The last glaciation maximum climate conundrum and environmental responses of the Australian continent to altered climate states. This project will show how climate systems in south east Australia responded to large scale global change the last time this happened, which was about 21,000 years ago. By determining the climate response in Australia to this change, this project will help predict future response in rainfall and temperature to human-induced and natural climate change.
Ancient Ecology: Changes in penguin diet over ~30,000 years in Antarctica. This project proposes the first direct study of ancient ecology using a combination of second-generation DNA sequencing and targeted gene recovery. The food web of the Antarctic Ocean is a classic textbook example of energy and nutrient cycling in the marine environment. Although a great deal is known about the current status of this food web, understanding how this complex set of predator / prey relationships have change ....Ancient Ecology: Changes in penguin diet over ~30,000 years in Antarctica. This project proposes the first direct study of ancient ecology using a combination of second-generation DNA sequencing and targeted gene recovery. The food web of the Antarctic Ocean is a classic textbook example of energy and nutrient cycling in the marine environment. Although a great deal is known about the current status of this food web, understanding how this complex set of predator / prey relationships have changed over long periods of time is vital to understanding the nature of the system itself. The project intends to track changes in the diet of Adélie penguins from serially preserved ancient fecal (guano) remains dating back approximately 30,000 years. These remains are known to contain microscopic remnants of penguin prey.Read moreRead less
Quantifying the impacts of environmental stress on marine microorganisms. Microorganisms underpin marine ecosystem health, yet there is limited understanding of how they will respond to different environmental pressures. This project will resolve this critical knowledge gap by developing a unique molecular platform for deriving quantitative stress thresholds for microbial communities inhabiting key reef habitats (seawater, sediments, invertebrates). Quantifying how reef microorganisms respond to ....Quantifying the impacts of environmental stress on marine microorganisms. Microorganisms underpin marine ecosystem health, yet there is limited understanding of how they will respond to different environmental pressures. This project will resolve this critical knowledge gap by developing a unique molecular platform for deriving quantitative stress thresholds for microbial communities inhabiting key reef habitats (seawater, sediments, invertebrates). Quantifying how reef microorganisms respond to a broad suite of environmental perturbations (temperature, nutrients, contaminants), will generate stress-response data that can be incorporated alongside eukaryotic data in environmental assessments, greatly improving the ecological relevance and reliability of risk and vulnerability assessments.Read moreRead less
Future fisheries under climate change: the missing role of zooplankton. This project aims to develop the first global ecosystem model with a more realistic representation of zooplankton. Fish are the main source of protein for 3 billion people, yet fish catches are declining. Current models of future fish biomass under climate change do not consider the complex role that zooplankton play in transferring energy from phytoplankton to fish. By resolving the link between phytoplankton and fish, this ....Future fisheries under climate change: the missing role of zooplankton. This project aims to develop the first global ecosystem model with a more realistic representation of zooplankton. Fish are the main source of protein for 3 billion people, yet fish catches are declining. Current models of future fish biomass under climate change do not consider the complex role that zooplankton play in transferring energy from phytoplankton to fish. By resolving the link between phytoplankton and fish, this project will vastly improve estimates of future global fisheries production and regional variation. Such knowledge is vital for future food security in Australia and globally, and also to understand the role of zooplankton in carbon export in the ocean.Read moreRead less
Enabling social innovation for local climate adaptability. Climate variability and change is likely to be felt most acutely at the local scale in Australia. This is where inter/national and State policies are translated into practices to prepare for, and adapt to, anticipated impacts of heatwaves, bushfires and floods. This project will investigate tensions and potentialities between risk-based assessments by local governance agencies and innovations by local groups and Non-Government Organisati ....Enabling social innovation for local climate adaptability. Climate variability and change is likely to be felt most acutely at the local scale in Australia. This is where inter/national and State policies are translated into practices to prepare for, and adapt to, anticipated impacts of heatwaves, bushfires and floods. This project will investigate tensions and potentialities between risk-based assessments by local governance agencies and innovations by local groups and Non-Government Organisations. The research will utilise an innovative mixed-methods approach to investigate and to analyse the strategies and experiments of adaptation practices. It aims to develop new ways of identifying and implementing practical, local, adaptive responses that are contextually relevant, socially innovative and capacity building.Read moreRead less
The Southern Ocean's response to abrupt climate change. This project aims to determine how the Southern Ocean responds to abrupt climate change, through geochemical analysis of marine sediment cores. Rapid warming events of the last ice age provide an analogue to human-caused warming. Experiments using ocean climate models will evaluate the drivers and consequences of the biogeochemical response of different sectors and zones of the Southern Ocean. The intended outcome is a better understanding ....The Southern Ocean's response to abrupt climate change. This project aims to determine how the Southern Ocean responds to abrupt climate change, through geochemical analysis of marine sediment cores. Rapid warming events of the last ice age provide an analogue to human-caused warming. Experiments using ocean climate models will evaluate the drivers and consequences of the biogeochemical response of different sectors and zones of the Southern Ocean. The intended outcome is a better understanding of how and why climate change impacts ocean productivity in the ecologically significant Southern Ocean. This will lead to better representations of carbon feedbacks in climate models and more robust projections of future climate change.Read moreRead less
Is there a climatic tipping point for Antarctic Bottom Water formation? Antarctic Bottom Water plays an important role in global ocean circulation and climate and yet its formation is also highly sensitive to climate change. This project will analyse new seafloor, core and water samples from the understudied Cape Darnley, East Antarctica, collected on a voyage in early 2022. This new data will be used in combination with an improved high resolution regional ocean model, to understand modern and ....Is there a climatic tipping point for Antarctic Bottom Water formation? Antarctic Bottom Water plays an important role in global ocean circulation and climate and yet its formation is also highly sensitive to climate change. This project will analyse new seafloor, core and water samples from the understudied Cape Darnley, East Antarctica, collected on a voyage in early 2022. This new data will be used in combination with an improved high resolution regional ocean model, to understand modern and past Antarctic Bottom Water formation under different climate states (warmer and colder than present), to determine if there are climate tipping points for the shut down of Antarctic Bottom Water formation. The anticipated benefits include a better understanding of future climate change on this important water mass.Read moreRead less
When Sinks Become Sources;
Understanding Persistent Organic Pollutant Behaviour in Dynamic Polar Environments. Polar regions are environmental ‘sinks’ for man-made, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The unique biogeochemical processes governing POP behaviour in the Polar landscape are not understood, yet are necessary to predict their impact in polar ecosystems. The Antarctic seasonal-ice zone provides an archetype for multi-compartment, temporal observations of POP partitioning in respons ....When Sinks Become Sources;
Understanding Persistent Organic Pollutant Behaviour in Dynamic Polar Environments. Polar regions are environmental ‘sinks’ for man-made, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The unique biogeochemical processes governing POP behaviour in the Polar landscape are not understood, yet are necessary to predict their impact in polar ecosystems. The Antarctic seasonal-ice zone provides an archetype for multi-compartment, temporal observations of POP partitioning in response to the major drivers of ice cover and primary productivity. In addition, the major Antarctic POP reservoirs of seawater and ice will be characterised. Empirical data will be used to parameterise a regional fugacity model. Model application to varying climate scenarios will extend our understanding of POP behaviour and threat in polar regions.Read moreRead less
Multi-Country Study on Health Effects of Bushfire Air Pollution. Catastrophic bushfires are a major natural disaster, causing serious air pollution. However, aligning bushfire air pollution and public health policies becomes a significant challenge, because limited studies are available on relationships between bushfire air pollution and human health, particularly for the prolonged exposure. We will characterize the nature of the relationships between bushfire air pollution and mortality/morbidi ....Multi-Country Study on Health Effects of Bushfire Air Pollution. Catastrophic bushfires are a major natural disaster, causing serious air pollution. However, aligning bushfire air pollution and public health policies becomes a significant challenge, because limited studies are available on relationships between bushfire air pollution and human health, particularly for the prolonged exposure. We will characterize the nature of the relationships between bushfire air pollution and mortality/morbidity by developing a multi-country study; and estimate the burden of diseases attributed to bushfire air pollution. This project will provide essential scientific evidence to policy-makers and stakeholders in the development, prioritization and implementation of health protection strategies and policies.
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Coupled physical and biogeochemical dynamics on the Australian North West Shelf. Information regarding the natural function of the Australian North West Shelf is urgently required to sustainably manage the often conflicting uses of the region. This project will study the role of ocean processes in driving ocean productivity on the North West Shelf and determine the impact of projected climate variability.