Bushfire smoke and the relationship between human and landscape health. A team of landscape ecologists, environmental chemists and public health specialists will determine the ecological causes and adverse health effects of different levels of bushfire smoke in Darwin. Darwin is an ideal setting for this research because the only source of air pollution is the high incidence of controlled and uncontrolled bushfires during the dry season causing variable air quality: a preliminary study found a ....Bushfire smoke and the relationship between human and landscape health. A team of landscape ecologists, environmental chemists and public health specialists will determine the ecological causes and adverse health effects of different levels of bushfire smoke in Darwin. Darwin is an ideal setting for this research because the only source of air pollution is the high incidence of controlled and uncontrolled bushfires during the dry season causing variable air quality: a preliminary study found a link between smoke pollution levels and asthma. The findings of the proposed research will contribute to improved fire management practices to reduce injurious smoke pollution events and contribute to setting appropriate national air quality standards.Read moreRead less
Movement ecology of granivores: informing fire management of savannas. This project aims to examine the decline in granivorous finches across north Australia and test the hypothesis that an increasingly nomadic lifestyle, associated with tracking grass seed availability over larger spatial scales, is the cause. The project also aims to evaluate how fire affects rangeland functioning, particularly grass diversity, to improve fire management of tropical savannas in northern Australia. This project ....Movement ecology of granivores: informing fire management of savannas. This project aims to examine the decline in granivorous finches across north Australia and test the hypothesis that an increasingly nomadic lifestyle, associated with tracking grass seed availability over larger spatial scales, is the cause. The project also aims to evaluate how fire affects rangeland functioning, particularly grass diversity, to improve fire management of tropical savannas in northern Australia. This project will provide new tools and technologies that will monitor mobile small vertebrates. Expected outcomes will improve the understanding of tropical savanna functioning and fire management. The research aligns with ‘savanna burning’ methodologies and carbon sequestration goals in north Australia.
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Impacts of deforestation and afforestation on greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon and water resources in the Daly River catchment, north Australia. Over the last decade, north Australia have been viewed as a potentially exploitable resource, given issues of salinisation, soil acidification, over-allocation of water resources and rainfall declines in south Australian agricultural regions. Improved pastures and plantation forestry are two land uses that may expand in the NT. Clearing of savanna v ....Impacts of deforestation and afforestation on greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon and water resources in the Daly River catchment, north Australia. Over the last decade, north Australia have been viewed as a potentially exploitable resource, given issues of salinisation, soil acidification, over-allocation of water resources and rainfall declines in south Australian agricultural regions. Improved pastures and plantation forestry are two land uses that may expand in the NT. Clearing of savanna vegetation would be required, with implications for greenhouse gas emissions, soil health, water resources and dry season environmental flows. This project will track greenhouse emissions and water use from uncleared and cleared savanna that has been converted to pasture and timber plantations, providing critical understanding of the environmental implication of such land use change in savanna.Read moreRead less