Turf Wars: fighting the new battle facing blue forests. This project aims to use ecological models and field experiments to uncover drivers and critical thresholds for turf expansion. Habitat loss is a leading threat to goods and services from the oceans. Globally, kelp forests are collapsing and being replaced by persistent unwanted algal ‘turfs’. Understanding of this habitat shift is rudimentary, and solutions to mitigate the impacts virtually non-existent. Through stress experiments and geno ....Turf Wars: fighting the new battle facing blue forests. This project aims to use ecological models and field experiments to uncover drivers and critical thresholds for turf expansion. Habitat loss is a leading threat to goods and services from the oceans. Globally, kelp forests are collapsing and being replaced by persistent unwanted algal ‘turfs’. Understanding of this habitat shift is rudimentary, and solutions to mitigate the impacts virtually non-existent. Through stress experiments and genomic analyses, this project aims to discover resilient kelps that promote forest persistence under stress. By expanding our understanding of critical habitat transitions, and exploring new solutions, this project aims to enhance our capacity to respond to the ongoing degradation of Australia’s Great Southern Reef.Read moreRead less
Escalating the arms race: Understanding when and how trees get really tall. Australia's giant Eucalypt trees are an amazing phenomenon and resource; underpinning unique ecosystems, rich in timber, stored carbon, and animal habitat. While tree height generally arises via an evolutionary arms race for light, the race has escalated dramatically in some locations and species. Using a computational framework that simulates adaptation driven by size-structured competition, this project will quantify h ....Escalating the arms race: Understanding when and how trees get really tall. Australia's giant Eucalypt trees are an amazing phenomenon and resource; underpinning unique ecosystems, rich in timber, stored carbon, and animal habitat. While tree height generally arises via an evolutionary arms race for light, the race has escalated dramatically in some locations and species. Using a computational framework that simulates adaptation driven by size-structured competition, this project will quantify how distinct factors-including climate, recruitment, and disturbance-enhance the race for light and can thereby explain the origins of Australia's giant Eucalypt. With calibrated models of species evolution, coupled with targeted fieldwork and big data, this project clarifies key forces shaping present and future vegetation.Read moreRead less
Silicon: a novel solution to reduce water use and pest damage in wheat. The project aims to improve Australian wheat production by increasing drought resilience and reducing reliance on pesticides. This is achieved by incorporating amorphous silicon (Si), an abundant national resource. Si uptake by wheat has been proven to alleviate stress from drought and pests, but mechanisms and agronomic feasibility remain to be fully assessed. The project will deliver a mechanistic understanding of how Si a ....Silicon: a novel solution to reduce water use and pest damage in wheat. The project aims to improve Australian wheat production by increasing drought resilience and reducing reliance on pesticides. This is achieved by incorporating amorphous silicon (Si), an abundant national resource. Si uptake by wheat has been proven to alleviate stress from drought and pests, but mechanisms and agronomic feasibility remain to be fully assessed. The project will deliver a mechanistic understanding of how Si alleviates stress in wheat, from gene to farm scale, providing cost-benefit analysis and a best–practice toolbox for implementation by farmers. Outcomes are anticipated to provide a cheaper and more environmentally sustainable solution to issues of water scarcity and yield losses to pests in Australia’s leading crop.Read moreRead less
Resolving the role of kelp in blue carbon cycles to enable management. We aim to uncover how kelp forests contribute to carbon storage, biodiversity enhancement and nutrient mitigation in Australia. We will combine mapping and modelling to identify local variation in kelp carbon stocks and sequestration potential and verify kelp carbon export to deep ocean sinks through genetic tracing in seawater and sediments. Co-benefits will be identified through nutrient experiments and reef surveys. We wil ....Resolving the role of kelp in blue carbon cycles to enable management. We aim to uncover how kelp forests contribute to carbon storage, biodiversity enhancement and nutrient mitigation in Australia. We will combine mapping and modelling to identify local variation in kelp carbon stocks and sequestration potential and verify kelp carbon export to deep ocean sinks through genetic tracing in seawater and sediments. Co-benefits will be identified through nutrient experiments and reef surveys. We will also assess the risk that calcification and production of halogenic gas within the kelp forest could offset its climate mitigation potential. Project outcomes will enable management to consider kelp ecosystem services broadly and optimize our capacity to meet current emission reduction and biodiversity commitments.Read moreRead less
Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. This project aims to understand the effects of climate change on marine food webs, from plankton production to predation by iconic marine fauna, by integrating data on oceanographic conditions and fish distribution with the foraging patterns and breeding success of seabirds. Warming waters due to strengthening western boundary currents have unk ....Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. This project aims to understand the effects of climate change on marine food webs, from plankton production to predation by iconic marine fauna, by integrating data on oceanographic conditions and fish distribution with the foraging patterns and breeding success of seabirds. Warming waters due to strengthening western boundary currents have unknown consequences for coastal marine food webs. Innovative prey capture signatures from accelerometers, and advanced movement models from satellite locations will show how predators locate and prey upon fish schools. Anticipated outcomes are insight into how changing resource availability in the oceans affects ecosystem resilience; improved viability for coastal industries; and ecosystem-based conservation management strategies.Read moreRead less
The danger within: assessing the threats to an endangered finch from genetic incompatibility, limited dispersal and effective population size. The Gouldian finch has declined dramatically over the past half century and remains one of Australia's most threatened birds. This project will use some cutting edge genetic techniques to understand some of the processes that undermine the species' recovery and our ability to monitor current populations.
How do plants cope with temporal variability in water and nutrients? Australia's climate and weather are temporally variable, yet we know little of how Australia's flora is affected by temporally variable vs constant supplies of water and nutrients. In addition, climate change will affect our flora by, among other things, increasing temporal variability in water and nutrient availability. This program of research will provide basic data on growth responses to variable vs. constant water and nu ....How do plants cope with temporal variability in water and nutrients? Australia's climate and weather are temporally variable, yet we know little of how Australia's flora is affected by temporally variable vs constant supplies of water and nutrients. In addition, climate change will affect our flora by, among other things, increasing temporal variability in water and nutrient availability. This program of research will provide basic data on growth responses to variable vs. constant water and nutrient availability. Hence, results will be directly applicable to predicting the effects of climate change on growth, species' distribution and community composition. This research will also improve our basic understanding of limitations to photosynthesis, transpiration and nutrient uptake/assimilation.Read moreRead less
Genes to ecosystems: drivers of resilience in underwater marine forests. This project seeks to determine if population connectivity and thermal stress limits the ecological performance and capacity for biological adaptation of seaweed forests to environmental change. The rates of warming in Australia’s temperate marine environments are among the fastest in the world, threatening seaweed forests that support rich marine life and generate substantial socioeconomic values. By integrating studies of ....Genes to ecosystems: drivers of resilience in underwater marine forests. This project seeks to determine if population connectivity and thermal stress limits the ecological performance and capacity for biological adaptation of seaweed forests to environmental change. The rates of warming in Australia’s temperate marine environments are among the fastest in the world, threatening seaweed forests that support rich marine life and generate substantial socioeconomic values. By integrating studies of connectivity among seaweed forests along replicate coastlines on both sides of the Australian continent, with field and breeding experiments, this project expects to expose the role of genetic diversity in mediating ecological resilience to rapid environmental change.Read moreRead less
ARC Australia-New Zealand Research Network for Vegetation Function. Plant species vary widely in quantitative functional traits, and in their relations to climate, soils and geography. Global generalizations are emerging. Vegetation Function network will reach from plant function into genomics and crop breeding, into palaeoecology and vegetation history, into landscape management for carbon, water and salinity outcomes, into forecasting future ecosystems under global change, and into phylogeny, ....ARC Australia-New Zealand Research Network for Vegetation Function. Plant species vary widely in quantitative functional traits, and in their relations to climate, soils and geography. Global generalizations are emerging. Vegetation Function network will reach from plant function into genomics and crop breeding, into palaeoecology and vegetation history, into landscape management for carbon, water and salinity outcomes, into forecasting future ecosystems under global change, and into phylogeny, ecoinformatics and evolutionary theory. Across this span, working groups will target nine identified opportunities for breakthrough research. Each research target needs input from two or more disciplines. Together, the nine targets link across disciplines, as a network that spans from genomic to planetary scales.Read moreRead less
Understanding and reversing the habitat shifts that have endangered the broad-headed snake. Extinction rates for vertebrate species are higher in southern Australia than almost anywhere else in the world, and saving endangered taxa is critical to biodiversity conservation. To do this effectively, researchers need to understand the processes that threaten wild populations, and to develop novel solutions to those problems in close collaboration with wildlife management authorities and other stake ....Understanding and reversing the habitat shifts that have endangered the broad-headed snake. Extinction rates for vertebrate species are higher in southern Australia than almost anywhere else in the world, and saving endangered taxa is critical to biodiversity conservation. To do this effectively, researchers need to understand the processes that threaten wild populations, and to develop novel solutions to those problems in close collaboration with wildlife management authorities and other stakeholders. This project will build such an understanding and collaboration, focusing on an endangered snake species. We propose ambitious landscape-scale field experiments that will simultaneously test hypotheses on threatening processes, and restore habitat quality to reverse population declines.Read moreRead less