Collaborative science for monitoring of Northern Territory marine megafauna. The project’s aim is to map population connectivity and critical habitat for coastal marine megafauna in remote northern Australian waters, providing a more informed scientific base for biodiversity monitoring and management. The project will employ cutting edge methods in genetics and movement ecology and unite Indigenous rangers with marine national park managers and scientists. Expected outcomes include enhanced capa ....Collaborative science for monitoring of Northern Territory marine megafauna. The project’s aim is to map population connectivity and critical habitat for coastal marine megafauna in remote northern Australian waters, providing a more informed scientific base for biodiversity monitoring and management. The project will employ cutting edge methods in genetics and movement ecology and unite Indigenous rangers with marine national park managers and scientists. Expected outcomes include enhanced capacity for monitoring and conservation planning and new partnerships that will improve research capacity in remote environments. Benefits include environmental management led by Indigenous Traditional Owners, sea rangers and marine park managers, and conservation benefits to coastal dolphin and sea turtle species.Read moreRead less
A stitch in time: evidence-based strategy to keep platypus from extinction. This project aims to assess the status of the iconic platypus, identified as ‘near-threatened’ in 2014. The project’s multidisciplinary approach plans to compare regulated and unregulated rivers to investigate metapopulation structure (via physical and genetic tagging), current condition and future adaptability of the species, as well as other threats and habitat quality. The project also links vulnerability of platypus ....A stitch in time: evidence-based strategy to keep platypus from extinction. This project aims to assess the status of the iconic platypus, identified as ‘near-threatened’ in 2014. The project’s multidisciplinary approach plans to compare regulated and unregulated rivers to investigate metapopulation structure (via physical and genetic tagging), current condition and future adaptability of the species, as well as other threats and habitat quality. The project also links vulnerability of platypus populations to conservation actions that reduce extinction risk, through rigorous decision analyses. It is anticipated that the project will deliver implementable conservation actions at relevant scales.Read moreRead less
E. coli as an indicator of faecal contamination in the Australian context. The goal of this research is to improve our ability to use Escherichia coli as an indicator of water quality by determining the extent to which non-faecal sources of E. coli contribute to coliform counts and to develop a method to differentiate non-faecal E. coli from those that are faecal derived.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture. The ARC CoE for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture will discover the adaptive strategies underpinning productivity and resilience in diverse plants and deepen knowledge of the genetic and physiological networks driving key traits. Using novel quantitative and computational approaches, the Centre will link gene networks with traits across biological levels, giving breeders an unparalleled predictive capacity. The Centre wi ....ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture. The ARC CoE for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture will discover the adaptive strategies underpinning productivity and resilience in diverse plants and deepen knowledge of the genetic and physiological networks driving key traits. Using novel quantitative and computational approaches, the Centre will link gene networks with traits across biological levels, giving breeders an unparalleled predictive capacity. The Centre will accelerate technologies to transfer successful networks into crops and build legal frameworks to secure this knowledge. With a uniquely multidisciplinary team, the Centre will deliver new strategies to address the problems of food security and climate change, establishing Australia as a global leader in these areas.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100203
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$385,000.00
Summary
Autonomous benthic observing system. This project seeks to improve our ability to monitor marine habitats and characterise their variability by enhancing the Integrated Marine Observing system (IMOS) Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Facility. The new AUV infrastructure will reduce operating costs, increase robustness of the sampling effort and insure continued operation for the next decade.
Resilience of eucalypts to future droughts. This project aims to examine how resilient Eucalyptus species are to future droughts by combining data synthesis, manipulative experiments and modelling. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, magnitude and duration of future droughts, with major environmental and socio-economic consequences for Australia. Current predictive capacity is extremely limited: experiments are limited in scale and cannot capture important global change interac ....Resilience of eucalypts to future droughts. This project aims to examine how resilient Eucalyptus species are to future droughts by combining data synthesis, manipulative experiments and modelling. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, magnitude and duration of future droughts, with major environmental and socio-economic consequences for Australia. Current predictive capacity is extremely limited: experiments are limited in scale and cannot capture important global change interactions, whilst models do not represent the functional characteristics and adaptions of eucalypts. This project will develop a strong evidence- and process-based understanding to quantify the functional behaviour of drought-adapted Eucalyptus species and leverage this insight to make future model projections.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE170100219
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$170,000.00
Summary
A multi-institutional environmental radioactivity research centre. This project aims to establish an environmental radioactivity research centre, equipped with ultra-low background and high-resolution alpha and gamma spectrometry systems, radon detectors and radium delayed coincidence counters. The centre will address a critical demand in Australia for precise analysis of a large suite of natural and artificial radionuclides, which will be used as tracers and chronological tools to investigate k ....A multi-institutional environmental radioactivity research centre. This project aims to establish an environmental radioactivity research centre, equipped with ultra-low background and high-resolution alpha and gamma spectrometry systems, radon detectors and radium delayed coincidence counters. The centre will address a critical demand in Australia for precise analysis of a large suite of natural and artificial radionuclides, which will be used as tracers and chronological tools to investigate key questions in oceanography and the mining and energy, archaeological, agricultural, and forestry sectors. The facility is expected to substantially increase expertise and training in radionuclides in Australia, and promote high-level research collaborations and outputs of both national and international significance. Major outcomes of the proposed facility include better understanding of how oceans regulate climate and improved capacity to assess effects of radiation on natural ecosystems.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
Towards 2050 - managing recovery of Australia's coral reefs. The coral reefs of Australia contribute over $6 bn each year to the economy. However, the reefs of Australia, in addition to those worldwide, are threatened by coral bleaching driven by anthropogenic climate change. If we are to preserve the economic, social and ecosystem value of these environments, it is essential that we are able to better manage the recovery of reefs from bleaching events. This project will utilise a variety of mul ....Towards 2050 - managing recovery of Australia's coral reefs. The coral reefs of Australia contribute over $6 bn each year to the economy. However, the reefs of Australia, in addition to those worldwide, are threatened by coral bleaching driven by anthropogenic climate change. If we are to preserve the economic, social and ecosystem value of these environments, it is essential that we are able to better manage the recovery of reefs from bleaching events. This project will utilise a variety of multi-disciplinary approaches, ranging from future climate models, historical satellite data to in-field experimentation to fill fundamental knowledge gaps in our understanding of coral bleaching recovery and delivery a variety of management and stakeholder relevant outputs.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354500
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
ARC Research Network in Microarray Technology. The primary aim of this proposal is to transform the premier genomic technology into a standard research tool; microarrays are now a priority for anyone studying the genetics underlying key biological processes. A principal challenge for the Australian research community is to capture all aspects of microarray technology and make them readily available. We will address these needs by developing a network to:
-establish regular research meetings,
- ....ARC Research Network in Microarray Technology. The primary aim of this proposal is to transform the premier genomic technology into a standard research tool; microarrays are now a priority for anyone studying the genetics underlying key biological processes. A principal challenge for the Australian research community is to capture all aspects of microarray technology and make them readily available. We will address these needs by developing a network to:
-establish regular research meetings,
-facilitate training in array methodologies and bioinformatics,
-co-ordinate innovation of technologies,-provide centralised data warehousing,
-provide access to automated high-level gene annotation,
-provide data mining tools,
-set standards for data management and exchangeRead moreRead less