Building insights of our largest terrestrial carbon sink: rangelands soils. Rangelands soils represent Australia’s largest carbon sink. Yet, little is known about their potential for carbon sequestration or their vulnerability to climate and environmental change. This project leverages investments in national terrestrial observation platforms and integrates previous research outputs to develop new methods to measure and build understanding of soil carbon composition and dynamics in rangeland eco ....Building insights of our largest terrestrial carbon sink: rangelands soils. Rangelands soils represent Australia’s largest carbon sink. Yet, little is known about their potential for carbon sequestration or their vulnerability to climate and environmental change. This project leverages investments in national terrestrial observation platforms and integrates previous research outputs to develop new methods to measure and build understanding of soil carbon composition and dynamics in rangeland ecosystems. Under a framework that connects detailed measurements and small-scale processes, with machine-learning, data-model assimilation and large-scale next-generation biogeochemical modelling, it’ll allow more accurate predictions of soil carbon change and better decision-making to guide sustainable rangelands management.Read moreRead less
Building resilience to change for mammals in a multi-use landscape. This project aims to identify critical habitat and dispersal corridors for mammals by applying a novel, interdisciplinary landscape genetics approach to genetic and spatial data. The project expects to generate new knowledge on the evolutionary significance of landscapes in the Pilbara that have facilitated species persistence. Expected outcomes are the incorporation of evolutionary processes into multi-species, systematic conse ....Building resilience to change for mammals in a multi-use landscape. This project aims to identify critical habitat and dispersal corridors for mammals by applying a novel, interdisciplinary landscape genetics approach to genetic and spatial data. The project expects to generate new knowledge on the evolutionary significance of landscapes in the Pilbara that have facilitated species persistence. Expected outcomes are the incorporation of evolutionary processes into multi-species, systematic conservation planning and enhanced capacity to inform conservation and sustainable development in the Pilbara. Significant benefits include alignment of conservation approaches across industry and government stakeholders, and implementation of best-practice conservation science in a biodiversity hotspot.
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What drives parasite spread through social networks: lessons from lizards. Australia's biodiversity is continually threatened by new epidemics of local and foreign diseases and parasites. This project will enhance our understanding of how these diseases spread, allowing more effective controls to be developed to protect wildlife species, animal populations and, ultimately, Australian ecosystems.
Australian savannah landscapes: past, present and future. Australian savannahs are productive and culturally and biologically significant landscapes but are vulnerable to climate change. The project will determine savannah function (carbon and water balance) for the present and assess how sensitive they have been to past climate variability. The project will then address how they may respond to future climate change.