Threats to the water quality and ecosystem of Coffin Bay, South Australia. Coffin Bay (South Australia) is experiencing worsening environmental conditions despite its major economic and ecological importance. Research is needed to understand the cause of this decline, particularly in light of a recent bacterial outbreak that impacted the aquaculture industry. This multidisciplinary project aims to deliver world-leading scientific advice based on novel field techniques and innovative models of th ....Threats to the water quality and ecosystem of Coffin Bay, South Australia. Coffin Bay (South Australia) is experiencing worsening environmental conditions despite its major economic and ecological importance. Research is needed to understand the cause of this decline, particularly in light of a recent bacterial outbreak that impacted the aquaculture industry. This multidisciplinary project aims to deliver world-leading scientific advice based on novel field techniques and innovative models of this complex inverse estuary system and its surrounding catchment. The new understanding of the sources, fluxes and fate of nutrients within the bay and the surrounding catchment, arising from this project, is expected to benefit management decision-making and establish a new standard in estuarine water quality investigation.Read moreRead less
Establishing baseline ecological conditions for the Lower Lakes, South Australia: the applications of palaeoecology to sustainable resource management. The Lower Lakes of the Murray River are in a critical ecological state due to record low water levels. Management of these lakes needs to integrate water security demands with maintaining healthy ecosystem functions. Proposed management options such as allowing seawater incursion and the construction of a weir to impede freshwater flows are based ....Establishing baseline ecological conditions for the Lower Lakes, South Australia: the applications of palaeoecology to sustainable resource management. The Lower Lakes of the Murray River are in a critical ecological state due to record low water levels. Management of these lakes needs to integrate water security demands with maintaining healthy ecosystem functions. Proposed management options such as allowing seawater incursion and the construction of a weir to impede freshwater flows are based on assumptions about what the Lakes were like naturally (pre-European). This study will reconstruct environmental variability within the Lower Lakes over the past 7000 years, concentrating on salinity to document the extent of marine incursion, and pH to examine the impacts of acid sulphate release from exposed sediments during low flow events. Read moreRead less
Improving water quality modelling by better understanding solute transport. Poor stream water quality is a critical problem in Australia and globally. Stream water quality depends directly on pathways and time taken for water to transport pollutants through catchments. Predicting these pathways is highly challenging and currently requires specialised data. This project aims to better model the movement of water from rainfall to streams, enable greatly improved use of water quality data routinely ....Improving water quality modelling by better understanding solute transport. Poor stream water quality is a critical problem in Australia and globally. Stream water quality depends directly on pathways and time taken for water to transport pollutants through catchments. Predicting these pathways is highly challenging and currently requires specialised data. This project aims to better model the movement of water from rainfall to streams, enable greatly improved use of water quality data routinely collected in Australia's catchments and thereby better predict water quality behaviour. Proposed field studies aim to support this development. The outcomes sought are improved planning and management of water quality in our rivers, lakes and estuaries, improved health of these water bodies and improved water supplies.Read moreRead less
Kelp forest ecosystems near and far: Putting a new theory explaining dynamic ecological systems to the test. Few, if any, ecological models account for the biological diversity and observed vulnerability of ecosystems, from the molecular to the oceanic scale. This project aims to investigate kelp forests in ways that integrate previously disparate approaches to the study of ecosystems in order to prove the value of a novel framework for understanding how broad-scale and local phenomena interrela ....Kelp forest ecosystems near and far: Putting a new theory explaining dynamic ecological systems to the test. Few, if any, ecological models account for the biological diversity and observed vulnerability of ecosystems, from the molecular to the oceanic scale. This project aims to investigate kelp forests in ways that integrate previously disparate approaches to the study of ecosystems in order to prove the value of a novel framework for understanding how broad-scale and local phenomena interrelate to maintain the diversity and function of ecosystems or to provoke their decline, transition or collapse. This new conceptualisation of ecosystem processes will assist in forecasting the consequences of their management and the effects of external stimuli on normally robust systems. Read moreRead less
Sustaining intensive agriculture through droughts and floods. This project aims to develop state-of-the-art conceptual and numerical models of river-soil-groundwater interactions to address complex and persistent questions on water sustainability in the Lower Burdekin Delta, Queensland, where groundwater pumping to irrigate sugarcane has been supplemented by artificial recharge for over 50 years. This project expects to deliver new knowledge of critical aquifer processes to inform the scheme ope ....Sustaining intensive agriculture through droughts and floods. This project aims to develop state-of-the-art conceptual and numerical models of river-soil-groundwater interactions to address complex and persistent questions on water sustainability in the Lower Burdekin Delta, Queensland, where groundwater pumping to irrigate sugarcane has been supplemented by artificial recharge for over 50 years. This project expects to deliver new knowledge of critical aquifer processes to inform the scheme operation, the largest in the country. Expected outcomes include ground-breaking management plans for the aquifer-replenishment scheme. Anticipated benefits involve balancing the needs of agriculture and the protection of pristine environments, including groundwater discharge to the Great Barrier Reef.
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Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE100100141
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$420,000.00
Summary
High-resolution ITRAX XRF core scanning facility for global change research. This facility will enable researchers to obtain high-resolution geochemical profiles in the study of environmental change and climate variability. It will provide archive data on the variation of density and chemical element composition along sediment and soil cores, rock cores, wood samples, speleothems and corals. These archives contain important information such as human activity, climate variability, water quality c ....High-resolution ITRAX XRF core scanning facility for global change research. This facility will enable researchers to obtain high-resolution geochemical profiles in the study of environmental change and climate variability. It will provide archive data on the variation of density and chemical element composition along sediment and soil cores, rock cores, wood samples, speleothems and corals. These archives contain important information such as human activity, climate variability, water quality changes, pollution histories, recent geomorphological change, land-use change, introduction of invasive species and the occurrence of bushfires. A better understanding of the occurrence and timing of these major environmental issues is of national and regional importance.Read moreRead less
Bluebottle dynamics: towards a prediction tool for Surf Life Saving Aust. Many Australians have had a painful bluebottle sting, yet little is known about bluebottles and what brings them to the coast. This project will shed new light on bluebottle dynamics, pathways, and distribution of the beachings. We will use an innovative combination of lab work, ocean surveys, statistical and hydrodynamic modelling to fill knowledge gaps and ultimately provide the framework for prediction.
In partnership w ....Bluebottle dynamics: towards a prediction tool for Surf Life Saving Aust. Many Australians have had a painful bluebottle sting, yet little is known about bluebottles and what brings them to the coast. This project will shed new light on bluebottle dynamics, pathways, and distribution of the beachings. We will use an innovative combination of lab work, ocean surveys, statistical and hydrodynamic modelling to fill knowledge gaps and ultimately provide the framework for prediction.
In partnership with Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA), we will develop the first bluebottle risk prediction tool for our popular beaches.
Forewarned is forearmed. Forecasts will help mitigate bluebottle stings, lessen their public health burden, while having broad benefits for coastal communities.
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Evolution. Morphodynamics and History of the Younghusband Peninsula. This project will examine the history and evolution of the Sir Richard-Younghusband Peninsula (SRYP) complex barrier in SA. The aims are to derive a understanding of how the influences of relative sea-level changes, neotectonics, and sediment supply, can produce remarkably different responses in barrier development. No complex barrier (i.e. foredune ridges in one portion, transgressive dunefields in another) has ever been compr ....Evolution. Morphodynamics and History of the Younghusband Peninsula. This project will examine the history and evolution of the Sir Richard-Younghusband Peninsula (SRYP) complex barrier in SA. The aims are to derive a understanding of how the influences of relative sea-level changes, neotectonics, and sediment supply, can produce remarkably different responses in barrier development. No complex barrier (i.e. foredune ridges in one portion, transgressive dunefields in another) has ever been comprehensively drilled, dated, modelled, or examined in the context of indigenous occupation and oral histories in Australia. The study provides excellent analogues for barrier and dune response, and shoreline translation to varying rates of sea level rise, paralleling pressures facing all coastlines today.Read moreRead less
MICROSCALE PLANKTON AND PARTICLE DYNAMICS: COMPARING AND CONTRASTING AUSTRALIAN AND INTERNATIONAL SEAS. Microscopic phytoplankton are the basis of ocean ecosystems, but most predictions and measurements focus on processes that occur over kilometres. Our recent work shows that definite and regular submetre seascape topography exists. This grant will test the extent to which this seascape topography is the fundamental organisational unit of marine ecosystems and the extent to which it characteris ....MICROSCALE PLANKTON AND PARTICLE DYNAMICS: COMPARING AND CONTRASTING AUSTRALIAN AND INTERNATIONAL SEAS. Microscopic phytoplankton are the basis of ocean ecosystems, but most predictions and measurements focus on processes that occur over kilometres. Our recent work shows that definite and regular submetre seascape topography exists. This grant will test the extent to which this seascape topography is the fundamental organisational unit of marine ecosystems and the extent to which it characterises Australian coastal waters and open ocean water masses. This research takes a leadership role in defining and advancing our understanding of how marine ecosystems function. The project will bring over $200 million of Japanese infrastructure to Australia for 3 years.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100633
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$460,573.00
Summary
Microplastics accumulation in Australian coastal wetlands. This project aims to quantify the intensity, rate and impact of the accumulation of microplastic particles in Australia’s coastal wetlands for the first time. This multidisciplinary project will examine interactions between microplastics, wetland ecology and carbon dynamics using advanced analytical chemistry, biogeochemistry and environmental microbiology. Expected outcomes of this project include the world’s first nationwide analysis o ....Microplastics accumulation in Australian coastal wetlands. This project aims to quantify the intensity, rate and impact of the accumulation of microplastic particles in Australia’s coastal wetlands for the first time. This multidisciplinary project will examine interactions between microplastics, wetland ecology and carbon dynamics using advanced analytical chemistry, biogeochemistry and environmental microbiology. Expected outcomes of this project include the world’s first nationwide analysis of the sequestration of microplastics and their influence on the carbon cycle in coastal ecosystems. This work will provide significant benefits, such as facilitating decision-making about microplastics emissions reduction and coastal wetlands conservation.Read moreRead less