Re-considering sustainable building and design: a cultural change approach. This project will help reduce the 38 per cent of all Australian waste that is produced by the construction industry by addressing the role of the building procurement team in reducing resource usage and eliminating waste. The outcomes of this research will address National Research Priority 1, An Environmentally Sustainable Australia.
Extinction of turtles in the River Murray: Consequences and Solutions. Turtles are a major ecological component of the Murray-Darling, Australia’s major river system. They are declining alarmingly with potential dire consequences for water quality, biodiversity, and river health. This project unites a world-class research team with diverse industry partners, indigenous groups, and non-government organisations from three states to address a problem of national significance. This project aims to i ....Extinction of turtles in the River Murray: Consequences and Solutions. Turtles are a major ecological component of the Murray-Darling, Australia’s major river system. They are declining alarmingly with potential dire consequences for water quality, biodiversity, and river health. This project unites a world-class research team with diverse industry partners, indigenous groups, and non-government organisations from three states to address a problem of national significance. This project aims to identify and quantify causes of declines in turtles along the whole system, with the aim of developing practical management options to overcome it. This will be the first river-wide study of turtles, achieved by combining cutting-edge genetic and ecological techniques with a citizen science program.Read moreRead less
Defining the evolution of pathogen virulence to enhance rabbit biocontrol. Rabbits impose a major economic and ecological burden on Australia. Biocontrols involving viruses are the best means to regulate rabbit populations, although they often have transient effectiveness. It is therefore essential to determine why some viruses retain the high virulence essential for effective biocontrol, while others are consistently benign. Through bioinformatic and experimental studies of two rabbit viruses w ....Defining the evolution of pathogen virulence to enhance rabbit biocontrol. Rabbits impose a major economic and ecological burden on Australia. Biocontrols involving viruses are the best means to regulate rabbit populations, although they often have transient effectiveness. It is therefore essential to determine why some viruses retain the high virulence essential for effective biocontrol, while others are consistently benign. Through bioinformatic and experimental studies of two rabbit viruses with markedly different virulence, Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease virus (high virulence) and Australian rabbit calicivirus (low virulence), this project will determine the molecular mechanisms that control virulence and the factors that shape virulence evolution. Ultimately, this research will help improve rabbit biocontrol in Australia.Read moreRead less
Social Impact and Connection Outcomes Associated with Community Sport. Outcomes of social connection from community sport are widely touted and supported to exist. However, we know little about how social infrastructure actually delivers these benefits. It is difficult to understand and develop practices that organisations can use to maximise the outcomes of sport participation. This research aims to investigate how social infrastructure delivers social connection outcomes associated with commun ....Social Impact and Connection Outcomes Associated with Community Sport. Outcomes of social connection from community sport are widely touted and supported to exist. However, we know little about how social infrastructure actually delivers these benefits. It is difficult to understand and develop practices that organisations can use to maximise the outcomes of sport participation. This research aims to investigate how social infrastructure delivers social connection outcomes associated with community sport. Expected outcomes include novel practice based tools and guidance for community groups to enhance social connection outcomes and new understanding about the role of social infrastructure in enhancing community connection. Improved social connection is expected to improve resilience and community wellbeing.
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Seagrass tolerance of oil spills - scaling of pollution impacts. Seagrasses provide vital ecosystem services (such as sediment stabilisation and habitat provision) in Australian coastal waters. The contribution of pollutants to current seagrass decline is poorly understood. The Australian shipping industry is the 5th largest in the world but there is very little data on the impacts of petroleum hydrocarbons on intertidal seagrasses and hence no information for coastal resource managers to use in ....Seagrass tolerance of oil spills - scaling of pollution impacts. Seagrasses provide vital ecosystem services (such as sediment stabilisation and habitat provision) in Australian coastal waters. The contribution of pollutants to current seagrass decline is poorly understood. The Australian shipping industry is the 5th largest in the world but there is very little data on the impacts of petroleum hydrocarbons on intertidal seagrasses and hence no information for coastal resource managers to use in decision-making in the event of an oil spill. This project will assess the relative toxicities of a number of petroleum hydrocarbons on Australian seagrass species to provide necessary data for the development of effective management practice.Read moreRead less
Residential Air Conditioning, Comfort and Demand Response in Australia. Rapid growth in residential air conditioning (AC) ownership will potentially undermine national energy efficiency and greenhouse reduction targets. Furthermore, residential AC is placing a strain on the national electricity system, especially during heat waves when electricity demand peaks. These AC-driven peak loads occur occasionally each summer, but increasing grid capacity to meet them represents a grossly inefficient in ....Residential Air Conditioning, Comfort and Demand Response in Australia. Rapid growth in residential air conditioning (AC) ownership will potentially undermine national energy efficiency and greenhouse reduction targets. Furthermore, residential AC is placing a strain on the national electricity system, especially during heat waves when electricity demand peaks. These AC-driven peak loads occur occasionally each summer, but increasing grid capacity to meet them represents a grossly inefficient infrastructure investment. This project will generate Australia's most comprehensive data set on exactly how, when, where, and why residential AC systems are being used. The outcomes will provide a solid platform on which national electricity demand management and AC greenhouse-gas mitigation strategies can be designed.Read moreRead less
Synthesis and Analysis of Canine Anabolic Steroid Metabolites. The Australian racing industry is a major driver of economic activity. In NSW, racing is estimated to contribute $1,000 million to GDP, $151 million to Government revenue and provide 50,000 jobs. The future security and prosperity of the racing industry depends on maintaining the highest standards of integrity in the public eye, and this in turn depends on the enforcement of regulations relating to illicit substances. The outcome of ....Synthesis and Analysis of Canine Anabolic Steroid Metabolites. The Australian racing industry is a major driver of economic activity. In NSW, racing is estimated to contribute $1,000 million to GDP, $151 million to Government revenue and provide 50,000 jobs. The future security and prosperity of the racing industry depends on maintaining the highest standards of integrity in the public eye, and this in turn depends on the enforcement of regulations relating to illicit substances. The outcome of this project will be the introduction of robust methods of analysis for potential drug abuse in greyhound racing that will position Australia as a world leader in the field.Read moreRead less
Understanding when biocontrol and enemy release affect plant populations. This project aims to determine when introduced species escape from their natural enemies, and when biocontrol efforts succeed. Enemy release and biocontrol are key to our understanding and management of invasions. However there has never been a broad quantitative assessment of the circumstances under which biocontrol and enemy release affect introduced populations. This project will use a combination of meta-analyses and i ....Understanding when biocontrol and enemy release affect plant populations. This project aims to determine when introduced species escape from their natural enemies, and when biocontrol efforts succeed. Enemy release and biocontrol are key to our understanding and management of invasions. However there has never been a broad quantitative assessment of the circumstances under which biocontrol and enemy release affect introduced populations. This project will use a combination of meta-analyses and international field studies to address this knowledge gap. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of the factors that facilitate biological invasions, and improved success of biocontrol agents.Read moreRead less
New multi-scale seed dispersal models for improved regional weed management. This project will exploit recent advances in ecological and atmospheric modelling with the aim to build improved models of seed dispersal across landscapes to anticipate weed spread. Damaging invasive plants are rapidly transforming landscapes and altering ecosystem function worldwide. The speed and direction of weed spread determines the success or failure of costly containment and control actions, however we lack the ....New multi-scale seed dispersal models for improved regional weed management. This project will exploit recent advances in ecological and atmospheric modelling with the aim to build improved models of seed dispersal across landscapes to anticipate weed spread. Damaging invasive plants are rapidly transforming landscapes and altering ecosystem function worldwide. The speed and direction of weed spread determines the success or failure of costly containment and control actions, however we lack the ability to adequately predict spread. New models that combine micrometeorological measurements, within-canopy turbulence and topographic variation in wind flows will be designed to better predict where dispersal will occur. In this project, these improved predictions are planned to be combined with decision models to direct the management of invasive species across entire landscapes.Read moreRead less
Making Green Guard® greener: enhancing the efficacy of a biopesticide. The project aims to identify naturally occurring micro-organisms to increase the effectiveness of Green Guard ®, which is a biopesticide used against the Australian plague locust. The project will use next-generation sequencing and other molecular techniques to potentially identify candidate microbes or combinations of microbes that can be added to Green Guard to enhance locust susceptibility. The project also aims to quantif ....Making Green Guard® greener: enhancing the efficacy of a biopesticide. The project aims to identify naturally occurring micro-organisms to increase the effectiveness of Green Guard ®, which is a biopesticide used against the Australian plague locust. The project will use next-generation sequencing and other molecular techniques to potentially identify candidate microbes or combinations of microbes that can be added to Green Guard to enhance locust susceptibility. The project also aims to quantify the interactive impact of temperature and nutrition on immune function, disease resistance and host-plant quality of plague locusts; and to explore the combined effects of temperature, habitat and Green Guard, in combination with candidate microbes or pathogens, on the behaviour and collective movement of locusts. It is anticipated that this will have implications for management and control strategies.Read moreRead less