Does climatic thermal variability matter? This project aims to research how annual and daily variability in temperature effects the distribution of species, their tolerance to temperature, their dispersal ability and genetic structuring. Expected outcomes include more accurate assessment of the ecological risk of climate change, which is expected to result in altered average temperatures and temperature variability. Such assessments will result in better management of species and ecosystems faci ....Does climatic thermal variability matter? This project aims to research how annual and daily variability in temperature effects the distribution of species, their tolerance to temperature, their dispersal ability and genetic structuring. Expected outcomes include more accurate assessment of the ecological risk of climate change, which is expected to result in altered average temperatures and temperature variability. Such assessments will result in better management of species and ecosystems facing threats from climate change.Read moreRead less
Modelling policy interventions to protect Australia's food security in the face of environmental sustainability challenges . This project will use an innovative scenario modelling approach to quantify the potential impacts of population growth and emerging climate and environmental challenges on Australia’s future food security. In collaboration with an advisory committee it will specify and prioritise policy solutions in terms of their social and economic credentials.
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
Resilience of eucalypts to future droughts. This project aims to examine how resilient Eucalyptus species are to future droughts by combining data synthesis, manipulative experiments and modelling. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, magnitude and duration of future droughts, with major environmental and socio-economic consequences for Australia. Current predictive capacity is extremely limited: experiments are limited in scale and cannot capture important global change interac ....Resilience of eucalypts to future droughts. This project aims to examine how resilient Eucalyptus species are to future droughts by combining data synthesis, manipulative experiments and modelling. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, magnitude and duration of future droughts, with major environmental and socio-economic consequences for Australia. Current predictive capacity is extremely limited: experiments are limited in scale and cannot capture important global change interactions, whilst models do not represent the functional characteristics and adaptions of eucalypts. This project will develop a strong evidence- and process-based understanding to quantify the functional behaviour of drought-adapted Eucalyptus species and leverage this insight to make future model projections.Read moreRead less
Bubble, Bubble CO2 is the trouble: A Natural Ocean Acidification Experiment in a coral reef setting. Carbon dioxide seep sites expose shallow coral reefs in Papua New Guinea to volcanic carbon dioxide resulting in gradients of seawater ranging from pH 8.0 (normal) to a more acidic pH of 7.5. Some areas of these reefs experience carbon dioxide exposure equivalent to IPCC predictions for 2050 and 2100. This project will reconstruct seawater pH using radiocarbon as a novel tracer of carbon dioxide ....Bubble, Bubble CO2 is the trouble: A Natural Ocean Acidification Experiment in a coral reef setting. Carbon dioxide seep sites expose shallow coral reefs in Papua New Guinea to volcanic carbon dioxide resulting in gradients of seawater ranging from pH 8.0 (normal) to a more acidic pH of 7.5. Some areas of these reefs experience carbon dioxide exposure equivalent to IPCC predictions for 2050 and 2100. This project will reconstruct seawater pH using radiocarbon as a novel tracer of carbon dioxide input at a coral reef site that has been exposed to high carbon dioxide due to volcanic seeps (seep carbon dioxide has no carbon-14) for an unknown period of time (at least many decades, but possibly centuries). These results will help to understand the time it takes to change calcifying organisms into “winners” or “losers” as an analog for Ocean Acidification due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide input.Read moreRead less
Shrinking the food-print by creating consumer demand for sustainable and healthy eating. The negative impacts from the food choices made by many Australians are posing challenges to individual wellbeing and to maintaining a viable natural world. Drawing on innovative public health and consumer research, this project will identify opportunities for encouraging consumers to move towards more environmentally sustainable and healthy diets.
Hydraulic control on water use, growth and survival in tropical rainforest. This project aims to measure drought-related limits to water transport in the woody xylem tissue of trees in Australian tropical rainforests, to understand how this influences tree water use, photosynthesis, health and mortality risk. Tropical rainforests are sensitive to climate variability, especially drought, but this sensitivity is poorly understood, despite large effects regionally and globally. This project will co ....Hydraulic control on water use, growth and survival in tropical rainforest. This project aims to measure drought-related limits to water transport in the woody xylem tissue of trees in Australian tropical rainforests, to understand how this influences tree water use, photosynthesis, health and mortality risk. Tropical rainforests are sensitive to climate variability, especially drought, but this sensitivity is poorly understood, despite large effects regionally and globally. This project will compare forests that contrast strongly in seasonal drought stress, and use the information to develop a model designed for species-diverse forest, with subsequent potential global application. The understanding gained will enable widely applicable advances designed to feed through rapidly to regional- and global-scale models that inform land use, economic and social policy-making.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE140100189
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$191,095.00
Summary
A shared mass spectrometer with compound-specific capabilities to support innovative research in biology, the environment and geology. A shared mass spectrometer with compound-specific capabilities to support innovative research in biology, the environment and geology: Stable isotope studies have huge and increasing relevance to environmental studies, many of which form the backbone of understanding Australia's terrestrial and marine systems. Compound-specific isotope analysis yields much more i ....A shared mass spectrometer with compound-specific capabilities to support innovative research in biology, the environment and geology. A shared mass spectrometer with compound-specific capabilities to support innovative research in biology, the environment and geology: Stable isotope studies have huge and increasing relevance to environmental studies, many of which form the backbone of understanding Australia's terrestrial and marine systems. Compound-specific isotope analysis yields much more information than is available through bulk methods. The problem has been that the separations were labour-intensive and employed complex wet chemistry. New methods reduce the work-load enough to make compound-specific studies possible. In the case of carbon isotopes, new liquid chromatographic technology removes the need for derivatisations which dilute the natural signal and can render it unusable.Read moreRead less
What determines plant sensitivity to heat?: Individual to lifetime impacts. Temperature is a major determinant of the distribution of species and yet the capacity to predict the thermal sensitivity of plants is extremely limited. How vulnerability varies as a plant grows from seed to adult and produces more seed is a key question. Whether chronic warming exacerbates or ameliorates effects of extreme events, e.g. triggering the plant to enlist defensive strategies, is also an open question. This ....What determines plant sensitivity to heat?: Individual to lifetime impacts. Temperature is a major determinant of the distribution of species and yet the capacity to predict the thermal sensitivity of plants is extremely limited. How vulnerability varies as a plant grows from seed to adult and produces more seed is a key question. Whether chronic warming exacerbates or ameliorates effects of extreme events, e.g. triggering the plant to enlist defensive strategies, is also an open question. This project will advance fundamental understanding of how thermal tolerance varies across species and over the plant life cycle and how it scales demographically to lifetime vulnerability. The work will yield a significant advance in our capacity to predict impacts of extreme heat events on plant performance and distribution.
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