Understanding leaf water isotope composition. This project aims to quantify variation in leaf water isotopes and develop mechanistic models for paleoclimatologists and plant scientists to constrain global carbon cycles. Leaf water stable isotopes influence the isotope compositions of atmospheric oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapour, and impart an evaporative signal on the isotope composition of plant organic material. These isotope signals have been used to constrain global carbon and water c ....Understanding leaf water isotope composition. This project aims to quantify variation in leaf water isotopes and develop mechanistic models for paleoclimatologists and plant scientists to constrain global carbon cycles. Leaf water stable isotopes influence the isotope compositions of atmospheric oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapour, and impart an evaporative signal on the isotope composition of plant organic material. These isotope signals have been used to constrain global carbon and water cycles and reconstruct past climates. This project aims to quantify variation in leaf water isotopes and develop mechanistic models for use by paleoclimatologists, plant scientists and to constrain global carbon cycles and develop accurate models of leaf water isotopes to reduce uncertainty in climate models.Read moreRead less
Metabolite pools and their implications for plant responses to global change. Australian landscape management faces significant challenges from existing land practices and the effects of climate change. Effective management and targeted remediation requires an understanding of the processes that drive ecosystem function. The development of broadly applicable tools for the monitoring of plant and ecosystem health is therefore of considerable interest. Flexibility in core processes of plant functi ....Metabolite pools and their implications for plant responses to global change. Australian landscape management faces significant challenges from existing land practices and the effects of climate change. Effective management and targeted remediation requires an understanding of the processes that drive ecosystem function. The development of broadly applicable tools for the monitoring of plant and ecosystem health is therefore of considerable interest. Flexibility in core processes of plant function represents a significant opportunity to develop such tools. With a focus on plant metabolites, this project will characterise how Australian trees alter the allocation of resources to cope with environmental changes and produce metabolite-based selective traits for stress tolerance in Australian trees. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102580
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Water and carbon stable isotope exchange between the biosphere and atmosphere. Understanding how climatic factors affect ecosystem carbon dioxide and water fluxes is essential for better climate models and managements strategies. This project will use novel isotope laser spectroscopy to measure the oxygen isotope of transpired water and that of the atmosphere to examine carbon dioxide and water at both the leaf and ecosystem scale.
Is physiological flexibility of forest trees constrained by home climate in a rapidly warming world? The projected average Australian climate warming of 3 degrees celsius by 2070 represents a shift in climate equivalent to moving 900 km from Sydney to Brisbane. As forest trees cannot migrate fast enough to avoid these unprecedented increases in temperature, the resiliency of Australian forests to climate warming will depend on their capacity to physiologically adjust to higher temperatures. But, ....Is physiological flexibility of forest trees constrained by home climate in a rapidly warming world? The projected average Australian climate warming of 3 degrees celsius by 2070 represents a shift in climate equivalent to moving 900 km from Sydney to Brisbane. As forest trees cannot migrate fast enough to avoid these unprecedented increases in temperature, the resiliency of Australian forests to climate warming will depend on their capacity to physiologically adjust to higher temperatures. But, can forest trees successfully adjust to new climates in their current locations? This project plans to determine how thermal acclimation influences leaf and tree carbon exchange, and whether this depends upon a tree’s “home” climate. These knowledge gaps limit our ability to predict the future of our forests and consequences for carbon cycling in a warmer world.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100518
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Shifting rainfall from spring to autumn: tree growth and water use under climate change. Managing Australia's variable water resources is imperative. When the timing of rain shifts, with decreases in spring and increases in autumn, is water use in plants similar to plants which experience only a spring drought? Understanding plant water use as the timing of rain shifts will help us manage Australia's water more effectively.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100510
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Manganese heavy metal toxicity in plants: new perspective on a neglected problem. This project addresses the current absence of Australian research into its agricultural problem of manganese (Mn) heavy metal toxicity. Novel Australian plants exhibiting extreme Mn tolerance, along with recent US findings on plant Mn toxicity will offer new insight benefiting agricultural research and the forecasting of climate change impacts.
Seaweed forests of the future: responses to ocean acidification and warming. The aim is to discover if rising levels of oceanic carbon dioxide will offset negative effects of ocean warming on seaweeds, using targeted physiological experiments together with novel molecular diagnostics. Seaweeds create habitats and food for shellfish and fish, and play a crucial role in long term ‘blue carbon’ storage. They are predicted to benefit from future carbon dioxide enrichment, but to test this forecast r ....Seaweed forests of the future: responses to ocean acidification and warming. The aim is to discover if rising levels of oceanic carbon dioxide will offset negative effects of ocean warming on seaweeds, using targeted physiological experiments together with novel molecular diagnostics. Seaweeds create habitats and food for shellfish and fish, and play a crucial role in long term ‘blue carbon’ storage. They are predicted to benefit from future carbon dioxide enrichment, but to test this forecast requires a detailed understanding of the mechanisms used by seaweeds to acquire dissolved inorganic carbon. The expected outcome is robust predictions of how the primary productivity of coastal waters will respond to future high carbon dioxide conditions, enabling human adaptation to environmental change.
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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101706
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Worth its salt: advancing knowledge of salinity tolerance with mangroves as a model system. This project aims to understand how salinity tolerance is achieved in mangroves, which are highly salt tolerant plants. Using a combination of physiological and gene expression technologies the project will measure the response of mangroves to elevated salinity and atmospheric carbon dioxide, contributing to the development of salt tolerant next generation crops.
How do nano-molecular carboxysome protein structures function in alpha and beta-cyanobacteria and can we use them for novel reaction compartmentalisation? In blue-green algae, protein nano-structures, known as carboxysomes, act as tiny compartments where carbon dioxide (CO2) can be fixed into simple sugars at high efficiency. This important photosynthetic process forms the basis of global primary productivity on this planet, but most land-based CO2 fixation lacks the efficiency seen in blue-gree ....How do nano-molecular carboxysome protein structures function in alpha and beta-cyanobacteria and can we use them for novel reaction compartmentalisation? In blue-green algae, protein nano-structures, known as carboxysomes, act as tiny compartments where carbon dioxide (CO2) can be fixed into simple sugars at high efficiency. This important photosynthetic process forms the basis of global primary productivity on this planet, but most land-based CO2 fixation lacks the efficiency seen in blue-greens. This research aims to determine how the proteins that make up carboxysomes are 3-dimensionally arranged and how these structures function to enhance rates of CO2 fixation. A more thorough understanding of the carboxysome is likely to have potential applications in industrial nano-technology and improve our understanding of oceanic primary productivity.Read moreRead less
Carbon uptake and water use by plants: is there pre-stomatal control? Society relies on mathematical descriptions of climate change, weather forecasting, crop performance, and other processes in which the control of carbon uptake and water loss by plants forms a basic element. Scientists also use the same element in ascribing sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2), describing vegetation, hydrological and ecological processes. A key physiological assumption in this element is now in doubt and ....Carbon uptake and water use by plants: is there pre-stomatal control? Society relies on mathematical descriptions of climate change, weather forecasting, crop performance, and other processes in which the control of carbon uptake and water loss by plants forms a basic element. Scientists also use the same element in ascribing sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2), describing vegetation, hydrological and ecological processes. A key physiological assumption in this element is now in doubt and we will test it rigorously and if necessary provide a robust alternative. We will do this by developing a novel 'window' on intact leaf functioning that will reveal the concentration of water vapour and other gases inside leaves.Read moreRead less