Research Projects
Filters for Projects
Research Units
Implementation and evaluation of a student-led rehabilitation and lifestyle service for people with chronic and disabling conditions in Cape York (Old ID 26301)
This project will evaluate the implementation of a student-led rehabilitation and lifestyle service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Napranum and Weipa in partnership with Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service (TCHHS) and Apunipima Cape York Health Council (ACYC). This research is expected develop a sustainable service model that is valued by people experiencing chronic and disabling conditions and their families living in Napranum and Weipa communities.
Investigating trophic partitioning in planktivorous reef fishes (Old ID 26411)
Plankton-feeding fishes are a major presence on coral reefs, and they are assumed to feed indiscriminately on plankton. Although research on herbivores and corallivores has revealed numerous distinct feeding behaviours and food p0references in these groups, planktivores continue to be perceived as generalists. This project will determine the breadth of planktivore diets using stable isotope analysis. This method can determine the abundance of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in fish tissues, allowing us to work out the origin of different types of plankton that each planktivorous fish eats. I expect this study will reveal a previously-undiscovered diet partitioning within planktivorous fishes.
NESP 7.1 - Continuity Proposal for ‘Project 25’ – Farmers, Water Quality and On-Farm Decision-Making (Old ID 27131)
Landholder concerns surrounding the credibility of broad-scale water quality monitoring and modelling initiatives in the GBR catchment area has emerged as one of the major cane industry engagement challenges for promoting significant farming practice change, and delivering water quality improvements. Based around small, sub-catchment scale water quality monitoring in a key cane growing region of the GBR catchment, Project 25 successfully utilised a bottom-up approach to integrated sub-catchment monitoring and intervention to identify ‘hot spot’ sub-catchments through localised water quality monitoring. In a collaborative programs between scientists from a range of organisations (JCU, CSIRO) and cane farming stakeholders, the Project emphasised industry ownership and control of monitoring design, and delivery of locally targeted water quality data and extension effort to provide confidence in on-farm decision making and facilitate practice change.
Stakeholder perceptions and co-benefits (Old ID 27503)
This project will provide the first empirical examination of GBR stakeholder perspectives related to COTS and their management. It will leverage sociocultural research planned as part of RRAP, extending those stakeholder engagements and interviews to measure perceptions of acceptability, risks and benefits related to COTS control. It will also assess the regulatory and policy implications of selected novel control methods.
An Innovative approach to documenting the largest floods in the Wet Tropics catchments and determining their effects on pollutant fluxes to the Reef. (Old ID 27515)
The project examines the magnitude and impacts of past extreme floods in the Barron and Daintree Rivers using a wide range of information types that includes geomorphic evidence (slackwater deposits), historical documents and indigenous knowledge. This information will be used to estimate the impacts of these extreme floods on material fluxes that are of concern for reef health. It also extends our knowledge of flooding impacts on the environment and societies beyond the modern gauged record. The outcomes of the project form the basis of a larger DES grant application aimed at modelling the impact of extreme floods in the Wet Tropics.
High-value horticulture and global production networks in coastal Australia (Old ID 27799)
High-value horticulture is booming in Australia’s north-eastern coastal strip, where a multifunctional landscape also provides various recreational, cultural and environmental services. This project aims analyses how incorporation within agricultural global production networks interacts with diverse drivers of landscape change to shape regional development outcomes. This will contribute to global production network theory by developing the territorial nexus of these networks. Expected outcomes include improved policy formulations capable of orchestrating a sustainable and equitable future for rural regions and livelihoods within Australia, with broader contributions to understanding rural development pathway elsewhere in the world.
Project 3.7 Managing and monitoring resilience in Australia’s national parks (Old ID 27892)
This project will build on existing research in acoustic monitoring by Roe and Schwarzkopf, and on survey design analysis by Southwell et al (in review).1 The results will directly inform decisions about future avian monitoring on Christmas Island and provide lessons that can be applied in other places.
Carbon sequestration via enhanced weathering of basalt applied to dry tropical rangeland
To meet climate targets carbon dioxide must be removed from the atmosphere in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A promising ‘negative emission technology’ is enhanced weathering of crushed basalt applied to land. Under suitable conditions, weathering reactions convert carbon dioxide gas to dissolved bicarbonate, which accumulates as bicarbonate or carbonate in soil or the sea. Grazed dry tropical rangelands provide a vast area where enhanced weathering might be deployed. In this project we will measure the amount of carbon sequestered in a dry tropical rangeland soil to which crushed basalt has been applied.
How does morality influence climate change adaptation? (Old ID 27634)
This project aims to understand how morality influences adaptation to climate change in the Great Barrier Reef region. This interdisciplinary project expects to generate new knowledge in the critical area of climate change adaptation. Expected outcomes include empirical insights into the connection between morality and adaptation, international collaborations, theory development, and refined methods to help identify leverage points for incorporating morality into decision-making. This should provide significant benefits including a basis for policy-making in Australia and globally, of practical significance to policy-makers seeking to support successful and just adaptation to climate change sustains livelihoods and respects local values.
Trait plasticity and the maintenance of functional diversity (Old ID 23341)
This project aims to determine if trait plasticity mediates functional degradation of coral reefs by using natural environmental gradients to identify mechanisms that enable corals to persist in marginal habitats. The project will use innovative 3D imaging to measure how intraspecific variability in traits influences functional redundancy, facilitating better predictions of the effects of environmental change on reef systems. Expected outcomes include improved understanding of the response of coral reef ecosystems to environmental change and a framework for predicting reefs at risk of functional degradation, providing benefits to both global biodiversity conservation and the provision of ecosystem services in reef dependent communities