ARC Australia-New Zealand Research Network for Vegetation Function. Plant species vary widely in quantitative functional traits, and in their relations to climate, soils and geography. Global generalizations are emerging. Vegetation Function network will reach from plant function into genomics and crop breeding, into palaeoecology and vegetation history, into landscape management for carbon, water and salinity outcomes, into forecasting future ecosystems under global change, and into phylogeny, ....ARC Australia-New Zealand Research Network for Vegetation Function. Plant species vary widely in quantitative functional traits, and in their relations to climate, soils and geography. Global generalizations are emerging. Vegetation Function network will reach from plant function into genomics and crop breeding, into palaeoecology and vegetation history, into landscape management for carbon, water and salinity outcomes, into forecasting future ecosystems under global change, and into phylogeny, ecoinformatics and evolutionary theory. Across this span, working groups will target nine identified opportunities for breakthrough research. Each research target needs input from two or more disciplines. Together, the nine targets link across disciplines, as a network that spans from genomic to planetary scales.Read moreRead less
Synthesising prior information for ecological research and management. While using existing information to design studies and compare results, ecologists rarely use existing information in their analyses. We will combine the results of previous ecological studies to summarise the existing information. We will test how well the traits of plants and animals can be predicted from previous research, and the benefit of this existing information for environmental management. By taking advantage of the ....Synthesising prior information for ecological research and management. While using existing information to design studies and compare results, ecologists rarely use existing information in their analyses. We will combine the results of previous ecological studies to summarise the existing information. We will test how well the traits of plants and animals can be predicted from previous research, and the benefit of this existing information for environmental management. By taking advantage of the wealth of previous ecological research, our project can save time and money for ecological research by scientists and environmental management by federal and state agencies. This will fundamentally change the way that ecology is conducted.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989062
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,000.00
Summary
Airborne hyper-spectral scanning for advanced monitoring and assessment of vegetation and water properties. The proposed infrastructure will give Australian researchers the most advanced capabilities available world-wide in airborne remote sensing of the environment. By combining hyper-spectral scanning, with full wave-form resolving Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), microwave scanning and sythetic aperture RADAR, flown simultaneously on the most cost-efficient and technologically advanced re ....Airborne hyper-spectral scanning for advanced monitoring and assessment of vegetation and water properties. The proposed infrastructure will give Australian researchers the most advanced capabilities available world-wide in airborne remote sensing of the environment. By combining hyper-spectral scanning, with full wave-form resolving Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), microwave scanning and sythetic aperture RADAR, flown simultaneously on the most cost-efficient and technologically advanced research aircraft, it will be possible to assess and monitor a wide range of parameters not accessible to airborne methods before.Read moreRead less
Contemporary ecological threats from historical pollution events and their modification by environmental conditions. Many Australian ports have contaminated sediments that are a legacy of industrial pollution. The resuspension of these sediments through shipping or dredging activity represents an obvious, yet unsubstantiated, threat to the biodiversity and health of marine communities living well above the seafloor. This research proposal addresses a strategic knowledge gap with implications for ....Contemporary ecological threats from historical pollution events and their modification by environmental conditions. Many Australian ports have contaminated sediments that are a legacy of industrial pollution. The resuspension of these sediments through shipping or dredging activity represents an obvious, yet unsubstantiated, threat to the biodiversity and health of marine communities living well above the seafloor. This research proposal addresses a strategic knowledge gap with implications for appropriate management of port operations. Identifying the conditions under which contaminated sediments may cause an impact, and the environmental factors that modify these effects, will produce significant advances in scientific understanding and the results will be of strategic interest to all Australian Port Authorities. Read moreRead less
Ecological responses of native fishes to dynamic water flows in northwest arid Australia. This project will investigate the biological adaptations and ecology of native fishes of northwest Australia in order to assess their resilience to altered water flows due to mining activities and changing climate. The project findings will contribute to sustainable management of water and biodiversity in arid environments.
Fish Jenga: metapopulation management for coastal river fish. This project aims to address the escalating threats to coastal freshwater fish from drought, fire, and other disturbances. The project expects to generate new knowledge on contemporary distributions of NSW coastal freshwater fishes, and will develop models of population dynamics to explore the consequences of alternative water management and disturbance scenarios. The expected outcome of the project is to revolutionise management by r ....Fish Jenga: metapopulation management for coastal river fish. This project aims to address the escalating threats to coastal freshwater fish from drought, fire, and other disturbances. The project expects to generate new knowledge on contemporary distributions of NSW coastal freshwater fishes, and will develop models of population dynamics to explore the consequences of alternative water management and disturbance scenarios. The expected outcome of the project is to revolutionise management by replacing the current practice of managing river basins separately, with a framework that accounts for among-basin linkages that are essential for the long-term persistence of fish populations. Significant benefits include more efficient use of water resources and improved conservation outcomes for native fish.Read moreRead less
Better water management through more focus on ecological and social sciences. Current water resources management, focusing on gains of economic efficiency in the short term under the assumption of steady-state conditions, has generally failed to respond to both catchment environmental degradation and to the increasing complexity of human–environment interactions. This project will develop a new approach to water resources management by relating management practices based on ecological understand ....Better water management through more focus on ecological and social sciences. Current water resources management, focusing on gains of economic efficiency in the short term under the assumption of steady-state conditions, has generally failed to respond to both catchment environmental degradation and to the increasing complexity of human–environment interactions. This project will develop a new approach to water resources management by relating management practices based on ecological understanding to the social mechanisms behind these practices at water catchments. It will improve the predictability and precision of water resources management and increase our ability to maintain our options for a sustainable future. This will have a profound effect on catchment sustainability, a globally significant problem.Read moreRead less
Ecological sustainability and changing land use in the Pilbara. Land use change is frequently associated with large changes in key elements of 'sustainability? ? biodiversity, productivity, and water and nutrient cycles. However, in the Pilbara, fires and flooding rains are so frequent that detecting consequences of land use change is frequently confounded by other ?disturbances?. We aim, through controlled field experiments, to disentangle effects of land use change (e.g. de-stocking of range ....Ecological sustainability and changing land use in the Pilbara. Land use change is frequently associated with large changes in key elements of 'sustainability? ? biodiversity, productivity, and water and nutrient cycles. However, in the Pilbara, fires and flooding rains are so frequent that detecting consequences of land use change is frequently confounded by other ?disturbances?. We aim, through controlled field experiments, to disentangle effects of land use change (e.g. de-stocking of rangelands, altered water availability through mining activity or infrastructure) from those of natural disturbance and variability (both spatially and temporally). This research will improve understanding of key areas in resilience of rangelands and of major processes that are critical for sustainable management.Read moreRead less
Building effects of marine pests into nutrient management strategies. The input of nutrients has long been a key management focus for coastal waters, and the organisms living in soft sediments play a very important role in the removal of nutrients from these waters, thereby reducing the risk of environmental degradation. In recent years, marine pests have emerged as a major threat, with the potential to alter the abundances of a wide range of native organisms. Nutrients and pests have largely ....Building effects of marine pests into nutrient management strategies. The input of nutrients has long been a key management focus for coastal waters, and the organisms living in soft sediments play a very important role in the removal of nutrients from these waters, thereby reducing the risk of environmental degradation. In recent years, marine pests have emerged as a major threat, with the potential to alter the abundances of a wide range of native organisms. Nutrients and pests have largely been treated as independent threats, but pests could interfere with denitrification processes. We will test whether this occurs, and provide key information for managers devising nutrient management strategies.Read moreRead less
Catchment restoration: generating prescriptions for evidence-based best practice in the future, from experience of the past. Catchment management programs, supported by substantial government finances, have been leading landscape rehabilitation measures across Australia for more than a decade. Few, if any, projects assessed the outcomes of the measures in terms of action success, plant survivability, landscape stabilisation and water resource benefit. This project will audit the proposed and act ....Catchment restoration: generating prescriptions for evidence-based best practice in the future, from experience of the past. Catchment management programs, supported by substantial government finances, have been leading landscape rehabilitation measures across Australia for more than a decade. Few, if any, projects assessed the outcomes of the measures in terms of action success, plant survivability, landscape stabilisation and water resource benefit. This project will audit the proposed and actual rehabilitation measures undertaken in five catchments and assess the modern condition of plantations, catchments and waterways. Lessons from this audit will generate prescriptions that will be integrated into a web decision support system optimising the outcomes from future catchment management in terms of biodiversity, landscape stability and stream condition.Read moreRead less