The effect of native invasions on Australian fisheries species. This project aims to forecast climate-related changes in the diversity, distribution and abundance of fisheries species. In a changing world where many people depend on oceans for food and livelihood, predicting the future distribution of fisheries species is a challenge. Native invasions and ocean warming are stressing inshore fisheries species, but rigorous empirical data and models that can reliably forecast these effects are lac ....The effect of native invasions on Australian fisheries species. This project aims to forecast climate-related changes in the diversity, distribution and abundance of fisheries species. In a changing world where many people depend on oceans for food and livelihood, predicting the future distribution of fisheries species is a challenge. Native invasions and ocean warming are stressing inshore fisheries species, but rigorous empirical data and models that can reliably forecast these effects are lacking. This project intends to reveal the drivers of successful native invasions, evaluate their effect on fish diversity and productivity, and develop holistic models that forecast their effects on inshore fisheries species’ near-future distribution and stocks.Read moreRead less
Reconstructing the impact of climate change on Australian native species. This project will explore the impact of past climate change on Australian native animals to identify species and ecosystems at greatest potential risk, and to help predict and minimise the effects of future change.
Testing the mechanisms and effects of abrupt and extreme climate change. This project aims to resolve the timing, rate of change, mechanisms and effects of past abrupt and extreme global climate change. These are uncertain for abrupt and extreme warming events in the recent geological record, due to difficulties comparing terrestrial and marine palaeoclimate and faunal records on radiocarbon timescales with independently dated ice cores over the last 50,000 years. By using yearly-resolved tree r ....Testing the mechanisms and effects of abrupt and extreme climate change. This project aims to resolve the timing, rate of change, mechanisms and effects of past abrupt and extreme global climate change. These are uncertain for abrupt and extreme warming events in the recent geological record, due to difficulties comparing terrestrial and marine palaeoclimate and faunal records on radiocarbon timescales with independently dated ice cores over the last 50,000 years. By using yearly-resolved tree ring records, the project will discover when, how and what effect abrupt and extreme change had on global climate and species/ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Were abrupt changes in the Precambrian global carbon cycle the trigger for animal appearance and radiation on Earth? The origin of complex life and the properties that allow that life to be sustained on this planet are recorded within the geologic record. This project will reveal the role that severe perturbations of the global carbon cycle and climate had in triggering the step-wise change to animal life after billions of years of only single cell organisms.
Seagrass adaptation and acclimation responses to extreme climatic events. This project aims to advance our understanding of how temperate marine plants in their northern limit will respond to the effects of synergistic stressors from extreme events combined with climate change. The project will study Shark Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where a semi-permanent, salinity gradient maintained by shallow seagrass banks has resulted in unique ecosystems like stromatolites to persist. Expected outc ....Seagrass adaptation and acclimation responses to extreme climatic events. This project aims to advance our understanding of how temperate marine plants in their northern limit will respond to the effects of synergistic stressors from extreme events combined with climate change. The project will study Shark Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where a semi-permanent, salinity gradient maintained by shallow seagrass banks has resulted in unique ecosystems like stromatolites to persist. Expected outcomes include practical solutions for building resilience to climate change mitigation in marine ecosystems. This will benefit the broader Australian community through changing how we manage significant resources and services these systems support, such as fisheries, coastal protection.Read moreRead less
Climate change and migration in China: theoretical, empirical and policy dimensions. This project will analyse the complex relationship between climate change and migration by focussing in depth on two areas in China anticipated being major hotspots of Climate change impact. It will provide insight into national and international policy development in Climate change mitigation and adaptations.
Comparative Paleogenomics of the Arctic Tundra Ecosystem: the genetic response of plants and animals to climate change. This project will use DNA from deep-frozen seeds and bones 100,000 years old to record how species respond to climate change - by adapting and surviving or by shifting ranges and moving. Very large numbers of genes will be examined to identify changes across the genomes of four plant and two animal species, and contrast the responses to major climatic shifts.
Using phylogenomics to record the impacts of climate change, extinction and population fragmentation. This project will use ancient DNA from permafrost-preserved Steppe bison bones and bovid exome capture systems to build a detailed record of the genomic impacts of rapid climate and environmental change at the end of the Pleistocene (30 to 11 kyr). The project will analyse how ancestral genetic diversity is distributed amongst surviving bison populations, and the role of nuclear loci under selec ....Using phylogenomics to record the impacts of climate change, extinction and population fragmentation. This project will use ancient DNA from permafrost-preserved Steppe bison bones and bovid exome capture systems to build a detailed record of the genomic impacts of rapid climate and environmental change at the end of the Pleistocene (30 to 11 kyr). The project will analyse how ancestral genetic diversity is distributed amongst surviving bison populations, and the role of nuclear loci under selection and drift. It will create a novel temporal dataset of genomic adaptation and evolution, and will generate critical data for studies of evolutionary processes such as extinctions, speciation and conservation biology and management.Read moreRead less
Understanding marine biodiversity across vast spatial scales. Large-scale studies of biodiversity are frequently recommended by ecologists, but their costs are prohibitive. More efficient, yet accurate, sampling and analytical procedures are needed. This proposal will provide new quantitative knowledge on patterns of diversity of marine species (fish & invertebrates) from local to regional scales across southern Australia and northern New Zealand. An innovative feature of this research is the c ....Understanding marine biodiversity across vast spatial scales. Large-scale studies of biodiversity are frequently recommended by ecologists, but their costs are prohibitive. More efficient, yet accurate, sampling and analytical procedures are needed. This proposal will provide new quantitative knowledge on patterns of diversity of marine species (fish & invertebrates) from local to regional scales across southern Australia and northern New Zealand. An innovative feature of this research is the contribution of new ecological information with novel analytical procedures to identify the consequences of using more cost-effective techniques on quantifying patterns of biodiversity. This understanding is fundamental to the on-going advancement of ecology and conservation biology.Read moreRead less
Climate model validation and generation of probabilistic climate projections using data from Phase 5 of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project. New climate model results will be compared with observations to test model skill. Probabilistic projections of regional-scale climate change will be developed and used to investigate a number of ecosystem impact case studies.