Restoration genetics of five endangered fish species from the Murray-Darling Basin. Extended drought and environmental degradation have caused unprecedented loss of aquatic biodiversity in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia's most important agricultural region. This project will reduce the risk of extinction of two endangered and three critically endangered freshwater fish species from the lower MDB. It will provide major benefits to the broader Australian community by addressing governme ....Restoration genetics of five endangered fish species from the Murray-Darling Basin. Extended drought and environmental degradation have caused unprecedented loss of aquatic biodiversity in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia's most important agricultural region. This project will reduce the risk of extinction of two endangered and three critically endangered freshwater fish species from the lower MDB. It will provide major benefits to the broader Australian community by addressing government policies regarding sustainable water management in rural areas, biodiversity protection and recovery of threatened species. The study will also increase the research profile of Australia in the international scientific community by improving our understanding about genetic diversity in captive breeding and restoration programs.Read moreRead less
Improved biomonitoring of urban freshwater ecosystems using DNA barcodes. This project aims to provide rapid diagnostic detection of environmental change in aquatic ecosystems at reduced cost. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) can transform monitoring of aquatic ecosystems by identifying many species in multiple biological samples. This project aims to use NGS technology to identify macroinvertebrate species as biological indicators in urban freshwater ecosystems to provide more rapid, sensitive ....Improved biomonitoring of urban freshwater ecosystems using DNA barcodes. This project aims to provide rapid diagnostic detection of environmental change in aquatic ecosystems at reduced cost. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) can transform monitoring of aquatic ecosystems by identifying many species in multiple biological samples. This project aims to use NGS technology to identify macroinvertebrate species as biological indicators in urban freshwater ecosystems to provide more rapid, sensitive and cost-effective monitoring compared to traditional methods. The project uses DNA barcodes that identify species to detect species in samples processed with NGS. The project also plans to use previously collected samples to explore species diversity and detect indicator species.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
Next-generation models to predict cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms. This project aims to address the need for improved predictions of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) harmful algal blooms. Accurate predictions of blooms with computer models are important to support management strategies to prevent their occurrence. This project is expected to generate new knowledge of strain-level variation in cyanobacteria that leads to toxic blooms. This project will lead to new knowledge of the significance ....Next-generation models to predict cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms. This project aims to address the need for improved predictions of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) harmful algal blooms. Accurate predictions of blooms with computer models are important to support management strategies to prevent their occurrence. This project is expected to generate new knowledge of strain-level variation in cyanobacteria that leads to toxic blooms. This project will lead to new knowledge of the significance of strain-level variation in cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms, how strains influence toxin production and models for prediction of bloom and toxins. The project will generate significant benefits for water security for the purposes human consumption and recreation, and ecosystem health.Read moreRead less
Subterranean invertebrate communities of arid zone Western Australia: diversity, assessment and food-web structure. The diverse and unique subterranean fauna associated with aquifers of the Western Australia arid zone is potentially threatened by water extraction, mining and other human impacts. This project aims to apply a powerful combination of molecular genetic analyses and compound specific isotope analyses to study, for the first time, the food web structure and source of energy of these g ....Subterranean invertebrate communities of arid zone Western Australia: diversity, assessment and food-web structure. The diverse and unique subterranean fauna associated with aquifers of the Western Australia arid zone is potentially threatened by water extraction, mining and other human impacts. This project aims to apply a powerful combination of molecular genetic analyses and compound specific isotope analyses to study, for the first time, the food web structure and source of energy of these groundwater ecosystems. The project aims to also develop novel procedures for monitoring their biodiversity using environmental DNA within the groundwater. The results will provide crucial information for the management of groundwater, and conservation of their associated ecosystems, and significantly improve the rigour of long-term environmental monitoring.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