The Centre for Energy Technology (CET) has secured long-term funding for a range of research projects to investigate clean energy technologies, particularly in the area of solar thermal and hybrid solar-combustion energy.

As a result, CET are seeking expressions of interest for a range of positions from postgraduate scholarships, post doctorate and Research Associates.

The Centre for Energy Technology is internationally recognised for its leading scientific research supporting the development of clean energy technologies to reduce emissions, increase efficiency and decrease the cost of energy. The CET has a wide range of facilities spanning laboratory to pilot-scale, including Australia’s second largest wind-tunnel and world-leading laser laboratories housing state-of-the-art diagnostic tools with unique capability. Our team is pledged to creating a culture of research excellence and delivering significant breakthroughs in the development of innovative technologies for a clean energy future.

The fixed term positions are for approximately 3 years and are open until filled.

More information about research positions and position requirements is available on the University of Adelaide’s Job Opportunities page or contact Louise Beazley.

Palau. Image by LuxTonnerre, licensed under Creative Commons.

Guest blogger botanist Craig Costion has written an article on endangered species on Biodiversity Revolution‘s blog which describes a new approach to developing the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) classification for potentially endangered species for which no demographic information is available.

The term ‘endangered species’ refers to species which fall under the IUCN’s Red List, a complete list of all endangered mammals, birds, amphibians, sharks, reef-building corals, cycads and conifers, but only a small percentage of all species of reptiles, fishes, and selected groups of plants and invertebrates have been classified.

Currently the IUCN classifies a species or habitat as ‘vulnerable’ if it has suffered a 30% decline ‘over 3 generations or within 100 years’. The author believes it is important to classify the remaining species to include ‘information on the history of habitat modification and destruction extending over and beyond 100 years’ to obtain a greater understanding of species vulnerability.

The full findings and methods are available in the post entitled Endangered Species by Craig Costion.

The aims of this research were ‘to evaluate ‘the risk posed by climate change on C. teretifolius (Needle Bottlebrush), and identify populations for conservation based on high genetic diversity and predicted persistence of habitat’ by using a number of approaches including field assessments, using data from field assessments, population genetics, species distribution modelling and spatial analysis.

The authors find that ‘temperature and rainfall distribution as a result of contemporary climate change are expected to impose serious challenges on many plant species’, but other factors can have effects on plant populations such as species geographic location and human intervention.

The full findings are in the journal Austral Ecology.

Guest blog by David Paton. Associate Professor Paton specialises in ecology, evolution and landscape science at the University of Adelaide.

Migration usually refers to the regular annual movements of animals from one location (usually a breeding area) to another location (a non-breeding area).  Migrations are much more prominent in the northern hemisphere than the southern hemisphere, primarily because the northern continents extend to higher latitudes than southern continents. Many birds take advantage of the high productivity and long summer days to breed at these high latitudes, but must move away during autumn to avoid harsh winters, returning in spring. Many of these northern birds make intercontinental movements, and some cross the equator shifting to Africa, South America and even Australia, arriving at southern destinations from August to November and departing back to the northern hemisphere from February to May.

Much of man’s initial interests in migrations centred on understanding how the birds navigated, and the morphological and physiological mechanisms that were used to migrate. To make long-distance flights birds need to generate fuel stores, a combination of fat and protein. These stores are combusted during long distance flights to provide energy and are particularly important when crossing inhospitable areas such as oceans and deserts. Although satellite tracking has shown that some birds can fly continuously for days at a time, most species migrate by stopping frequently along the migratory route. During these stops the birds recover from the exertion of an extended period of flight and refuel before making the next part of the journey. This makes migratory birds particularly vulnerable to changes to the destination locations or to key stopovers along the route.

The most conspicuous northern hemisphere birds to visit Australia are a suite of migratory shorebirds including sandpipers, plovers, godwits and curlews. These birds breed in the Palaearctic region and move along the East Asian Flyway to Australia. A series of international migratory bird agreements between Australia and other Asian countries (e.g. China, Japan, Republic of Korea) have been established to help protect key habitats. Within Australia these agreements sit under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, and signatory countries are obliged to protect the important habitats used by the birds in their respective countries. These agreements, in theory, should protect the habitats used by these birds but in practice this is not the case.

Growing human populations, coastal areas utilised by birds being developed, key wetland areas being reclaimed and area and quality of remaining habitats diminishing, almost all species of migratory shorebirds that visit Australia are in decline. Australian bird populations are also declining. South Australia’s Coorong is a key destination for migratory shorebirds and was listed as a Wetland of International Importance in 1985. However, since 1985 the Coorong has changed and migratory shorebirds are now far less abundant, some experiencing more than 10-fold declines. Changes to the Coorong have been brought about by increasing extraction of water from the Murray Darling Basin, resulting in decreasing flow quantity and timing, and endemic shorebirds such as Pied Oystercatchers and Red-capped Plovers and other waterbirds such as the Fairy Tern using the Coorong have also declined.

Other migratory birds’ movements within Australia are less conspicuous. Short-tailed Shearwaters that breed on offshore islands around the southern coasts of Australia arrive in the tens of thousands at breeding grounds, often on the same day each year, and in many cases occupy the same burrow or one nearby as used in previous years. Other migratory birds are bush birds that move within the Australian continent. The more notable movements involve birds departing southern latitudes, such as Tasmania in autumn and moving northwards. Amongst the species that move are threatened species such as the Orange-bellied Parrot and Swift Parrot. Other smaller birds like the Silvereye, Tree Martin, Fairy Martin, Grey Fantail, Dusky Woodswallow, Flame Robin, Rufous Whistler, White-naped Honeyeater, and Yellow-faced Honeyeater also move during autumn, but not all individuals depart from all locations each year. Although aggregations of some of these species are detected during autumn migration, the movements are more diffuse and many may move as individuals or in small flocks consisting of a handful of individuals. These birds have the potential to forage along the routes that they take and so the need for specific stopovers is not at a premium. The return journeys in spring are even less conspicuous. For these birds with diffuse movements that feed along the way, protecting habitats to allow the movements to continue may be even more challenging than well defined routes with key stopovers. The movements of our bush birds remain poorly documented, yet understanding and documenting the movements will be critical to managing these species into the future.  Modern technologies (such as miniature satellite trackers) may eventually allow these movements to be documented.

There are two other types of movements of birds within Australia. Altitudinal movements are prominent in autumn as flycatchers such as robins, whistlers and fantails move to lower altitudes where slightly warmer conditions may provide more favourable conditions for foraging and survival during winter. Even the relatively small elevation gradient provided by the Mt Lofty Ranges is sufficient to stimulate these birds to move down slope as winter approaches, and one of the delights for bird watchers is seeing some of these species in suburban gardens of Adelaide in autumn and winter.

The other movements often attributed to Australian birds, particularly those of the interior, are described as nomadic. These often consist of large numbers of birds such as Budgerigars, Crimson Chats and Pied Honeyeaters appearing in more temperate southern latitudes after a boom period. The boom periods follow a period when significant rainfall has stimulated plant growth in the arid interior. The boom times, however, give way to periods with little rain, forcing the birds to move. These potentially nomadic movements are usually not considered migrations because they lack a regular annual cycle and are not, as yet, predictable.

Guest post by Associate Professor David Paton.
If you would like to contribute as a guest blogger on the Environment Institute blog, email environment@adelaide.edu.au.

Social media provides a two-way communication system in which the user is empowered to say what they think, or defend a position against a topic that could be quite controversial such as climate change, genetic modification, or nanotechnology.

Social media can also be used to ‘get your content out there, which is then often picked up by more traditional media forms‘, allowing for greater exposure.

Barry utilises his blog Brave New Climate and Twitter to communicate with his audience.

For more of Barry’s thoughts, watch the video below.

About the Academic

Professor Barry Brook is a leading environmental scientist, holding the Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and is also Director of Climate Science at the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute.

He has published three books, 250 refereed scientific papers (list here), is an ISI highly cited researcher, and regularly writes popular articles for the media.

He runs a popular climate science and energy options blog at http://bravenewclimate.com. He has written a popular book on sustainable nuclear energy, is an International Award Committee member for the Global Energy Prize, and considers himself a ‘Promethean environmentalist’ (seeking effective techno-fixes to solve entrenched sustainability problems).

About the speaker

Professor Steven Cooper is a Principal Researcher at the South Australian Museum and an affiliate at the University of Adelaide, where he is a member of the Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, associated with the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. His research investigates the diversity, evolution and molecular ecology of Australian fauna, with a strong focus on subterranean and groundwater invertebrate fauna from the arid zone of Australia.

Where: G25 Benham Laboratories, The University of Adelaide
When: Friday 3 May 2013
Time: 12pm-1pm
Cost: free

All welcome!

Phot by: Kris*M (Flickr)

As Australia shifts to cut greenhouse gas emissions is it also possible to enhance our biodiversity? A new peer-reviewed paper by Environment Institute members Corey Bradshaw and Barry Brook (with others) directly addresses this question, showing “biodiversity-related enhancement schemes (including environmental plantings and invasive species reduction) can be compatible with carbon-sequestration initiatives”.

The authors find that most land-management options to reduce or capture greenhouse gas emissions will offer clear advantages for biodiversity. These advantages increase the viability of native biodiversity. However, there are potential negative outcomes. The authors discuss what needs to be considered if biodiversity is to benefit from the new carbon economy.

Issues and opportunities include:

• Carbon plantings will only have real biodiversity value if they comprise appropriate native tree species and provide suitable habitats and resources for valued fauna.
• Plantings risk severely altering local water availability, quality and/or water movement.
• Fire can assist with some positive carbon outcomes such as prescribed burning to reduce the frequency of high-intensity wildfires in northern Australia, However, in southern Australia fire is currently unlikely to help but will become increasingly important for biodiversity conservation as the climate warms.
• Carbon price changes to agriculture can benefit biodiversity. Such changes include reductions in tillage frequency and livestock densities, reductions in fertiliser use, and retention and regeneration of native shrubs.

This is a complex area but “as long as biodiversity persistence is taken into account at the planning and implementation stages”, it is the authors’ opinions that carbon and biodiversity “goals are not mutually exclusive”. To achieve this “careful amalgamation of such carbon-mitigation approaches with other incentive schemes such as biodiversity offsets … will be required.”

The full findings, issues and opportunities are in the complete paper Brave new green world – Consequences of a carbon economy for the conservation of Australian biodiversity.

Highlights

► Australia’s new carbon price will have profound implications for land-use change. ► Major changes will arise from environmental plantings and regrowth & fire management. ► Other changes will affect forestry, agriculture and feral animal control. ► Most anticipated land-use changes should benefit biodiversity. ► Negative biodiversity outcomes could arise if changes focus exclusively on carbon.

To see the slide show of this presentation, visit Corey’s SlideShare page.

The call is open for oral and poster presentations to address the conference theme and subject areas:

• Naturally variable flow in rivers, floodplains, and waterholes
• Water resources management
• Regional NRM and adaptive management challenges
• Biodiversity values, unique flora and fauna, and threatened species
• Cultural strength and culturally significant sites
• Invasive pests and weeds
• Extractive resource industry impacts and management
• Total grazing pressure
• Tourism impacts and management

Submissions are due by Tuesday 30 April 2013 to Emma Ross.

Further information relating to document preparation and submission is available in the following documents:
LEB 2013 Conference Presentation Submission Form
LEB 2013 Conference Call for Presentations

Information about the Conference can be found on the LEB Conference website.

TEDx is a ideas forum and this year’s theme is Explore. Some of the brightest minds in the state will be discussing what it means to explore, what we explore and why.

Where: Bonython Hall, 231-232 North Terrace, Adelaide
When: Saturday 4 May 2013
Time: 12pm-6pm
Cost: $65 + booking fee

Speakers

Session 1

Will Tamblyn & Gavin Smith: Open Volumetric: 3D holographic visualisation. Building a robot with a holographic head, before holographic projectors existed.

Kiera Lindsey: Lecturer in Australian History & Australian Studies, University of South Australia: Exploration tropes. How tropes of expectation and approach, discovery and disappointment, mystery and knowing are inherent to the concept of exploration.

Lucas Lovell: Exploring the Gobi Desert. Being forced to explore personal capacity and connect with the natural world in one of the world’s most stimulating environments.

Alan Cooper: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA: Using ancient DNA to track the impacts of human evolution on our bacteria and our health.

Kirsty Stark: Wastelander Panda: Exploring Opportunities Online.

Moira Deslandes: Resignation. Lessons from the inside, exploring the frontier of resignation.

Session 2

Larissa McGowan: Choreographer

Mike Lee: SA Museum: Technological change and alien encounters: Lessons from the fossil record. What will our world be like 100 years from now? What will aliens look like? The history of life on earth, as preserved in the fossil record, provides some disconcerting answers.

Peter Burdon: University of Adelaide, Wild Law. Law perpetuates the ecological crisis and needs to be radically reconfigured to facilitate a viable human presence on the Earth.

Travis TJ Ransom: Parkour

Sarah Agnew: On grace and humanity. The gift of story is an invitation into grace and healing, as we explore the human experience together.

Session 3

Drinks in Mezzanine at Hub Central

More information on the speakers can be found on the TEDx Adelaide homepage.

To find out more about the event see the TEDx event page.

To buy tickets visit the TEDx order page.

The Environment Institute’s Global Ecology Laboratory presented Dr Margie Mayfield, Senior Lecturer in Plant Ecology at the University of Queensland on Wednesday 17 April 2013. Her research broadly focuses on how plant and insect communities reassemble, persist and function following human land-use change.

ABSTRACT

Human activities are increasingly driving the development of novel plant communities worldwide. These stable mixes of resident native, range-expanded native and exotic plant species have become more common than most truly “natural” plant communities in many areas. Interestingly, novel communities are often interspersed with much more severally degraded communities (all exotics) and areas that support largely native communities. This begs the question, why do novel communities form in some places but not others? Despite the increasing commonality of novel communities and their potential role in conservation, we have a poor understanding of how these communities differ from those they replace and what drives and prevents their assembly. Identifying drivers of novel community development is increasingly important for many conservation and restoration efforts. In this talk I will discuss the theoretical expectations of how we expect communities to change in response large-scale environmental change and what processes should mediate where and when native-dominated communities should be resilient or susceptible to novel community development. I will then discuss several of the projects coming out of my lab looking at novel community assembly in the York Gum woodlands of SW Western Australia, where my group has been studying the mechanisms of novel community assembly over the last several years. Specifically, I will discuss the role of biotic interactions in mediating community wide responses to land use change and species invasions across environmental gradients.

Download the podcast from this seminar.