Climate-related regime shifts in inland semi-arid ecosystems through ecohydrological proxies. This project will investigate the dynamics of climate, especially rainfall, of the northwest of Australia over the last few thousand years. Our findings will increase understanding of climate variability and contribute to sustainable management of water and biodiversity in semi-arid Australia.
How warm and how wet? New perspectives on paleoclimate records and hydrological regimes in arid zones of Australia. This project will develop a new and precise palaeotemperature record for southern Australia, and will investigate the hydrologic dynamics of inland Australia. Together, this research will lead to new discoveries in the way Australian ecosystems respond to climate variability and will enable better understanding of its impacts.
Source - receptor analysis of lignin and lipid macromolecules in karst to quantify stalagmite biomarker proxies of vegetation and temperature change. Cave stalagmites are archives of past climate and environmental changes. This project seeks to develop two novel biomarkers, lignin and bacterial membrane lipids, from which we will generate new records of historic and prehistoric vegetation and temperature change.