A Quantitative Analysis of Prawn Harvesting Strategies. Prawn fisheries in NSW are undergoing major changes in their management. This unusual PhD project will design and test new decision-rules and strategies for fishery managers that are based upon pragmatic quantities of catch-per-unit-effort, prawn size, and river temperature and discharge. The performance of rules and strategies will be measured to ensure that they generate satisfactory outcomes for the prawn resources and the people that de ....A Quantitative Analysis of Prawn Harvesting Strategies. Prawn fisheries in NSW are undergoing major changes in their management. This unusual PhD project will design and test new decision-rules and strategies for fishery managers that are based upon pragmatic quantities of catch-per-unit-effort, prawn size, and river temperature and discharge. The performance of rules and strategies will be measured to ensure that they generate satisfactory outcomes for the prawn resources and the people that depend upon them. A major outcome will be precautionary or risk-averse decision-rules and strategies that are robust to the uncertainties that exist in prawn fisheries.Read moreRead less
Establishing an ecological basis for stocking density of Australian bass in freshwaters: Experimental field tests of a general numerical model. Large numbers of the Australian public go fishing, particularly in rivers and impoundments. Angling in these waterways provides a strong source of income for rural and regional communities. The stocking of native fish to support inland angling also sustains much of the aquaculture industry in western NSW and Queensland. This study will develop an optimal ....Establishing an ecological basis for stocking density of Australian bass in freshwaters: Experimental field tests of a general numerical model. Large numbers of the Australian public go fishing, particularly in rivers and impoundments. Angling in these waterways provides a strong source of income for rural and regional communities. The stocking of native fish to support inland angling also sustains much of the aquaculture industry in western NSW and Queensland. This study will develop an optimal approach to stocking Australian bass which is relevant for other stocked freshwater species, and will allow stocking to be undertaken in an environmentally responsible manner. This will both enhance the outcome of investment of public funds in stocking, and enhance the recreational fishing experience that is so important to rural regional communities.Read moreRead less
Surplus baitfish? The consumption and bioenergetics of a predatory fish. This project aims to improve fisheries management of economically important baitfish by increasing our understanding of the ecosystem demand of predatory fish. The ecosystem demand of predatory fish is currently not understood, because it fails to include the considerable impact of juvenile fish, especially when they reside in an estuary. The project intends to implant acoustic transmitters, calibrated in a flume, to discov ....Surplus baitfish? The consumption and bioenergetics of a predatory fish. This project aims to improve fisheries management of economically important baitfish by increasing our understanding of the ecosystem demand of predatory fish. The ecosystem demand of predatory fish is currently not understood, because it fails to include the considerable impact of juvenile fish, especially when they reside in an estuary. The project intends to implant acoustic transmitters, calibrated in a flume, to discover bioenergetic rates in the field by determining the diet and the size- and temperature-dependent growth and biogenetics of a predatory fish species, from juvenile to adult, from estuary to the open sea. The outcomes include an ecosystem synthesis of related pelagic fish predators from catchment to coast.Read moreRead less
Fine-scale responses of freshwater fish to environmental flows in arid-zone rivers and wetlands. The community is demanding that river health be improved to sustainable levels through increased river flows. This will come through the efficient use of available environmental water that supports the ecology of Australia's river systems. This project will substantially inform the operational management of water for native fish populations and other organisms to specific wetlands and will guide the ....Fine-scale responses of freshwater fish to environmental flows in arid-zone rivers and wetlands. The community is demanding that river health be improved to sustainable levels through increased river flows. This will come through the efficient use of available environmental water that supports the ecology of Australia's river systems. This project will substantially inform the operational management of water for native fish populations and other organisms to specific wetlands and will guide the delivery of environmental flows to maintain native fish stocks. The project will help management of declining fish populations and more generally wetlands by improving our understanding of the role of environmental flows.Read moreRead less
Ecological impacts of QX Oyster disease and its management strategies. QX disease is responsible for mass mortality of oysters, and, as a result, economic and job losses. QX disease also threatens ecosystem services provided by wild oysters, such as biodiversity enhancement and fish production. This project will provide estuarine managers with information about how proposed QX management solutions will impact wild oyster populations and vital ecosystem services. It will also contribute to traini ....Ecological impacts of QX Oyster disease and its management strategies. QX disease is responsible for mass mortality of oysters, and, as a result, economic and job losses. QX disease also threatens ecosystem services provided by wild oysters, such as biodiversity enhancement and fish production. This project will provide estuarine managers with information about how proposed QX management solutions will impact wild oyster populations and vital ecosystem services. It will also contribute to training of early career researchers in strategies to ensure the sustainable use of Australia's biodiversity. As QX outbreaks appear to be increasing, this research and training is urgently needed to underpin management to ensure long-term sustainability of valuable estuarine resources.Read moreRead less
Deeper and broader life cycle risk assessment - extending the frontier for hybrid methodologies. This project is about combining detailed and global perspectives of environmental health risk from different fields of planning practice. It aims to improve the depth and breadth of the types of information used by government regulators and the community in decisions about the development of capital works.
Optimised field delineation of contaminated soils. This project seeks to cost-efficiently identify the contaminated areas of a soil site which will require remediation. There are many thousands of sites contaminated with metals and/or organics across urban and rural Australia and some tens of millions across the world. These sites pose a serious potential threat to human health. Detection (and remediation) of such sites is expensive. The project aims to deliver a cheaper method of detection thro ....Optimised field delineation of contaminated soils. This project seeks to cost-efficiently identify the contaminated areas of a soil site which will require remediation. There are many thousands of sites contaminated with metals and/or organics across urban and rural Australia and some tens of millions across the world. These sites pose a serious potential threat to human health. Detection (and remediation) of such sites is expensive. The project aims to deliver a cheaper method of detection through a novel combination of infra-red and X-ray spectroscopies combined with data-fused soil inference and optimised directed sampling and mapping. This is intended to reduce the economic barrier to detection and remediation, considerably hastening the removal of this health risk. Resulting novel technology could be transferred and commercialised internationally.Read moreRead less
Mining, irrigation, and groundwater: Towards a reliable protocol for assessing the impacts of extraction on groundwater fauna and ecology. Groundwater fluctuations associated with mining and increased irrigation demands, potentially threaten many of Australia's unique groundwater invertebrates (stygofauna) with extinction. Stygofauna represent a hidden store of biodiversity and are thought to have a critical, but poorly understood, role in enhancing groundwater quality. Environmentally sustainab ....Mining, irrigation, and groundwater: Towards a reliable protocol for assessing the impacts of extraction on groundwater fauna and ecology. Groundwater fluctuations associated with mining and increased irrigation demands, potentially threaten many of Australia's unique groundwater invertebrates (stygofauna) with extinction. Stygofauna represent a hidden store of biodiversity and are thought to have a critical, but poorly understood, role in enhancing groundwater quality. Environmentally sustainable development of groundwater resources is hampered by a dearth of information on the ecological needs of stygofauna and how they respond to human-induced change. Using field and laboratory experiments, we aim to determine how water table fluctuations threaten stygofauna. From our results we will develop sampling and management protocols to monitor and protect stygofauna communities.Read moreRead less
Intercultural understanding in primary and secondary schools. What facilitates or impedes intercultural understanding in children, adolescents and schools? How can this be addressed? How can we know what makes a difference? This project answers these questions at the individual, school and national level using a novel cultural systems approach and methodological and technological innovations.
Predicting the impacts of groundwater drawdown on groundwater ecosystems. This project aims to tackle a critical challenge of groundwater management – to understand and predict the impacts of declining groundwater levels. Over pumping and declining groundwater tables are a global problem, yet the effects on the ecosystems that exist within aquifers are poorly known. This project will create a world first evidence-based model of how lowering water tables affects the microbes, invertebrates (stygo ....Predicting the impacts of groundwater drawdown on groundwater ecosystems. This project aims to tackle a critical challenge of groundwater management – to understand and predict the impacts of declining groundwater levels. Over pumping and declining groundwater tables are a global problem, yet the effects on the ecosystems that exist within aquifers are poorly known. This project will create a world first evidence-based model of how lowering water tables affects the microbes, invertebrates (stygofauna) and ecological processes in groundwater ecosystems, and will demonstrate the consequences of such changes to groundwater quality and availability. This model will allow impacts to be reliably forecast and avoided or mitigated, vastly improving how major developments affecting groundwater are planned and implemented.Read moreRead less