Past climate and environmental impacts on Great Barrier Reef paleoecology. This project aims to investigate the interconnected processes that led to past reef growth and demise. The iconic Great Barrier Reef and reefs globally are under threat. Yet reefs appear to have undergone cycles of death and recovery, though the causes are poorly understood. This project will reconstruct past climate, rainfall, water quality, coral bleaching and reef ecology feedbacks across Great Barrier Reef death event ....Past climate and environmental impacts on Great Barrier Reef paleoecology. This project aims to investigate the interconnected processes that led to past reef growth and demise. The iconic Great Barrier Reef and reefs globally are under threat. Yet reefs appear to have undergone cycles of death and recovery, though the causes are poorly understood. This project will reconstruct past climate, rainfall, water quality, coral bleaching and reef ecology feedbacks across Great Barrier Reef death events to establish which environmental stressors and paleoclimate variations are most critical for reef health. The outcomes will better constrain long term coral reef dynamics and provide significant benefits to those who manage reefs globally, since the Great Barrier Reef covers the full range of reef environments.Read moreRead less
Reconstructing the historical frequency and intensity of Australian droughts: A multi-species dendrochronological approach. Drought directly and indirectly impacts every Australian. Severe droughts devastate rural communities, lead to increased water restrictions and bushfire activity, slows the national economy and threatens diverse ecosystems. Our research will improve understanding of where, when, and how intensely droughts have occurred across eastern Australia in the past. The results will ....Reconstructing the historical frequency and intensity of Australian droughts: A multi-species dendrochronological approach. Drought directly and indirectly impacts every Australian. Severe droughts devastate rural communities, lead to increased water restrictions and bushfire activity, slows the national economy and threatens diverse ecosystems. Our research will improve understanding of where, when, and how intensely droughts have occurred across eastern Australia in the past. The results will provide unique insights into the processes that generate Australian droughts and how future droughts might be anticipated. The results will provide farmers, hydrologists, and policy-makers with better data on long-term variability in water supplies to improve local, regional, and national water planning initiatives and infrastructure development.Read moreRead less
Fire and rain: Drivers of deep-time ecosystem assembly in Australia. This project aims to investigate the influence of bushfires and shifting rainfall patterns on the development of Australia’s dominant ecosystems. By combining a range of novel geochemical, isotopic and palaeontological techniques, this research seeks to reveal the causes and consequences of Australia’s transformation from a forested to mainly open landscape of grassland, shrubland and savannah. The expected outcome is detailed ....Fire and rain: Drivers of deep-time ecosystem assembly in Australia. This project aims to investigate the influence of bushfires and shifting rainfall patterns on the development of Australia’s dominant ecosystems. By combining a range of novel geochemical, isotopic and palaeontological techniques, this research seeks to reveal the causes and consequences of Australia’s transformation from a forested to mainly open landscape of grassland, shrubland and savannah. The expected outcome is detailed knowledge of how changes in fire and rain shaped the ecology and evolution of plants and animals. This knowledge is key to understanding how Australian ecosystems function and to protecting their cultural, economic and environmental values, especially as climate and fire regimes continue to change into the future.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.
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
How parents manage climate anxiety: coping and hoping for the whole family. This project studies how Australian parents manage climate anxiety for themselves and their families. Using mixed-methods/mixed-media approaches, it examines whether an increase in climate disasters is accelerating the spread of collective anxiety amongst families, how parents manage this anxiety for their children and partners, and if there are associated mental health burdens and gendered inequities in this management. ....How parents manage climate anxiety: coping and hoping for the whole family. This project studies how Australian parents manage climate anxiety for themselves and their families. Using mixed-methods/mixed-media approaches, it examines whether an increase in climate disasters is accelerating the spread of collective anxiety amongst families, how parents manage this anxiety for their children and partners, and if there are associated mental health burdens and gendered inequities in this management. It also looks at climate anxiety management across generations and climate histories, drawing out pessimistic/optimistic narratives about the future to enable action, resilience, and hope. It will produce an evidence base and photo-voice/documentary resources to help parents and support organisations combat climate anxiety.Read moreRead less
Development of a heatwave definition using the health risk-based metrics. Climate change is increasingly recognised as this century's biggest global health threat, but the health consequences of climate change remain to be quantified. A typical example is health risks from heatwaves which kill more people than any other natural hazard in Australia, but few comprehensive datasets are available on what affects heatwaves can have on population health and well-being, and how such evidence can be tra ....Development of a heatwave definition using the health risk-based metrics. Climate change is increasingly recognised as this century's biggest global health threat, but the health consequences of climate change remain to be quantified. A typical example is health risks from heatwaves which kill more people than any other natural hazard in Australia, but few comprehensive datasets are available on what affects heatwaves can have on population health and well-being, and how such evidence can be translated into policy. This project aims to understand the health risks associated with heatwaves, to develop health risk-based metrics to define a heatwave across different areas, and to evaluate its implications for the development of social and health policies within an Australian context.Read moreRead less
Towards a climate theory of tropical cyclone formation. In Earth's current climate, about 80 to 90 tropical cyclones form every year around the globe, but the reasons why cyclones form at this rate are unknown. This project will use a combination of theoretical techniques and numerical simulation to elucidate the links between large-scale climate and the rate of tropical cyclone formation. A series of climate model experiments will be performed that also have the potential to improve confidence ....Towards a climate theory of tropical cyclone formation. In Earth's current climate, about 80 to 90 tropical cyclones form every year around the globe, but the reasons why cyclones form at this rate are unknown. This project will use a combination of theoretical techniques and numerical simulation to elucidate the links between large-scale climate and the rate of tropical cyclone formation. A series of climate model experiments will be performed that also have the potential to improve confidence in our predictions of tropical cyclone incidence in a future, changed climate.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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The Epigenetics of Sex in the Dragon. Genetic codes do not directly translate to phenotypes -- environment acts through epigenetics to modify development. We use advanced molecular techniques to examine how epigenetics responds to temperature to reverse sex in our novel animal model, the dragon lizard. How does the cell sense temperature? Once the extrinsic signal is captured, how does it influence chromatin modification to release or suppress key genes in the sex differentiation pathway? Which ....The Epigenetics of Sex in the Dragon. Genetic codes do not directly translate to phenotypes -- environment acts through epigenetics to modify development. We use advanced molecular techniques to examine how epigenetics responds to temperature to reverse sex in our novel animal model, the dragon lizard. How does the cell sense temperature? Once the extrinsic signal is captured, how does it influence chromatin modification to release or suppress key genes in the sex differentiation pathway? Which sex genes are targets? Epigenetic enzymes are astonishingly conserved, providing exciting opportunities to draw from human systems to unravel novel signatures of temperature-induced sex switching in reptiles. This project will advance knowledge of developmental programming generally.Read moreRead less