Environment Institute members among successful proposals for ARC Grants

The Australian Research Council (ARC) today announced the successful proposals for Discovery Projects, Linkage Projects and LIEF proposals commencing in 2012. Among the successful proposals were the following involving Environment Institute members:

Discovery Projects:

• Meta-modelling of ecological, evolutionary and climatic systems dynamics (Brook, Prof Barry W; Bradshaw, Prof Corey J; Cassey, A/Prof Phillip; Wigley, Dr Tom; Lacy, Dr Robert C)
• Is regressive evolution associated with loss of gene function in subterranean animals? (Cooper, A/Prof Steven J; Humphreys, Adj/Prof William F; Austin, Prof Andrew D)
• The developmental genetics of major evolutionary transitions: a multidisciplinary investigation of limb reduction and loss in lizards (Michael Lee, Adam Skinner)
• Heat transfer in novel solar thermal reactors to process minerals and solar fuels. (Nathan, Prof Graham ‘Gus’ J; Alwahabi, Dr Zeyad T; Abraham, Prof John; Steinfeld, Prof Aldo)
• Determining the relative roles of dispersal and vicariance in the assembly of the New Zealand fauna (Trevor Worthy, Suzanne Hand, Sreven Salisbury, Richard Scofield, Alan Tennyson)
• Diversification and conservation of Australian frogs (Scott Keogh, Steve Donnellan, Conrad Hoskin, Daniel Rabosky) (Through ANU)

Linkage Projects (Round 1):

• Effects of fire on the reproductive ecology of terrestrial orchids and on their pollinators in fragmented landscapes of southern Australia. (Facelli, A/Prof Jose M; Austin, Prof Andrew D; Cooper, A/Prof Steven J; Stevens, Dr Mark I; Faast, Dr Renate)
• Seascape genetics for shark management: an innovation in sustainable fisheries modelling. (Gillanders, Prof Bronwyn M; Bradshaw, Prof Corey J; Donnellan, Prof Steven C; Huveneers, Dr Charlie)
• Temperate trophic cascades: impacts of seal foraging on benthic community dynamics. (Gillanders, Prof Bronwyn M; Kelaher, Adj/Prof Brendan P; Connell, A/Prof Sean D; Figueira, Dr Will F; Coleman, Dr Melinda A; Goldsworthy, A/Prof Simon D)
• Developing DNA tracking methods to identify illegally logged timber products from Africa. (Lowe, Prof Andrew J; Degen, Prof Dr Bernd)
• Conservation management of the endangered Pygmy Bluetongue Lizard (Christopher M Bull, Mark Hutchinson) (Through Flinders University)
• Long-term changes in the phenology of Australia’s temperate marine macroalgae: has climate change impacted the world’s most diverse algal flora? (Thomas Wernberg, Carlos Gurgel)(through the University of Western Australia)
• Islands of rocks: geckos as a model system to understand patterns of biodiversity, endemism and speciation in the Kimberley (Paul Oliver, Michael Lee, Paul Doughty) (through the University of Melbourne)

LIEF Projects:

• Stable isotope analysis of environmental and physiological samples. (Gillanders, Prof Bronwyn M; Robinson, Prof Sharon A; Walker, A/Prof Stewart; Kennedy, Prof Martin J; Watling, A/Prof Jennifer R; Soole, A/Prof Kathleen L; Tibby, Dr John; Guan, Dr Huade W; Cooper, Prof Alan; Ball, Prof Andrew S)
• Enhanced powder X-ray diffraction capabilities for South Australia. (Sumby, Dr Christopher J; Gerson, Prof Andrea R; Doonan, Dr Christian J; Pring, Prof Allan; Ellis, A/Prof Amanda V; Ebendorff-Heidepriem, A/Prof Heike; Zou, Prof Linda Y; Lenehan, Dr Claire E; Chittleborough, Prof David J; Majewski, Prof Peter J)

Full lists of successful proposals can be found on the ARC Website.

The Environment Institute would like to Congratulate all of our members who had success with their proposals!

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Solar Research Succeeds in Winning ARC Linkage

An investigation which aims to reduce the levelised cost of solar thermal energy by 40 per cent relative to present hybrids has successfully won an Australian Research Council Linkage Project application.

The Centre for Energy Technology (CET) Director Professor Gus Nathan heads up the successful application team which includes other Adelaide University staff Associate Professor Bassam Dally, Dr Zeyad Alwahabi, and RWTH Aachen University’s Prof Heinz Pitsch. The industry partner is Petratherm, parent company of Heliotherm.

Concentrated solar radiation in thermal power generation remains significantly more expensive than many alternative energy sources. One approach to reduce the cost of solar thermal energy is to combine it with established technologies using fossil fuels. Such ‘hybrid’ systems can typically halve the cost of solar thermal power. However, this is achieved at the expense of reducing solar contribution to around 5 per cent of total output.

This project supports the development of a new Australian renewable energy technology with a world-wide application through the first detailed investigation between concentrated solar radiation and a flame by the joint application of advanced laser diagnostics and modelling.

Not only does the novel approach offer cost reductions, it also trebles the proportion of renewable energy and provides full base-load capability. An immediate application includes the potential use by off-grid sites such as remote mines in Australia and globally.

CET is part of the Institute for Mineral and Energy Resources (IMER).

 

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World Environment Day

Sunday June 5 is World Environment Day, this year’s theme is ‘Forests: Nature At Your Service’. Read on to find out how researchers at The Environment Institute are looking at ways of restoring our forests.

World Environment Day (WED) is an annual event that is aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. World Environment Day celebrations began in 1972 and has grown to become the one of the main vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action.

The host city for World Environment Day 2011, for the first time ever, is India.

This year’s theme ‘Forests: Nature at Your Service’ emphasises the essential link between quality of life and the health of forests and forest ecosystems. The theme also supports this year’s UN International Year of Forests.

A Linkage grant has just been awarded to Environment Institute Researchers, Professor Andrew Lowe, Professor Barry Brook and Professor Corey Bradshaw to develop best-practice restoration guidelines for forest ecosystems to enable them to become resilient to climate change and maximise biodiversity and carbon capture outcomes. The grant titled ‘Developing best-practice approaches for restoring forest ecosystems that are resilient to climate change’ is for $405,222.00 over four years.

Habitat restoration is critical for ameliorating the ecological impacts of environmental change. However, existing restoration practices tend to rely on ad hoc rules of thumb (e.g. ‘local is best’) that lack a firm scientific basis, fail to account for future climates, risk wasting resources and will likely produce sub-optimal, long-term outcomes. The project proposes to improve current restoration practices by combining genetic diversity, fitness assessment and simulation modeling with large-scale planting experiments to develop best-practice approaches for species and provenance choice, and landscape designs that are resilient to climate futures. It will also assess planting outcomes in terms of market-based instruments for biodiversity and carbon.

Find out what people are doing all over the World to celebrate World Environment Day, here.

Photo by: Kris*M (Flickr)

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