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
Animals response to extreme climatic events. Climate change is causing extreme climatic events, such as floods and heat waves, to become more frequent. This project will investigate by which mechanism animals can adjust to extreme climatic events and whether the response is fast enough to avoid extinction, thereby providing urgently needed insights into the natural resilience of Australian fauna.
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
Understanding the mechanisms of thermal acclimation in the symbiotic algae (Symbiodinium) within cnidarian corals. Global warming is a major threat to coral reefs, contributing to devastating coral bleaching. This project will provide new insight into how coral reefs can respond to rising global temperature through clarifying the thermal acclimation mechanisms in corals using molecular techniques.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101263
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Assessing the impact of global environmental change on the nutritional ecology of marsupial and insect folivores of Eucalyptus. Higher atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are predicted to alter plant nutrient and toxin content, while higher ambient temperatures may compromise the abilities of animals to metabolise plant toxins. This project will assess how climate change scenarios are likely to impact native marsupials and insects that rely on eucalypt leaves for food.
To grow or to store: Do plants hedge their bets? This project aims to resolve a long-standing question about the function of perennial plants: how much of the carbon taken up by photosynthesis is used immediately for growth, and how much is kept in reserve as insurance against future stress? This question is important to our understanding of how plants respond to stresses such as severe drought, and yet lack of data and theoretical modelling currently hampers our ability to answer it. By applyin ....To grow or to store: Do plants hedge their bets? This project aims to resolve a long-standing question about the function of perennial plants: how much of the carbon taken up by photosynthesis is used immediately for growth, and how much is kept in reserve as insurance against future stress? This question is important to our understanding of how plants respond to stresses such as severe drought, and yet lack of data and theoretical modelling currently hampers our ability to answer it. By applying novel data analysis and modelling tools to recent experimental results, the project plans to test hypotheses for how plants allocate carbon between growth and storage in response to stress. Insights from the project may underpin better management of Australia’s vulnerable ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Understanding climate and harvest induced changes in fish life histories. This project aims to quantify the cumulative impacts of harvest and climate change across marine fishes and ecosystems. The project expects to generate new knowledge in this area by coupling the rich biological information archived in fish ear bones, with targeted multi-generation experiments and predictive modelling. Expected outcomes include fundamental insights into how human-induced environmental change affects fish gr ....Understanding climate and harvest induced changes in fish life histories. This project aims to quantify the cumulative impacts of harvest and climate change across marine fishes and ecosystems. The project expects to generate new knowledge in this area by coupling the rich biological information archived in fish ear bones, with targeted multi-generation experiments and predictive modelling. Expected outcomes include fundamental insights into how human-induced environmental change affects fish growth and maturation, and a subsequent critical evaluation of the sensitivity of fisheries models to trends in these life-history traits. This should provide significant benefits to fisheries and ecosystem management, ensuring they remain productive and resilient in a time of rapid environmental change.Read moreRead less
Coping with temperature extremes: morphological constraints on leaf function in a warmer, drier climate. This project will determine how hydraulic properties of temperate, evergreen leaves affect their capacity to cope with seasonal variation in temperature extremes. The results will enhance mechanistic understanding of temperature tolerance, and inform prediction of vegetation change in response to climate warming and increasing CO2 concentrations.
Fiddling while home burns: climate change and fiddler crabs. Climate change is already affecting many Australian animals, including fiddler crabs. This project will use extensive knowledge of fiddler crab biology to determine whether they can behaviourally compensate for the rapid changes that are occurring by using experiments and observations conducted under natural conditions in the mangroves of Darwin harbour.
Guidance On Adaptation Of Commonwealth Fisheries Management To Climate Change
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$271,499.78
Summary
The existing research predicts that climate change will have both positive and negative impacts on reproduction, recruitment and distribution of biomass of Australia’s commercially important marine species. Many fishery stakeholders acknowledge that the issue of climate change should be a high priority issue for fisheries management. Current research highlights the potentially significant impacts of climate change on fisheries and fisheries management, but to date strategies for fisheries manag ....The existing research predicts that climate change will have both positive and negative impacts on reproduction, recruitment and distribution of biomass of Australia’s commercially important marine species. Many fishery stakeholders acknowledge that the issue of climate change should be a high priority issue for fisheries management. Current research highlights the potentially significant impacts of climate change on fisheries and fisheries management, but to date strategies for fisheries management to address climate change have been lacking. The current ability of fisheries management to cope with these changes is unknown and therefore must be assessed to test its resilience, ability to adapt and the changes that may be required. AFMA is a prime candidate for leading this assessment since it has substantive responsibility for those areas of the Australian fishing zone that are expected to be hot-spots for climate change effects, such as SE Australia, one of the fastest warming areas in the ocean. In addition, the issues of climate change are canvassed in draft government policies for fisheries and this project could form part of the response to those policy needs.
To-date no jurisdiction in Australia has assessed the resilience of its management system to these anticipated impacts and it is likely to break some new ground in what may need to be done for management systems to effectively adapt to climate change and the options that may be available. Engagement with and participation from key fishery stakeholders is essential for this project to be a success and to assist in any subsequent fisheries management change processes. Overall, this project has the potential to benefit the marine ecosystem and fisheries stakeholders with a vested interest in climate change adaptation, to increase the benefits and reduce the risks. While the production end of the supply chain is often the focus, this project will also consider the supply chain risks, following approaches developed in recent FRDC projects (Hobday et al. 2015; Fleming et al. 2014; Lim-Camacho et al. 2015; Plaganyi et al. 2014; van Putten et al. 2015)
Objectives: 1. To assess how well the existing Commonwealth fisheries management framework will cope with climate change impacts. 2. To develop a methodology and approach for AFMA and other fisheries to adapt their regulatory environment to climate change impacts on Commonwealth fisheries. 3. To develop strategies and priorities to account for effects of climate change in the management of Commonwealth fisheries Read moreRead less