Climate and environmental history of SE Queensland dunefields. This project aims to generate fundamental information about the timing and mode of formation of sand dunes in the world's largest downdrift sand system, Cooloola and Fraser Island, Queensland. The project aims to provide a world class record of climate variability, sea-level change and long term climate change from the sub-tropics of Australia, an area critical to understanding global climate links and sea-level change but where high ....Climate and environmental history of SE Queensland dunefields. This project aims to generate fundamental information about the timing and mode of formation of sand dunes in the world's largest downdrift sand system, Cooloola and Fraser Island, Queensland. The project aims to provide a world class record of climate variability, sea-level change and long term climate change from the sub-tropics of Australia, an area critical to understanding global climate links and sea-level change but where high quality long-term records are sparse and little investigated. This project will also underpin the outstanding universal value of the Fraser Island World Heritage Area which is based on the area being the world's largest sand island, but for which scientific understanding of the sand dunes is remarkably poor.Read moreRead less
Understanding why aluminium and other trace metals are toxic to plants - the key to improving crop yield in degraded soils. Aluminium toxicity drastically reduces plant growth in acid soils, costing Australia approximately $1.5 billion per annum in lost productivity. This project will aim to identify the reasons behind the toxicities of aluminium and other metals and has the potential to increase yields in 50 per cent of Australia’s agricultural land which is acidic.