Keystone effects of Australia's top predators: dingoes, devils and biodiversity. This project will study the interactions of Australia's two largest predators, the dingo and Tasmanian devil, with other species. The project will help develop an understanding of the value of these predators in maintaining ecosystem processes and diversity, and guide their management in the future.
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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Breeding echidnas in captivity. This project aims to provide novel insights into the cryptic and secretive mode of the reproduction of echidnas, and enable development of reliable methods for breeding them in captivity. There has not been a sustainable breeding program for echidnas in any zoo world-wide. This is needed because most studies on echidnas have all been field-based, and so not open to manipulation to answer key questions relevant to their conservation and survival. Using novel scient ....Breeding echidnas in captivity. This project aims to provide novel insights into the cryptic and secretive mode of the reproduction of echidnas, and enable development of reliable methods for breeding them in captivity. There has not been a sustainable breeding program for echidnas in any zoo world-wide. This is needed because most studies on echidnas have all been field-based, and so not open to manipulation to answer key questions relevant to their conservation and survival. Using novel scientific results on the short-beaked echidna, the project will provide new knowledge relevant to monotreme conservation, research and education, and enable the development of reliable methods for breeding the critically endangered, long-beaked echidna in captivity.Read moreRead less
Identifying the risks and assessing the impacts of marine debris on sea turtles in Australian waters. Marine debris is a significant global issue, with the amount of waste released into our oceans growing exponentially each year. Preliminary work in Australia has shown that entanglement and ingestion of debris is a serious threat to endangered sea turtles. The project aims to determine the impact debris is having and provide ways to reduce this impact.
New methods for improving active adaptive management in biological systems. Understanding population dynamics is critical in many areas of national importance to Australia, such as protection of biodiversity, management of invasive species and prediction of the possible effects of climate change. This project will develop a collection of state-of-the-art methods enabling optimal ecological management.
Resource allocation for efficient environmental management. The world faces a range of pressing environmental problems such as loss of biodiversity, invasion of pests and weeds, high greenhouse gas emissions and emerging infectious diseases. This research will show how to manage environmental problems most efficiently, especially when the state of the world and the benefits of management are uncertain.
Vulnerability of Australian bats to white-nose syndrome. Australia's unique wildlife is inherently at risk from invasive novel pathogens. White-nose syndrome is an emerging fungal disease that has decimated bat populations across North America. This fungal disease is likely to soon jump continents and also seriously threaten Australia's bat fauna. This project aims to quantify the risk of exposure to this fungus and understand the sensitivity of Australian bat populations to white-nose syndrome ....Vulnerability of Australian bats to white-nose syndrome. Australia's unique wildlife is inherently at risk from invasive novel pathogens. White-nose syndrome is an emerging fungal disease that has decimated bat populations across North America. This fungal disease is likely to soon jump continents and also seriously threaten Australia's bat fauna. This project aims to quantify the risk of exposure to this fungus and understand the sensitivity of Australian bat populations to white-nose syndrome mortality. Expected outcomes include spatially-explicit, species-specific models of vulnerability to white-nose syndrome for bat populations across south-eastern Australia, essential for directing actions to prevent, detect and mitigate the impacts of this potentially catastrophic wildlife disease.Read moreRead less
From prediction to adaptation: responding to rapid ecosystem shifts under climate change. Nobody knows exactly how climate change will affect the ecosystems on which we depend for our own existence, though negative impacts are widely predicted. This project integrates mathematical, economic and ecological approaches to learn about the most effective way to spend limited funds for sustaining ecosystems threatened by climate change.