Managing Ecosystem Change in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. Protected areas are the primary mechanism for conserving Australia's unique biodiversity. Of added significance are areas of biodiversity recognised as World Heritage Areas, such as the GBMWA. Climate, pest species and altered fire regimes potentially diminish their ecological values but some of these anthropogenic threats can be managed. Effective management depends on spatially-explicit understanding that allows prior ....Managing Ecosystem Change in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. Protected areas are the primary mechanism for conserving Australia's unique biodiversity. Of added significance are areas of biodiversity recognised as World Heritage Areas, such as the GBMWA. Climate, pest species and altered fire regimes potentially diminish their ecological values but some of these anthropogenic threats can be managed. Effective management depends on spatially-explicit understanding that allows priorities to be set and management objectives identified and tested. This research will develop a model for determining management priorities for large protected areas, meeting State, National and International obligations. Significant conservation benefits will accrue along with social, economic and human well-being benefits.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354740
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
CaGaWaLo: regulation of carbon gain and water loss by woody vegetation. Trees and shrubs are widely perceived as central to solving problems of national and international significance. Seed funding is sought to facilitate establishment of a research network focused on their ability to sequester carbon and transmit water to the atmosphere. The proposed network is broadly based in plant physiology and ecology and contains a strong cross-section of leading international expertise in relevant sub- ....CaGaWaLo: regulation of carbon gain and water loss by woody vegetation. Trees and shrubs are widely perceived as central to solving problems of national and international significance. Seed funding is sought to facilitate establishment of a research network focused on their ability to sequester carbon and transmit water to the atmosphere. The proposed network is broadly based in plant physiology and ecology and contains a strong cross-section of leading international expertise in relevant sub-disciplines. By leveraging the huge pool of international expertise and focusing on a range of scales (from molecular to biosphere scales), this network will yield new ideas and approaches that will produce outputs and outcomes of national significance.Read moreRead less
Explaining forest responses to rising carbon-dioxide concentrations at stand scale using a new, simple model of plant carbon economy. Australia is undergoing large changes in [CO2] and rainfall patterns, with 20% decreases in annual rainfall across southern Australia over the past 30 years, and large increases in north-western Australia. The impacts of rising [CO2] and altered rainfall must be factored into Australia's environmental and water-catchment management strategies. The outcome of this ....Explaining forest responses to rising carbon-dioxide concentrations at stand scale using a new, simple model of plant carbon economy. Australia is undergoing large changes in [CO2] and rainfall patterns, with 20% decreases in annual rainfall across southern Australia over the past 30 years, and large increases in north-western Australia. The impacts of rising [CO2] and altered rainfall must be factored into Australia's environmental and water-catchment management strategies. The outcome of this project will be a new simplified forest model that has been validated for Australia's leading climate-change experiment on forests, the Hawkesbury Forest Experiment, which includes both CO2 and watering treatments. The model will be readily transferable to new sites and at regional scale, so it can be applied as a tool for future management of Australia's forests.Read moreRead less
Insect herbivore and plant responses in eucalypt forests under climate change at physiological, species and community scales. Understanding the drivers for insect populations and vulnerabilities to climate change are the first steps to predicting adaptation and mitigation strategies to minimise impacts of climate change on forest biodiversity. Our research will quantify the outcome of climate change on the still neglected but important insect community associated with eucalypts in Australian for ....Insect herbivore and plant responses in eucalypt forests under climate change at physiological, species and community scales. Understanding the drivers for insect populations and vulnerabilities to climate change are the first steps to predicting adaptation and mitigation strategies to minimise impacts of climate change on forest biodiversity. Our research will quantify the outcome of climate change on the still neglected but important insect community associated with eucalypts in Australian forests. These insect communities are widespread, diverse and quintessential for the Australian economy and ecology. Apparent climate change is expected to cause biodiversity shifts, leading to outbreaks and extinctions of insects in eucalypt forests. Negative outcomes of impacts could also include the accumulation of leaf litter, increasing bush fire activity in the future.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354791
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$40,000.00
Summary
Understanding the Australian Ecosystem: integrating contemporary and historical perspectives on the evolution, ecology and management of Australia's living resources. Integration of information from multiple disciplines is vital to answering questions like 'What governs distribution of evolutionary lineages in Australia? How and why did distributions change in the past? How might distributions change in the future?' We will develop a comprehensive network bringing together experts in geochronolo ....Understanding the Australian Ecosystem: integrating contemporary and historical perspectives on the evolution, ecology and management of Australia's living resources. Integration of information from multiple disciplines is vital to answering questions like 'What governs distribution of evolutionary lineages in Australia? How and why did distributions change in the past? How might distributions change in the future?' We will develop a comprehensive network bringing together experts in geochronology, geomorphology, climatology, biogeography, palaeobiology, functional anatomy and physiology, phylogenetics, biodiversity assessment, ecosystem dynamics, and population biology and modeling. This network will provide deeper understanding of and more accurate and influential management advice for Australia's biotic resources. The public outreach program to be developed will be significant given the high profile of many participants.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775739
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$135,000.00
Summary
Environmental Research Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (ERIRMS). The projects supported by this facility are esential to: sustainable management of Sydney's surface and groundwater; understanding food webs and trophic interactions in Sydney Harbour and elsewhere on the eastern seaboard; developing predictive models for the impacts of climate change on Australia's forests, especially carbon sequestration and water yield; understanding the trade-offs involved in managing fire risks through prescr ....Environmental Research Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (ERIRMS). The projects supported by this facility are esential to: sustainable management of Sydney's surface and groundwater; understanding food webs and trophic interactions in Sydney Harbour and elsewhere on the eastern seaboard; developing predictive models for the impacts of climate change on Australia's forests, especially carbon sequestration and water yield; understanding the trade-offs involved in managing fire risks through prescribed burning, especially trade-offs involving carbon and water; and understanding and predicting air quality and the effects of emissions from cars, industry, fires and natural sources.
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Quantifying tree and soil respiration and their responses to global change. The Australian Greenhouse Office, as well as independent analysis, recognizes that belowground processes must be better quantified if Australia's contributions to atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GG) are to be firmly based. A major issue is the lack of dedicated research focused on soil and plant root emissions of GG and, in particular, a lack of testing of methodologies suited to Australian soils and con ....Quantifying tree and soil respiration and their responses to global change. The Australian Greenhouse Office, as well as independent analysis, recognizes that belowground processes must be better quantified if Australia's contributions to atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GG) are to be firmly based. A major issue is the lack of dedicated research focused on soil and plant root emissions of GG and, in particular, a lack of testing of methodologies suited to Australian soils and conditions. This project will address these concerns. We will also be addressing the clear need for further training of PhD qualified researchers in the field of climate change. Read moreRead less
How will Eucalypt tree architecture and growth adapt to future atmospheric CO2 and drought? This work is fundamental to understanding how growth and water use by Australia's forests will be modified in the future by global change. The changes in tree leaf area and canopy structure that we seek to understand will determine forest responses to increasing atmospheric CO2 and drought. It is essential to study these changes on Australian species, because they differ from forest species elsewhere in h ....How will Eucalypt tree architecture and growth adapt to future atmospheric CO2 and drought? This work is fundamental to understanding how growth and water use by Australia's forests will be modified in the future by global change. The changes in tree leaf area and canopy structure that we seek to understand will determine forest responses to increasing atmospheric CO2 and drought. It is essential to study these changes on Australian species, because they differ from forest species elsewhere in having been largely shaped by water availability. This fundamental work will flow into predictions of future forest growth and water use in Australia, with consequences for land and water resource management as well as forestry.Read moreRead less
Developing a mechanistic basis for coral reef conservation. This project aims to provide an evidence base for coral reef management to be targeted towards regions at greatest risk, and those that have the greatest capacity for acclimation under near-future climate change. This project will undertake an innovative trans-disciplinary analysis of coral thermal tolerance and the implications for targeted coral reef conservation to mitigate the impacts of climate change across the Great Barrier Reef ....Developing a mechanistic basis for coral reef conservation. This project aims to provide an evidence base for coral reef management to be targeted towards regions at greatest risk, and those that have the greatest capacity for acclimation under near-future climate change. This project will undertake an innovative trans-disciplinary analysis of coral thermal tolerance and the implications for targeted coral reef conservation to mitigate the impacts of climate change across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The project will provide significant benefits, by assisting in the maintenance of the goods and services (tourism, fisheries, shoreline protection) provided to Australia by the GBR.Read moreRead less
Understanding and predicting the success of invasive plants: a leaf carbon strategy approach. Invasion of plant communities by exotic plants is a significant threat to biodiversity and ecosystem processes globally. This proposal seeks to understand strategies of invasive plants in novel environments both now and under predicted future conditions, using the framework of leaf carbon strategies. Comparative and experimental approaches will be used to understand leaf trait relationships of invasive ....Understanding and predicting the success of invasive plants: a leaf carbon strategy approach. Invasion of plant communities by exotic plants is a significant threat to biodiversity and ecosystem processes globally. This proposal seeks to understand strategies of invasive plants in novel environments both now and under predicted future conditions, using the framework of leaf carbon strategies. Comparative and experimental approaches will be used to understand leaf trait relationships of invasive compared with native species. This will contribute substantially to our understanding of global plant functional relationships, thereby enabling better prediction of potential invaders. The resulting data will also provide critical input for models of plant, ecosystem and biosphere responses to global change incorporating invasion dynamics.Read moreRead less