Improving the success of hybrid living shorelines for coastal protection. This project aims to improve the success of hybrid living shorelines that combine the restoration of mangroves and oysters with engineered structures to enhance restoration outcomes and coastal hazard resilience. It expects to generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of innovative coastal-manager-led solutions that have not yet been robustly evaluated. Expected outcomes of this project include delivery of the technical ....Improving the success of hybrid living shorelines for coastal protection. This project aims to improve the success of hybrid living shorelines that combine the restoration of mangroves and oysters with engineered structures to enhance restoration outcomes and coastal hazard resilience. It expects to generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of innovative coastal-manager-led solutions that have not yet been robustly evaluated. Expected outcomes of this project include delivery of the technical guidelines needed to practically design and implement nature-based coastal protection at scale. This should provide significant socio-economic and environmental benefits through improving Australia’s capacity to adapt to increased erosion and flood risk caused by climate change and coastal urbanisation.Read moreRead less
Effect of deep-sea drilling on sustainability of deep-sea ecosystems. Offshore oil and gas production makes a significant contribution to the Australian economy and enhances our energy security. Australia's vast deep-sea reserves of hydrocarbons lie on the NW Shelf and in Bass Strait, ecological 'hot spots' that are extremely vulnerable to the impact of exploration, extraction and production. Using deep-sea equipment, we will conduct the field experiments that are essential to understanding the ....Effect of deep-sea drilling on sustainability of deep-sea ecosystems. Offshore oil and gas production makes a significant contribution to the Australian economy and enhances our energy security. Australia's vast deep-sea reserves of hydrocarbons lie on the NW Shelf and in Bass Strait, ecological 'hot spots' that are extremely vulnerable to the impact of exploration, extraction and production. Using deep-sea equipment, we will conduct the field experiments that are essential to understanding these ecosystems and the impact of deep-sea structures. Our advances will produce data and develop methodologies that will make Australia a world leader in reconciling our deep-sea energy and environmental needs.Read moreRead less
Environmental DNA: Integration of new methods to enhance marine management. Environmental DNA: Integration of new methods to enhance marine management. This project aims to develop new environmental DNA (eDNA)-based methods of managing humanity’s impact on valuable marine resources. eDNA preserved in seawater provides a lens to study and monitor marine biota and ecosystems. This project will work with fisheries managers and the environmental consulting sector, and focus on sites in the Kimberley ....Environmental DNA: Integration of new methods to enhance marine management. Environmental DNA: Integration of new methods to enhance marine management. This project aims to develop new environmental DNA (eDNA)-based methods of managing humanity’s impact on valuable marine resources. eDNA preserved in seawater provides a lens to study and monitor marine biota and ecosystems. This project will work with fisheries managers and the environmental consulting sector, and focus on sites in the Kimberley, Cocos-Keeling Islands, Fremantle and Deep-sea oil/gas sites to demonstrate the value of eDNA methods in best-practice monitoring. A multi-proxy toolkit (including eDNA) that can audit and baseline marine biota could make balancing conservation and sustainable exploitation achievable. Anticipated outcomes are improved management and monitoring of fisheries, ports and offshore oil/gas sites.Read moreRead less
Restoring blue forests with green gravel. This proposal aims to progress a novel marine restoration technique (green gravel) from concept to application. This is significant because it will overcome key challenges currently hindering success of kelp forest restoration and provide scalable and practical solutions to future-proof kelp forests against climate and anthropogenic stress. Outcomes include progression of marine restoration from science to practice and into policy through local and globa ....Restoring blue forests with green gravel. This proposal aims to progress a novel marine restoration technique (green gravel) from concept to application. This is significant because it will overcome key challenges currently hindering success of kelp forest restoration and provide scalable and practical solutions to future-proof kelp forests against climate and anthropogenic stress. Outcomes include progression of marine restoration from science to practice and into policy through local and global communication. Benefits include strong local and global alliances to scale up kelp restoration and reverse habitat degradation and associated economic loss.Read moreRead less
Resolving the role of kelp in blue carbon cycles to enable management. We aim to uncover how kelp forests contribute to carbon storage, biodiversity enhancement and nutrient mitigation in Australia. We will combine mapping and modelling to identify local variation in kelp carbon stocks and sequestration potential and verify kelp carbon export to deep ocean sinks through genetic tracing in seawater and sediments. Co-benefits will be identified through nutrient experiments and reef surveys. We wil ....Resolving the role of kelp in blue carbon cycles to enable management. We aim to uncover how kelp forests contribute to carbon storage, biodiversity enhancement and nutrient mitigation in Australia. We will combine mapping and modelling to identify local variation in kelp carbon stocks and sequestration potential and verify kelp carbon export to deep ocean sinks through genetic tracing in seawater and sediments. Co-benefits will be identified through nutrient experiments and reef surveys. We will also assess the risk that calcification and production of halogenic gas within the kelp forest could offset its climate mitigation potential. Project outcomes will enable management to consider kelp ecosystem services broadly and optimize our capacity to meet current emission reduction and biodiversity commitments.Read moreRead less
Ecosystem resilience of Shark Bay under changing ocean climate. This project aims to investigate the resilience of the Shark Bay World Heritage Site to projected climate change. This project will generate new knowledge for marine conservation through analyses of habitat loss on nutrient budgets and productivity in seagrass and microbialite ecosystems. Expected outcomes are an improved understanding of climate-driven shifts on ecosystem processes in Shark Bay, incorporating science-based evidence ....Ecosystem resilience of Shark Bay under changing ocean climate. This project aims to investigate the resilience of the Shark Bay World Heritage Site to projected climate change. This project will generate new knowledge for marine conservation through analyses of habitat loss on nutrient budgets and productivity in seagrass and microbialite ecosystems. Expected outcomes are an improved understanding of climate-driven shifts on ecosystem processes in Shark Bay, incorporating science-based evidence for better conservation and management. This will provide significant benefits by contributing to the future-proofing of Shark Bay’s World Heritage values to climate change, and more broadly by demonstrating the consequences of the continued tropicalisation of Australia’s coastline.Read moreRead less
Improving prediction of rocky reef ecosystem responses to human impacts. This project aims to improve our understanding of inshore ecosystems to facilitate better management of our living marine heritage. The project first aims to extend field datasets on the density and distribution of thousands of marine fishes, invertebrates and macro-algae. These will then be combined using recent advances in quantitative ecological modelling to describe transfer of biomass between species at hundreds of sit ....Improving prediction of rocky reef ecosystem responses to human impacts. This project aims to improve our understanding of inshore ecosystems to facilitate better management of our living marine heritage. The project first aims to extend field datasets on the density and distribution of thousands of marine fishes, invertebrates and macro-algae. These will then be combined using recent advances in quantitative ecological modelling to describe transfer of biomass between species at hundreds of sites, with a primary focus on southern Australia. It is anticipated that this will provide site-level indices of major food web processes that, when combined with ‘before, after, control, impact’ data, will improve prediction of ecological consequences of fishing, climate change, pest outbreaks and pollution.Read moreRead less
Utilising plant-sediment-feedbacks to enhance seagrass restoration. This project aims to investigate the role of sediment microbes in promoting the health of threatened seagrass species across Australia. This project expects to create new knowledge for enhancing restoration success for seagrasses by integrating macro and micro-ecology, environmental genomics, plant ecology and ecosystem function (e.g. nutrient and biogeochemistry cycling). Expected outcomes are new knowledge to enhance seagrass ....Utilising plant-sediment-feedbacks to enhance seagrass restoration. This project aims to investigate the role of sediment microbes in promoting the health of threatened seagrass species across Australia. This project expects to create new knowledge for enhancing restoration success for seagrasses by integrating macro and micro-ecology, environmental genomics, plant ecology and ecosystem function (e.g. nutrient and biogeochemistry cycling). Expected outcomes are new knowledge to enhance seagrass restoration utilising sediment microbes that can be integrated into management and policy. This project should provide significant benefits, such as the development of key strategic alliances to enhance management of seagrasses, and the ecosystem services, and economic and social benefits they provide.Read moreRead less
Coral resilience and the optimal management of biodiversity. This project aims to examine the resilience of coral biodiversity to disturbances and build on recently developed genomic resources to explore the genotypic traits that confer thermal tolerance. The project will research how coral biodiversity responds to climatic disturbances; the potential for acclimation and adaptation; and the best ways to monitor, manage and restore biodiversity. The project is expected to generate tangible outcom ....Coral resilience and the optimal management of biodiversity. This project aims to examine the resilience of coral biodiversity to disturbances and build on recently developed genomic resources to explore the genotypic traits that confer thermal tolerance. The project will research how coral biodiversity responds to climatic disturbances; the potential for acclimation and adaptation; and the best ways to monitor, manage and restore biodiversity. The project is expected to generate tangible outcomes and strategies to optimise the management of Australia’s coral biodiversity while engaging the public through museum-based outreach, in collaboration with government, regulatory sectors and an industry group. Read moreRead less
Balancing estuarine and societal health in a changing environment. This project aims to facilitate sustainable development in a fast-growing coastal region (Peel-Harvey, south-western Australia). By exploiting 30+ year data sets for this catchment-estuary system and integrating ecological, hydrological, biogeochemical, modelling and socio-economic expertise, this project seeks to link primary catchment drivers to estuarine health response (up to higher fauna), quantify estuarine ecological healt ....Balancing estuarine and societal health in a changing environment. This project aims to facilitate sustainable development in a fast-growing coastal region (Peel-Harvey, south-western Australia). By exploiting 30+ year data sets for this catchment-estuary system and integrating ecological, hydrological, biogeochemical, modelling and socio-economic expertise, this project seeks to link primary catchment drivers to estuarine health response (up to higher fauna), quantify estuarine ecological health and ecosystem services under historical and future scenarios, and test resilience across the human–natural system. Envisaged outcomes include evidence-based catchment planning solutions that optimise trade-offs between socio-economic development goals and minimal downstream impacts on estuarine health.Read moreRead less