Estimating fishing-related mortality and designing sustainable management protocols for shark fisheries in Northern Australia. Sharks are extremely valuable economically, with the landed catch in the NT alone exceeding $10 million in 2004. The increasing world demand for high-quality protein will necessitate appropriate management so that over-exploitation does not occur as it has in most other shark fisheries worldwide. The proposed project will provide key information that will direct careful ....Estimating fishing-related mortality and designing sustainable management protocols for shark fisheries in Northern Australia. Sharks are extremely valuable economically, with the landed catch in the NT alone exceeding $10 million in 2004. The increasing world demand for high-quality protein will necessitate appropriate management so that over-exploitation does not occur as it has in most other shark fisheries worldwide. The proposed project will provide key information that will direct careful and informed management decisions well into the future. The added benefit of collecting information on the rarer and more susceptible non-target species caught in this fishery will ensure that any negative impacts are reduced. The project will also provide information on the potential impact of illegal fishing by neighbouring countries to our north.Read moreRead less
Effects of maternal foraging success and oceanographic variation on offspring behaviour and survival in the southern elephant seal. Juvenile survival is the key determinant of mammalian population performance, but the proximate determinants of this have rarely been established in large, long-lived predators. Southern elephant seals, with their concentrated lactation effort and marked separation of energy acquisition (at-sea foraging) and expenditure (on-land lactation) provide an ideal model for ....Effects of maternal foraging success and oceanographic variation on offspring behaviour and survival in the southern elephant seal. Juvenile survival is the key determinant of mammalian population performance, but the proximate determinants of this have rarely been established in large, long-lived predators. Southern elephant seals, with their concentrated lactation effort and marked separation of energy acquisition (at-sea foraging) and expenditure (on-land lactation) provide an ideal model for investigating these factors. In this study, we investigate the partitioning of pre-partum performance (fat acquired in mothers) relative to spatial-temporal variation in ocean productivity and the effect of this expenditure on offspring condition and survival. Here, the final missing link of energy transfer and its effects on offspring will be a major outcome of this project.Read moreRead less
What is 'natural'?: Locating and deciphering pre-human records of vegetation from northern Australian savannahs. The nature and magnitude of the environmental impact of human colonisation of Australia are fundamental issues in Australian prehistory and ecology. The project will locate and develop archives of environmental change from sinkholes in the Northern Territory that date back to the Last interglacial - a period which had a similar climate to the present day, but was before humans arrived ....What is 'natural'?: Locating and deciphering pre-human records of vegetation from northern Australian savannahs. The nature and magnitude of the environmental impact of human colonisation of Australia are fundamental issues in Australian prehistory and ecology. The project will locate and develop archives of environmental change from sinkholes in the Northern Territory that date back to the Last interglacial - a period which had a similar climate to the present day, but was before humans arrived.Read moreRead less
Automated groundwater level mapping: a tool for catchment scale estimation of aquifer storage changes, fluxes and hydrogeological properties. Cutting-edge groundwater mapping tools will be developed by this project and made freely available. Water table maps will be derived for Victoria and used to quantify aquifer properties, recharge and the groundwater balance. Fundamental limitations to quantitative groundwater management will be overcome and the Bureau of Meteorology intend to adopt the fin ....Automated groundwater level mapping: a tool for catchment scale estimation of aquifer storage changes, fluxes and hydrogeological properties. Cutting-edge groundwater mapping tools will be developed by this project and made freely available. Water table maps will be derived for Victoria and used to quantify aquifer properties, recharge and the groundwater balance. Fundamental limitations to quantitative groundwater management will be overcome and the Bureau of Meteorology intend to adopt the findings.Read moreRead less
Cross-cultural management of freshwater on resource-constrained islands. This project aims to develop a methodology for community-led adaptive water management on resource-constrained islands and will involve Indigenous communities in the development of predictive groundwater models. The project plans to apply three-dimensional participatory mapping, a stakeholder engagement process led and owned by the local communities, on Milingimbi Island in the Northern Territory. The extension of the parti ....Cross-cultural management of freshwater on resource-constrained islands. This project aims to develop a methodology for community-led adaptive water management on resource-constrained islands and will involve Indigenous communities in the development of predictive groundwater models. The project plans to apply three-dimensional participatory mapping, a stakeholder engagement process led and owned by the local communities, on Milingimbi Island in the Northern Territory. The extension of the participatory mapping with a subsurface component will then support the conceptualisation and development of a numerical model of the island's groundwater system. The predictive model and community engagement processes are expected to provide a more robust methodology for evaluating future water management plans. The project outcomes will contribute to solving water supply problems in remote communities in Australia, and overseas.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE100100203
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$700,000.00
Summary
Advanced Geochemical Facility for Climate and Environmental Change Research: a Western Australian/Indian Ocean focus. Research outcomes from this new facility will empower government bodies, resource industries, and indigenous stakeholders with key baseline information to ensure the sustainable and sensitive development of west Australia's unique coastal and offshore regions, across heavily populated and pristine environments. This includes projecting future impacts on local industries (eg. ener ....Advanced Geochemical Facility for Climate and Environmental Change Research: a Western Australian/Indian Ocean focus. Research outcomes from this new facility will empower government bodies, resource industries, and indigenous stakeholders with key baseline information to ensure the sustainable and sensitive development of west Australia's unique coastal and offshore regions, across heavily populated and pristine environments. This includes projecting future impacts on local industries (eg. energy, fisheries, tourism), rising shorelines with critical implications for existing and developing communities, and enhancing the resilience of habitats at risk. These are crucial to mitigate the impacts from environmental change that could severely affect our regional and national economies, as well as the style and quality of life of current and future generations.Read moreRead less