Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200100005
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$36,000,000.00
Summary
Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future. This program aims to deliver unprecedented research capability for securing Antarctic environments in the face of uncertain change.
By integrating a highly skilled team with new approaches and breakthrough technologies, the program anticipates discovery science, enhanced environmental forecasting and optimised decision-making to advance Australia’s position as an influential Antarctic nation.
Expected outcomes include better environmental management ....Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future. This program aims to deliver unprecedented research capability for securing Antarctic environments in the face of uncertain change.
By integrating a highly skilled team with new approaches and breakthrough technologies, the program anticipates discovery science, enhanced environmental forecasting and optimised decision-making to advance Australia’s position as an influential Antarctic nation.
Expected outcomes include better environmental management, unparalleled strategic decision-support for an effective Antarctic Treaty, and new minds to address Antarctica’s new challenges.
Anticipated benefits are the means to transform environmental forecasting and management in the Antarctic, for Australia, and to the advantage of global security.Read moreRead less
More bang for your carbon buck: carbon, biodiversity and water balance consequences of whole-catchment carbon farming. Farming carbon via tree plantings on pasture land is becoming increasingly common to address the effects of climate change. This activity is likely to produce dramatic changes in Australia's rural landscapes, but we have little knowledge of likely effects on crucial ecosystem services and attributes such as stream water yields and biodiversity. This project will investigate the ....More bang for your carbon buck: carbon, biodiversity and water balance consequences of whole-catchment carbon farming. Farming carbon via tree plantings on pasture land is becoming increasingly common to address the effects of climate change. This activity is likely to produce dramatic changes in Australia's rural landscapes, but we have little knowledge of likely effects on crucial ecosystem services and attributes such as stream water yields and biodiversity. This project will investigate the relationship between tree cover, carbon uptake, water yield and biodiversity. The outcomes will allow government agencies, landowners and carbon farming groups to better evaluate the effects of different landscape planning options and contribute to effective long-term planning for multiple goals.Read moreRead less
Development of an 'ageing household' model for assessing medium to long-term vaccine impact in populations. As birth rates in developed and newly industrialising countries fall, so too do the number of households containing children, with implications for the spread of infections in families. We aim to study the influence of this phenomenon on the risk of common childhood infections, and the length of time that vaccines given in infancy will protect.
Temperature sensitivity of soil respiration and its components. This project aims to demonstrate how temperate evergreen forests could buffer against climate change. Soil respiration returns around half the carbon taken up by forests to the atmosphere. This project will characterise and quantify how microbes and roots in soils depend on temperature and substrate supply, and so predict how rising temperatures and drought will affect forests as natural carbon sequestration sinks. This project will ....Temperature sensitivity of soil respiration and its components. This project aims to demonstrate how temperate evergreen forests could buffer against climate change. Soil respiration returns around half the carbon taken up by forests to the atmosphere. This project will characterise and quantify how microbes and roots in soils depend on temperature and substrate supply, and so predict how rising temperatures and drought will affect forests as natural carbon sequestration sinks. This project will resolve the roles of environmental drivers of soil respiration across forests; integrate mechanistic understanding of differing plant and microbial responses to temperature within a common modelling framework; and evaluate the implications of this knowledge in predictions of climatic impacts on terrestrial carbon cycling.Read moreRead less
Integrative assessment of disturbance and land-use change on total greenhouse gas balance and nutrient cycling in savanna ecosystems. Climate change and variability is expected to have an impact on the NT environment and economy. This project will enable NT specific calibrations of climate variability-land use models, such as the National Carbon Accounting System. The NT Government will have access to a high quality database and calibrated models relating to greenhouse gas emissions as a functio ....Integrative assessment of disturbance and land-use change on total greenhouse gas balance and nutrient cycling in savanna ecosystems. Climate change and variability is expected to have an impact on the NT environment and economy. This project will enable NT specific calibrations of climate variability-land use models, such as the National Carbon Accounting System. The NT Government will have access to a high quality database and calibrated models relating to greenhouse gas emissions as a function of land use change. The project will improve estimates and management of GHG and provide a basis for the NT to potentially exploit future carbon-trading initiatives or GHG abatement schemes as fundamental data describing emissions as a function of land use will be available. This is of national significance given the size of the savanna biome in Australia.Read moreRead less
Australian savannah landscapes: past, present and future. Australian savannahs are productive and culturally and biologically significant landscapes but are vulnerable to climate change. The project will determine savannah function (carbon and water balance) for the present and assess how sensitive they have been to past climate variability. The project will then address how they may respond to future climate change.
Tolerance of temperature extremes under drought: linking physiological processes with morphological constraints on leaf function. Freezing temperatures affect over 70% of Australia. Each year frosts cause substantial damage to agriculture and forestry. We will examine how decrease in hydraulic conduit diameter increases freeze tolerance in native woody species and quantify impacts of this tolerance on productivity of leaves. The results have application in managing temperate woody vegetation un ....Tolerance of temperature extremes under drought: linking physiological processes with morphological constraints on leaf function. Freezing temperatures affect over 70% of Australia. Each year frosts cause substantial damage to agriculture and forestry. We will examine how decrease in hydraulic conduit diameter increases freeze tolerance in native woody species and quantify impacts of this tolerance on productivity of leaves. The results have application in managing temperate woody vegetation under current and future climate scenarios. By improving understanding of the behaviour of water in leaves during freezing, we will contribute to improved models of physical stresses and strains in biological tissues during freezing, which find application in cryo-storage of biological materials important in agriculture, medicine, and conservation.Read moreRead less
Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in afforested ecosystems in southeastern Australia - fluxes, processes and regional budget. There are no data available about the extent of emissions of the non-CO2 greenhouse gases nitrous oxide and methane from soils of forest ecosystems in Australia and the current methodolgy to quantify these emissions contains high uncertainties. Using the latest technology available we propose to i) measure emission rates of afforested ecosystems for non-CO2 greenhouse gase ....Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in afforested ecosystems in southeastern Australia - fluxes, processes and regional budget. There are no data available about the extent of emissions of the non-CO2 greenhouse gases nitrous oxide and methane from soils of forest ecosystems in Australia and the current methodolgy to quantify these emissions contains high uncertainties. Using the latest technology available we propose to i) measure emission rates of afforested ecosystems for non-CO2 greenhouse gases in relation to previous land-use in southeastern Australia, ii) identify the processes controlling the emissions, iii) use the obtained data to calibrate a biogeochemical model, and iv) use the model to estimate regional inventories for non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in southeastern Australia.Read moreRead less
Coping with temperature extremes: morphological constraints on leaf function in a warmer, drier climate. This project will determine how hydraulic properties of temperate, evergreen leaves affect their capacity to cope with seasonal variation in temperature extremes. The results will enhance mechanistic understanding of temperature tolerance, and inform prediction of vegetation change in response to climate warming and increasing CO2 concentrations.