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
Impacts of climate change on sustainability of temperate native pasture: an experiment. The sustainable use of temperate native pastures is important economically because of grazing and for biodiversity since they are home to many threatened plants. Native pasture sustainability depends on maintaining species diversity and vegetation productivity. Climate change is likely to have major impacts on both factors. The aims of this project are to elucidate the impacts of climate change on the species ....Impacts of climate change on sustainability of temperate native pasture: an experiment. The sustainable use of temperate native pastures is important economically because of grazing and for biodiversity since they are home to many threatened plants. Native pasture sustainability depends on maintaining species diversity and vegetation productivity. Climate change is likely to have major impacts on both factors. The aims of this project are to elucidate the impacts of climate change on the species composition, productivity and nutritional quality of a grazed native pasture. This is important, as it will allow us to predict likely problems caused by global climate change and increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying these changes.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
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882935
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$110,000.00
Summary
Tuneable diode laser for field and laboratory measurement of stable isotopes of CO2. The tuneable diode laser system will facilitate projects with major environmental benefits to Australia. Projects will provide major insights into Australia's CO2 balance. This will improve our ability to predict whether ecosystems are net sources or sinks for CO2 -- information that underpins Australia's greenhouse gas balance. The tuneable diode laser system will also benefit Australia's economy via enhanci ....Tuneable diode laser for field and laboratory measurement of stable isotopes of CO2. The tuneable diode laser system will facilitate projects with major environmental benefits to Australia. Projects will provide major insights into Australia's CO2 balance. This will improve our ability to predict whether ecosystems are net sources or sinks for CO2 -- information that underpins Australia's greenhouse gas balance. The tuneable diode laser system will also benefit Australia's economy via enhancing understanding of agricultural and forest production, a key portion of our GDP. These economic benefits will stem from new knowledge about the limitations to plant growth and the water-use efficiency of plants. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775739
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$135,000.00
Summary
Environmental Research Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (ERIRMS). The projects supported by this facility are esential to: sustainable management of Sydney's surface and groundwater; understanding food webs and trophic interactions in Sydney Harbour and elsewhere on the eastern seaboard; developing predictive models for the impacts of climate change on Australia's forests, especially carbon sequestration and water yield; understanding the trade-offs involved in managing fire risks through prescr ....Environmental Research Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (ERIRMS). The projects supported by this facility are esential to: sustainable management of Sydney's surface and groundwater; understanding food webs and trophic interactions in Sydney Harbour and elsewhere on the eastern seaboard; developing predictive models for the impacts of climate change on Australia's forests, especially carbon sequestration and water yield; understanding the trade-offs involved in managing fire risks through prescribed burning, especially trade-offs involving carbon and water; and understanding and predicting air quality and the effects of emissions from cars, industry, fires and natural sources.
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Elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) effects on vegetation: repairing the disconnect between experiments and models. Ecosystem models are important tools used in a variety of applications, including predicting how vegetation uptake of carbon affects global climate, estimating carbon sequestration by natural and planted forests and determining water yield of catchments. Although there has been a massive investment in experiments to determine plant response to elevated carbon dioxide [CO2], ecosystem mod ....Elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) effects on vegetation: repairing the disconnect between experiments and models. Ecosystem models are important tools used in a variety of applications, including predicting how vegetation uptake of carbon affects global climate, estimating carbon sequestration by natural and planted forests and determining water yield of catchments. Although there has been a massive investment in experiments to determine plant response to elevated carbon dioxide [CO2], ecosystem models do not incorporate this body of data as well as they could. This project will use innovative methods to bridge the gap between experimental data and ecosystem models, resulting in significantly improved information for managers of Australia's natural resources into the future.Read moreRead less
Mid-rotation diagnosis and management options for correction of water and nutrient deficiencies in plantation-grown eucalypts. This research will improve productivity of bluegum plantations by improving current diagnostic techniques (foliage and soil analysis) for nutrient disorders and the supply of water. Using a novel phloem sampling and analysis technique, we will develop a nutrient (e.g. N, P) and water diagnosis procedure that is quick, cheap, robust and reliable for field use. A major in ....Mid-rotation diagnosis and management options for correction of water and nutrient deficiencies in plantation-grown eucalypts. This research will improve productivity of bluegum plantations by improving current diagnostic techniques (foliage and soil analysis) for nutrient disorders and the supply of water. Using a novel phloem sampling and analysis technique, we will develop a nutrient (e.g. N, P) and water diagnosis procedure that is quick, cheap, robust and reliable for field use. A major innovation will be distinguishing the effects of shortages of water on growth from those of other growth influences. Overall, this project will provide a highly significant theoretical, conceptual and practical advance in mid-rotation, diagnostics for plantations with considerable commercial promise.Read moreRead less
Reengineering a dynamic vegetation model to explore the stability of Australian terrestrial carbon. Overseas models do not represent Australian biophysical processes well: our flora and fauna are unique and our soils are old and nutrient poor. In contrast, the National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS) is a world-class framework for estimating current carbon processes. By building NCAS expertise into an overseas model of soil and vegetation processes we can develop the capacity to increase our con ....Reengineering a dynamic vegetation model to explore the stability of Australian terrestrial carbon. Overseas models do not represent Australian biophysical processes well: our flora and fauna are unique and our soils are old and nutrient poor. In contrast, the National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS) is a world-class framework for estimating current carbon processes. By building NCAS expertise into an overseas model of soil and vegetation processes we can develop the capacity to increase our confidence in future projections of carbon and vegetation change. Our proposal, linking Universities, CSIRO and the Australian Greenhouse Office establishes a team that is internationally competitive. It will enhance local expertise and local model development to ensure national policy development is underpinned by world-class science.Read moreRead less
Assimilation of trace atmospheric constituents for climate (ATACC): Linking chemical weather and climate. Changes in atmospheric ozone and carbon dioxide affect many aspects of surface climate from changes in ultraviolet radiation (ozone) to long-term changes in temperature (carbon dioxide). Better mapping of these gases will help us understand, predict and manage these changes. For ozone, it will clarify the link between ozone and surface weather. For carbon dioxide, improved knowledge of the ....Assimilation of trace atmospheric constituents for climate (ATACC): Linking chemical weather and climate. Changes in atmospheric ozone and carbon dioxide affect many aspects of surface climate from changes in ultraviolet radiation (ozone) to long-term changes in temperature (carbon dioxide). Better mapping of these gases will help us understand, predict and manage these changes. For ozone, it will clarify the link between ozone and surface weather. For carbon dioxide, improved knowledge of the impact of tropical deforestation, land clearing and changes in the southern ocean on atmospheric CO2 will support sustainable development in Australia and our region. The project hence addresses the priority goal 'Responding to climate change and variability` under the National Research Priority 'An Environmentally Sustainable Australia`.
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Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882936
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$135,000.00
Summary
MEGA - Mobile Ecosystem Gas-exchange Analyser for Australian landscapes. This Mobile Ecosystem Gas-exchange Analyser will be able to continuously monitor water, energy, carbon and nitrogen exchange in a multitude of uniquely Australian ecosystems: from low-canopy forests (up to 20m) and afforested plantations to wetlands and agricultural grazing, cropping, horticulture and viticulture systems. This research capacity provides benefits and opportunities such as 1) community resource 2) monitoring ....MEGA - Mobile Ecosystem Gas-exchange Analyser for Australian landscapes. This Mobile Ecosystem Gas-exchange Analyser will be able to continuously monitor water, energy, carbon and nitrogen exchange in a multitude of uniquely Australian ecosystems: from low-canopy forests (up to 20m) and afforested plantations to wetlands and agricultural grazing, cropping, horticulture and viticulture systems. This research capacity provides benefits and opportunities such as 1) community resource 2) monitoring tool for carbon and water budgets 3) mobile process laboratory 4) data for model validation. The susceptibility and vulnerability of ecosystems to changing temperature and extended drought will be determined.Read moreRead less