing and causes of these extinctions in southern Australia by assessing how communities responded to climate change in the lead-up to human arrival. It will provide vital information for managing the conservation of many modern species and guide us in limiting future losses.Read moreRead less
ARC Research Network for Understanding and Managing Australian Biodiversity. Biodiversity research is strong in Australia but is highly uncoordinated and, along with recent major breakthroughs in both theory and techniques, has highlighted the need for a Network to properly integrate research and focus it on the most appropriate scale. This Network aims to bring together a diverse spectrum of highly experienced and early career researchers to pool their ideas and expertise to allow them to deter ....ARC Research Network for Understanding and Managing Australian Biodiversity. Biodiversity research is strong in Australia but is highly uncoordinated and, along with recent major breakthroughs in both theory and techniques, has highlighted the need for a Network to properly integrate research and focus it on the most appropriate scale. This Network aims to bring together a diverse spectrum of highly experienced and early career researchers to pool their ideas and expertise to allow them to determine how best to describe Australia's current biodiversity and the biological and environmental history leading up to the present. A major outcome will be the ability to predict the impacts of environmental change on biodiversity to assist management decisions across Australia, with lessons of global importance.Read moreRead less
Climate change and coral reef communities: predicting and managing future impacts. Coral reefs are critically important for the goods and services they provide, but are facing considerable threat from sustained, ongoing climate change. Results from this project, and supplementary data from other researchers within the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, will help develop innovative strategies to manage the effects of climate change on coral reef ecosystems. There is no comparable te ....Climate change and coral reef communities: predicting and managing future impacts. Coral reefs are critically important for the goods and services they provide, but are facing considerable threat from sustained, ongoing climate change. Results from this project, and supplementary data from other researchers within the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, will help develop innovative strategies to manage the effects of climate change on coral reef ecosystems. There is no comparable team in the world that has the capacity or resources to rigorously integrate world-class research into knowledge-based management of coral reef ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Multi-Scale Analysis of the Vulnerability of Coral Reefs to Ocean Acidification. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is one of Australia's biggest icons, and represents more than 10% of the world's coral reefs. It is a World Heritage Area and is home to more than 1 million species. The GBR provides Australia with more than $6 billion in annual national revenue. To help manage for sustained resilience of the GBR in an era of climate change, Australia needs to understand the major threats, in particular ....Multi-Scale Analysis of the Vulnerability of Coral Reefs to Ocean Acidification. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is one of Australia's biggest icons, and represents more than 10% of the world's coral reefs. It is a World Heritage Area and is home to more than 1 million species. The GBR provides Australia with more than $6 billion in annual national revenue. To help manage for sustained resilience of the GBR in an era of climate change, Australia needs to understand the major threats, in particular ocean acidification. By producing an innovative framework for assessing acidification risks, the project will help Australia demonstrate continued stewardship of one of the world's richest and most sensitive ecosystems.Read moreRead less