Integrated Farm Modelling to Improve Resilience and Sustainable Prosperity. This project aims to improve farm resilience, farm management, and economic decision-making in Australia and internationally. It expects to generate new interdisciplinary knowledge to integrate our understanding of agro-ecosystems and innovative tools to assess their status and manage their operations more effectively. Expected outcomes include the ability to inform farmers, bankers, and land managers about the trade-off ....Integrated Farm Modelling to Improve Resilience and Sustainable Prosperity. This project aims to improve farm resilience, farm management, and economic decision-making in Australia and internationally. It expects to generate new interdisciplinary knowledge to integrate our understanding of agro-ecosystems and innovative tools to assess their status and manage their operations more effectively. Expected outcomes include the ability to inform farmers, bankers, and land managers about the trade-offs between resilience and efficiency on farms. This should provide significant benefits, including the ability to minimize financial risks to farmers and banks, allow better investment decisions, and achieve sustainable long-term outcomes for both private and public well-being.Read moreRead less
Clothes, fibres and filters that reduce pollution by micro and nano debris. This project aims to provide scientifically verified methods to avoid, intercept and redesign products that cause the most abundant type of marine plastic pollution – clothing fibres - which has increased by over 450% in 60 years. It will determine how natural and plastic fibres, clothing brands and washing machine filters, alter fibre emissions and ecological impacts. This will enable protocols to improve products and t ....Clothes, fibres and filters that reduce pollution by micro and nano debris. This project aims to provide scientifically verified methods to avoid, intercept and redesign products that cause the most abundant type of marine plastic pollution – clothing fibres - which has increased by over 450% in 60 years. It will determine how natural and plastic fibres, clothing brands and washing machine filters, alter fibre emissions and ecological impacts. This will enable protocols to improve products and the environment, and reduce health risks that will benefit the public, government regulation and companies in designing "eco-friendly" products.Read moreRead less
How effective are environmental flows? Novel approaches for monitoring and assessing ecological responses to large-scale flow alteration. Australia has begun a multi-billion dollar program to return water to stressed rivers as environmental flows. However, during times of unprecedented water scarcity, such an investment in the environment can be controversial because the ecological benefits of released water are mostly poorly understood. This project will demonstrate the effectiveness of environ ....How effective are environmental flows? Novel approaches for monitoring and assessing ecological responses to large-scale flow alteration. Australia has begun a multi-billion dollar program to return water to stressed rivers as environmental flows. However, during times of unprecedented water scarcity, such an investment in the environment can be controversial because the ecological benefits of released water are mostly poorly understood. This project will demonstrate the effectiveness of environmental flows, and promote greater understanding of the links between flow patterns and river health. The project will build upon existing knowledge to create a sound framework for planning, monitoring, and evaluation of environmental watering decisions across regional Australia, greatly improving our ability to sustainably manage rivers into the future.Read moreRead less
A global standard for the status of Wetlands of International Importance. The project will develop and test a new global standard for the assessment and reporting on ecological condition of internationally important wetlands, listed under the Ramsar Convention. It has four aims: establishment of a strategic adaptive management and governance framework, a meta-analysis of the 2,303 internationally listed wetlands, development of a protocol for assessment and prediction and delivering a digital re ....A global standard for the status of Wetlands of International Importance. The project will develop and test a new global standard for the assessment and reporting on ecological condition of internationally important wetlands, listed under the Ramsar Convention. It has four aims: establishment of a strategic adaptive management and governance framework, a meta-analysis of the 2,303 internationally listed wetlands, development of a protocol for assessment and prediction and delivering a digital reporting platform for effective management. The project is significant because it tackles the decline of freshwater ecosystems, by targeting the most prominent wetlands. It also assists state and national governments to meet their obligations under the Ramsar Convention and most importantly guides more effective management.Read moreRead less
Water, carbon, and economics: resolving complex linkages for river health. By linking landscapes into our emerging low-carbon economy, this project will investigate how land management practices can be improved through payments for ecosystem services. With a focus on water and carbon, the main goal is to develop mechanisms to support integrated land and water management at the catchment scale.
Impacts of locust control pesticides on arid-zone fauna. Impacts of locust control pesticides on arid-zone fauna. This project aims to understand how different animals encounter pesticide in the landscape through quantifying residue deposition in arid grasslands and investigating how pesticides used to control locust plagues affect fauna. This project will investigate fenitrothion and fipronil, the main pesticides used in Australia for locust control. It will develop a deposition model for aeria ....Impacts of locust control pesticides on arid-zone fauna. Impacts of locust control pesticides on arid-zone fauna. This project aims to understand how different animals encounter pesticide in the landscape through quantifying residue deposition in arid grasslands and investigating how pesticides used to control locust plagues affect fauna. This project will investigate fenitrothion and fipronil, the main pesticides used in Australia for locust control. It will develop a deposition model for aerial pesticide spraying, determine the short-term effect of sprayed pesticides on the behaviour and condition of free-ranging target fauna that use the environment differently, and quantify the relative importance of dietary and non-dietary exposure routes to gauge the importance of animal behaviour on pesticide exposure. Anticipated outcomes are improved baseline assessments for locusticides.Read moreRead less
Vulnerabilities for environmental water outcomes in a changing climate. This project aims to assess the vulnerability of freshwater ecosystems to extended droughts in a variable and changing climate. Governments around the world are investing in the restoration of regulated river systems with environmental water. However, the risks of climate change for environmental water management are seldom considered. This project will model the change in environmental and consumptive water use during exten ....Vulnerabilities for environmental water outcomes in a changing climate. This project aims to assess the vulnerability of freshwater ecosystems to extended droughts in a variable and changing climate. Governments around the world are investing in the restoration of regulated river systems with environmental water. However, the risks of climate change for environmental water management are seldom considered. This project will model the change in environmental and consumptive water use during extended dry periods, and couple this to models of ecological dynamics and failure thresholds. This will improve the success of Australia’s major environmental water programs in sustaining benefits through future multi-year droughts.Read moreRead less
New tools to detect ecological effects of contaminants in estuaries. Identifying risks to estuarine environments from pollutants is difficult for environmental managers, who must choose between laboratory toxicity testing that is precise, but hard to generalise to field situations, and more realistic field-based monitoring, which is expensive, with a high signal to noise ratio. New molecular techniques may provide more options. Metabolomics can provide insights into the health of animals, and ec ....New tools to detect ecological effects of contaminants in estuaries. Identifying risks to estuarine environments from pollutants is difficult for environmental managers, who must choose between laboratory toxicity testing that is precise, but hard to generalise to field situations, and more realistic field-based monitoring, which is expensive, with a high signal to noise ratio. New molecular techniques may provide more options. Metabolomics can provide insights into the health of animals, and ecogenomics offers a way to rapidly assess the composition of an ecological community. These techniques offer great promise, but they must be cross-validated against existing methods to derive the best ’toolbox’. Working with Melbourne Water and CSIRO the investigators aim to do this using demonstration estuaries in Victoria.Read moreRead less
Indigenous-led Sea Country Management: Protecting Australia's Marine Estate. This project aims to understand and support the aspirations and achievements of Sea Country Traditional Owners in leading the management of their marine and coastal estates. The project expects to generate new approaches to marine management based on Indigenous knowledge and governance systems and reconceptualise marine spatial and conservation planning methodologies. Expected outcomes include solutions to problems face ....Indigenous-led Sea Country Management: Protecting Australia's Marine Estate. This project aims to understand and support the aspirations and achievements of Sea Country Traditional Owners in leading the management of their marine and coastal estates. The project expects to generate new approaches to marine management based on Indigenous knowledge and governance systems and reconceptualise marine spatial and conservation planning methodologies. Expected outcomes include solutions to problems faced by Indigenous and non-Indigenous marine managers working in remote and cross-cultural spaces and supporting governments to implement effective and equitable legal and policy frameworks. This may provide significant cultural, environmental and economic benefits to Traditional Owners, governments and the Australian community.Read moreRead less
Fauna, fuel and fire: effects of animals on bushfire risk. This project aims to determine the extent that animals influence fire regimes through effects on fuel load and characteristics. Minimising the risk of large, severe bushfires, while conserving native species is one of the greatest challenges facing managers of fire-prone ecosystems globally. Using a powerful combination of landscape-scale field observations, experimental manipulations of animal densities, and modelling, the project expec ....Fauna, fuel and fire: effects of animals on bushfire risk. This project aims to determine the extent that animals influence fire regimes through effects on fuel load and characteristics. Minimising the risk of large, severe bushfires, while conserving native species is one of the greatest challenges facing managers of fire-prone ecosystems globally. Using a powerful combination of landscape-scale field observations, experimental manipulations of animal densities, and modelling, the project expects to quantify interactions between animals, bushfire fuel and fire regimes in south eastern Australian forests, woodlands and scrublands. This evidence should benefit the design of integrated, efficient, and complementary strategies for fire and fauna management in Australia’s extensive fire-prone ecosystems.Read moreRead less