Traditional Owner-led restoration of urban billabongs. This Indigenous scientist led project aims to investigate the past and present fire, flooding and vegetation dynamics of urban billabongs through paleoenvironmental assays (sediment cores) and field surveys of vegetation, faunal and water quality responses to cultural burns and floods. In partnership with Melbourne Water and Traditional Owners, this innovative project intends to develop and combine historical and contemporary ecological and ....Traditional Owner-led restoration of urban billabongs. This Indigenous scientist led project aims to investigate the past and present fire, flooding and vegetation dynamics of urban billabongs through paleoenvironmental assays (sediment cores) and field surveys of vegetation, faunal and water quality responses to cultural burns and floods. In partnership with Melbourne Water and Traditional Owners, this innovative project intends to develop and combine historical and contemporary ecological and Indigenous peoples’ knowledge and apply it to better manage culturally and ecologically significant billabongs in one of Australia’s largest cities. This project expects to provide a template for effective Traditional Owner-led restoration and management of our threatened urban wetlands.Read moreRead less
Dispersal and recruitment of species across landscapes: a new synthesis. This project aims to ask: does failure to disperse successfully across landscapes limit the abundances and diversity of species in habitat patches? This is a central question in ecology. The project expects to generate new knowledge about the links between dispersal success and population numbers by using recent advances in river ecology that have overcome logistical barriers to hypothesis tests. Expected outcomes include n ....Dispersal and recruitment of species across landscapes: a new synthesis. This project aims to ask: does failure to disperse successfully across landscapes limit the abundances and diversity of species in habitat patches? This is a central question in ecology. The project expects to generate new knowledge about the links between dispersal success and population numbers by using recent advances in river ecology that have overcome logistical barriers to hypothesis tests. Expected outcomes include new insights into why dispersal failures occur and how they are associated with low population numbers. Benefits should include improved advice to conservation managers about extinction risks, and unique, tangible outcomes for fundamental ecological research in Australia that will spring from international collaboration.Read moreRead less
Improving water quality modelling by better understanding solute transport. Poor stream water quality is a critical problem in Australia and globally. Stream water quality depends directly on pathways and time taken for water to transport pollutants through catchments. Predicting these pathways is highly challenging and currently requires specialised data. This project aims to better model the movement of water from rainfall to streams, enable greatly improved use of water quality data routinely ....Improving water quality modelling by better understanding solute transport. Poor stream water quality is a critical problem in Australia and globally. Stream water quality depends directly on pathways and time taken for water to transport pollutants through catchments. Predicting these pathways is highly challenging and currently requires specialised data. This project aims to better model the movement of water from rainfall to streams, enable greatly improved use of water quality data routinely collected in Australia's catchments and thereby better predict water quality behaviour. Proposed field studies aim to support this development. The outcomes sought are improved planning and management of water quality in our rivers, lakes and estuaries, improved health of these water bodies and improved water supplies.Read moreRead less
Mid-Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IM230100222
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$865,628.00
Summary
Large scale urban stormwater reuse: safe, clear and odourless water supply. This project aims to improve the resilience of Australian water supplies by building capacity in urban stormwater reuse. The project expects to address an industry-identified need to determine the suitability of urban lakes and wetlands for stormwater harvesting and develop chemical-sensory monitoring techniques to assess the quality of harvested water. Expected outcomes include the establishment of satellite-based remot ....Large scale urban stormwater reuse: safe, clear and odourless water supply. This project aims to improve the resilience of Australian water supplies by building capacity in urban stormwater reuse. The project expects to address an industry-identified need to determine the suitability of urban lakes and wetlands for stormwater harvesting and develop chemical-sensory monitoring techniques to assess the quality of harvested water. Expected outcomes include the establishment of satellite-based remote sensing as a key technology for stormwater applications and the widespread use of improved techniques for monitoring odorants by the water industry. This should provide significant benefits by informing adaptive planning and infrastructure readiness at water utilities and guiding Australian policy on stormwater reuse.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101306
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$438,154.00
Summary
Metal organic framework-based membrane for nanoplastics removal . The aim of this project is to understand the fundamental science governing the removal of nanoplastics from wastewater by developing an innovative dually charged metal organic framework based nanocomposite ultrafiltration membrane. The project expects to lead to a breakthrough in our scientific understanding of how nanoplastics and other pollutants can be efficiently removed from wastewater using membranes. The expected outcome is ....Metal organic framework-based membrane for nanoplastics removal . The aim of this project is to understand the fundamental science governing the removal of nanoplastics from wastewater by developing an innovative dually charged metal organic framework based nanocomposite ultrafiltration membrane. The project expects to lead to a breakthrough in our scientific understanding of how nanoplastics and other pollutants can be efficiently removed from wastewater using membranes. The expected outcome is a process that can be used to convert wastewater into freshwater suitable for household, industrial and agricultural use. Such removal could also be of significant environmental benefit, as secondary effluent is a significant source of nanoplastics entering the aquatic environment.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100636
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$401,202.00
Summary
Integrating genomics into native fish management to promote persistence. This project aims to improve predictions of the effects of environmental change on the long-term survival of wildlife, using native fish as a case study. By integrating genomics into biodiversity models, this project expects to generate fundamental knowledge of processes underpinning long-term survival and is a big advance on traditional biodiversity models that consider only occurrence or abundance. Expected outcomes inclu ....Integrating genomics into native fish management to promote persistence. This project aims to improve predictions of the effects of environmental change on the long-term survival of wildlife, using native fish as a case study. By integrating genomics into biodiversity models, this project expects to generate fundamental knowledge of processes underpinning long-term survival and is a big advance on traditional biodiversity models that consider only occurrence or abundance. Expected outcomes include insights into fish responses to environmental conditions and new tools to predict long-term survival of wildlife. These tools will guide cost-effective delivery of environmental water in the Murray-Darling Basin, and wider uptake should promote the long-term effectiveness of conservation efforts for many species.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100752
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$453,582.00
Summary
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from Australian farm dams. There is an untapped potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from millions of Australian farm dams. This project aims to quantify the nation-wide carbon footprint of farm dams and develop low-cost strategies for “greener” practices. Contributing to Australia’s commitment to tackle climate change, this project aspires to empower farmers to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of their farm dams. It will also inform on the econ ....Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from Australian farm dams. There is an untapped potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from millions of Australian farm dams. This project aims to quantify the nation-wide carbon footprint of farm dams and develop low-cost strategies for “greener” practices. Contributing to Australia’s commitment to tackle climate change, this project aspires to empower farmers to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of their farm dams. It will also inform on the economic viability of alternative management strategies for mitigating farm dam emissions and provide recommendations for financial incentives. This project should enhance the capacity of Australia to meet its carbon reduction targets and mitigate anthropogenic climate change.Read moreRead less
Improving stream management using ecological modelling and DNA barcodes. Rivers and streams provide invaluable ecosystem services, yet are commonly degraded by human activities: a problem likely to be exacerbated by thermal and flow regimes being altered by climate change. Stream biodiversity is both a value and an indicator of ecological health: effective stream management requires prediction of biodiversity responses to natural environmental and human-impact gradients. By compiling a dataset o ....Improving stream management using ecological modelling and DNA barcodes. Rivers and streams provide invaluable ecosystem services, yet are commonly degraded by human activities: a problem likely to be exacerbated by thermal and flow regimes being altered by climate change. Stream biodiversity is both a value and an indicator of ecological health: effective stream management requires prediction of biodiversity responses to natural environmental and human-impact gradients. By compiling a dataset of macroinvertebrate species using new DNA metabarcoding, modelling their distributions, and ranking biodiversity by reach, we will develop molecular and quantitative spatial tools to provide data-driven, landscape-scale decision support for protecting and restoring streams: an urgent need for stream managers globally.Read moreRead less
Improved electrophoretic analyser for water quality monitoring. This proposal will advance the Australian made Eco Detection portable electrophoretic analyser for autonomous monitoring of water chemistry - the Eco Sensor. We will re-design and miniaturise the fluidic manifold to reduce capital- and per-sample cost, increase the sensitivity of nutrients - nitrate and phospate - by 100-times in both fresh- and sea-waters, and develop new ultra-sensitive reagents for heavy metal detection at enviro ....Improved electrophoretic analyser for water quality monitoring. This proposal will advance the Australian made Eco Detection portable electrophoretic analyser for autonomous monitoring of water chemistry - the Eco Sensor. We will re-design and miniaturise the fluidic manifold to reduce capital- and per-sample cost, increase the sensitivity of nutrients - nitrate and phospate - by 100-times in both fresh- and sea-waters, and develop new ultra-sensitive reagents for heavy metal detection at environmentally regulated levels. This will provide a single platform for at-site near-real-time monitoring of water chemistry for agricultural, mining, water corporations and other industries that use and/or discharge water to the environment. Read moreRead less
Identifying how a non-stationary environment affects species persistence. This project aims to achieve the first application of new ecological theory that accounts for environmental change and species’ ability to respond to that change, using caddisflies that lay eggs on rocks in rivers as a case study. Long-term change in climate has always occurred but is often not accounted for when estimating future population sizes and extinction risk in species. Outcomes will include new knowledge on chang ....Identifying how a non-stationary environment affects species persistence. This project aims to achieve the first application of new ecological theory that accounts for environmental change and species’ ability to respond to that change, using caddisflies that lay eggs on rocks in rivers as a case study. Long-term change in climate has always occurred but is often not accounted for when estimating future population sizes and extinction risk in species. Outcomes will include new knowledge on changing habitat availability, species’ ability to move in the landscape and successfully lay and hatch eggs, while creating a general template for use in other species. This will lead to significant benefits for conservation efforts worldwide, via the template’s inclusion in accepted extinction assessment protocols.Read moreRead less