Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882682
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$100,000.00
Summary
The Australasian Pollen and Spore Atlas. The results generated in this project will enhance Australian research capabilities across multiple disciplines by providing access to key knowledge of pollen and spores in our region. A unified approach to the archiving, presentation and accessibility to existing and evolving databases will provide a considerably improved context for identification and knowledge pooling of any given pollen or spore type. This will create a nexus for novel interactions be ....The Australasian Pollen and Spore Atlas. The results generated in this project will enhance Australian research capabilities across multiple disciplines by providing access to key knowledge of pollen and spores in our region. A unified approach to the archiving, presentation and accessibility to existing and evolving databases will provide a considerably improved context for identification and knowledge pooling of any given pollen or spore type. This will create a nexus for novel interactions between researchers and end users of these data from within and beyond Australia's borders.Read moreRead less
High-resolution records of climatic change in Australia, both on land and at sea covering the last 20,000 years. This project aims to determine climatic changes in the Australian region since the deglaciation commenced 20,000 years ago at a century scale or better. The information is to be obtained from high-quality records of carefully selected lakes and deep-sea cores in the Australian region. The project will rely on high-resolution chronological records of environmental changes. Several geo ....High-resolution records of climatic change in Australia, both on land and at sea covering the last 20,000 years. This project aims to determine climatic changes in the Australian region since the deglaciation commenced 20,000 years ago at a century scale or better. The information is to be obtained from high-quality records of carefully selected lakes and deep-sea cores in the Australian region. The project will rely on high-resolution chronological records of environmental changes. Several geochemical and micropalaeontological techniques will be used to determine conditions in the lakes and ocean, and links to atmospheric conditions will be determined. This information is of relevance to the international climate community which aims at modelling high-quality and high-resolution records of climate change.Read moreRead less
The history of North Stradbroke Island's wetlands: defining natural climate variability in south-east Queensland and improving ecosystem management. South-east Queensland has among the fastest growing populations in Australia. It has also experienced severe drought lasting more than a decade. These combined pressures have led to the expenditure of more than $9 Billion on water resource development. However, it is not known whether the current drought is part of a natural cycle (or, importantly, ....The history of North Stradbroke Island's wetlands: defining natural climate variability in south-east Queensland and improving ecosystem management. South-east Queensland has among the fastest growing populations in Australia. It has also experienced severe drought lasting more than a decade. These combined pressures have led to the expenditure of more than $9 Billion on water resource development. However, it is not known whether the current drought is part of a natural cycle (or, importantly, if it represents the worst extremes in such a cycle). We will determine whether this is the case and, in doing so, contribute to national and international debates about the role of human-induced vs natural climate change.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0567379
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$110,000.00
Summary
The Australasian Pollen and Spore Atlas. This proposal will enable online accessibility to the largest collection of pollen and spores information in the Australasian region that is currently located at the Australian National University. This will be a searchable database that is accessible over the web and suitable for professional as well as the technical novice involved in pollen and spore identification. Novel approaches to the federation of other smaller existing pollen and spores database ....The Australasian Pollen and Spore Atlas. This proposal will enable online accessibility to the largest collection of pollen and spores information in the Australasian region that is currently located at the Australian National University. This will be a searchable database that is accessible over the web and suitable for professional as well as the technical novice involved in pollen and spore identification. Novel approaches to the federation of other smaller existing pollen and spores databases will result in The Australasian Pollen and Spores Atlas. The Atlas will be a flexible and powerful knowledge management tool applicable to research development by a wide range of users including those within the archaeology, biology, geology, and airborne allergy specialists.Read moreRead less
Thresholds and hysteresis: how do abrupt changes in the Asian monsoon affect ecosystems and environmental processes? The effect of predicted climatic change on livelihoods and regional stability in the developing world has become a first-order strategic and security concern. Encouraging research into the impact of climate change within the Asia-Pacific is of immediate strategic and economic interest to Australia. The proposed research will document the response of tropical ecosystems to past cl ....Thresholds and hysteresis: how do abrupt changes in the Asian monsoon affect ecosystems and environmental processes? The effect of predicted climatic change on livelihoods and regional stability in the developing world has become a first-order strategic and security concern. Encouraging research into the impact of climate change within the Asia-Pacific is of immediate strategic and economic interest to Australia. The proposed research will document the response of tropical ecosystems to past climate change in order to better understand the likely consequences of future climate fluctuations.Read moreRead less
Drought, El Niño and Climate Change in Queensland over the last 200,000 years: the Lynch's Crater lake record. Lynch's Crater (Queensland) provides the longest, most sensitive terrestrial record of vegetation and climate change in the low altitude tropics. A multidisciplinary approach will exploit the potential of a core collected in 2003 through high-resolution multiproxy (sedimentology, geochemistry, stable and radiogenic isotopes, pollen, charcoal and diatoms) studies. The results will contri ....Drought, El Niño and Climate Change in Queensland over the last 200,000 years: the Lynch's Crater lake record. Lynch's Crater (Queensland) provides the longest, most sensitive terrestrial record of vegetation and climate change in the low altitude tropics. A multidisciplinary approach will exploit the potential of a core collected in 2003 through high-resolution multiproxy (sedimentology, geochemistry, stable and radiogenic isotopes, pollen, charcoal and diatoms) studies. The results will contribute substantially to the resolution of current debates on the role of the tropics in global climate forcing at a variety of temporal scales, including that of the El Niño phenomenon. The reconstruction of temperature and precipitation over the past 200,000 years will improve global climate databases and prediction models.Read moreRead less
European impact on Eastern Australian coastal lakes: understanding pre-impact conditions and post-settlement modification. Coastal lakes are vulnerable to European impact, yet little is known about how they have been altered in the last 200 years. For example: Are blue-green algal blooms a natural occurrence in coastal lakes? How long have freshwater lakes been isolated from the ocean? Preliminary results indicate that, at key sites, blue-green algae were more abundant before European settlement ....European impact on Eastern Australian coastal lakes: understanding pre-impact conditions and post-settlement modification. Coastal lakes are vulnerable to European impact, yet little is known about how they have been altered in the last 200 years. For example: Are blue-green algal blooms a natural occurrence in coastal lakes? How long have freshwater lakes been isolated from the ocean? Preliminary results indicate that, at key sites, blue-green algae were more abundant before European settlement and that coastal lakes thought to be permanently fresh have been exposed to the ocean within the past 200 years. By documenting change at representative sites, the project will identify which lake types are most vulnerable to impact. Results from the project will ensure that costly restoration efforts are not misplaced.Read moreRead less
Precious time-capsule: discovery of fossil-rich amber from Australia. Cape York's natural attributes are already of national and global significance. Our research, which focuses on the world's most recently discovered, fossil-rich amber deposit will significantly increase this value. In addition to discovery of hundreds of stunningly-well preserved fossil organisms, analysis of trapped bubbles of ancient air will enable us to reconstruct their prehistoric environment. This should improve ability ....Precious time-capsule: discovery of fossil-rich amber from Australia. Cape York's natural attributes are already of national and global significance. Our research, which focuses on the world's most recently discovered, fossil-rich amber deposit will significantly increase this value. In addition to discovery of hundreds of stunningly-well preserved fossil organisms, analysis of trapped bubbles of ancient air will enable us to reconstruct their prehistoric environment. This should improve ability to anticipate biotic responses to future climate change. The amber industry globally contributes to national wealth. Increasing understanding about the geology and palaeontology of this amber deposit will maximise commercial and scientific benefits to the nation.Read moreRead less
Links Between Modern and Fossil Microbes and the Evolution of Life in Earth's Extreme Early Environments. The quest to understand early and modern life in extreme environments tackles some of the most profound questions of humankind. The novel application of spectroscopic techniques to investigate modern and fossil microbes presents an unprecedented opportunity to establish the link between primitive living and fossil organisms, thus enriching our understanding of the early evolution of life and ....Links Between Modern and Fossil Microbes and the Evolution of Life in Earth's Extreme Early Environments. The quest to understand early and modern life in extreme environments tackles some of the most profound questions of humankind. The novel application of spectroscopic techniques to investigate modern and fossil microbes presents an unprecedented opportunity to establish the link between primitive living and fossil organisms, thus enriching our understanding of the early evolution of life and its interactions with Earth's early environments. The project links fundamental processes that shaped the Earth and thus fits into the National Research Priority 1: An Environmentally Sustainable Australia. Read moreRead less