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Australian Defence Force Heat Tolerance Testing (Old ID 20420)
This agreement will enable Dr Melissa Crowe and associated staff of the Institute of Sport and Exercise Science at JCU to provide heat tolerance testing for member of the Australian Defence Force who may have suffered heat stroke in accordance with policy from the Australian Defence Force Joint Health Command.
Engaging with farmers and demonstrating water quality outcomes to create confidence in on-farm decision-making ("Project 25") (Old ID 22544)
Recent global experiences suggest that spatially identifying and prioritizing landscape ‘hotspots’ of pollutant generation for management intervention, and small catchment-scale water quality monitoring in collaboration with landholders linking water quality with specific management practices, are among the most promising strategies for reducing water quality pollution. This project will combine recent hotspot identification in GBR sugarcane catchment of the Russel/Mulgrave with targeted cane farmer interaction activities (related to sub-catchment and localized monitoring activities), focusing on emerging monitoring technologies (real-time water quality monitoring) to link farmer on-farm practices with feedback from sub-catchment water quality measurements. The use of both scientific and citizen science monitoring approaches will deliver robust feedback loops to enable farmers to directly link their activities with water quality conditions. The project will focus on on-farm practice improvements in highest priority catchments to achieve maximum benefits to GBR health from catchment management actions.
Abbot Point Marine Water Quality Monitoring (Old ID 23147)
This project will provide near-surface concentrations of non-algal particulates (NAP or sediments) derived from MODIS imagery and the CSIRO bio-optical algorithms developed for the Great Barrier Reef (pixel resolution of 1km) as part of a dredging campaign at Abbot Point. These data will be used by the North Queensland Bulk Ports Cop to report against compliance conditions of approval for this activity. The MODIS imagery will be assessed for the entire dredging activities.
Health system governance and tuberculosis control in the Torres Strait: an institutional analysis (Old ID 26306)
Using institutional analysis, the project will address a gap in knowledge regarding the nature and robustness of health system governance for tuberculosis (TB) control in the Torres Strait Protected Zone. The Torres Strait Protected Zone is an area of strategic public health importance due to high rates of TB and multi-drug resistant TB and proximity to Papua New Guinea where the disease is endemic. The project will identify and characterise the role(s) of different stakeholders and evaluate the formal and informal rules that drive TB-related decisions in this unique cross-border region. In doing so, it will deliver critical insights into the resilience and adaptive capacity of health system responses to TB, and produce recommendations to strengthen governance capabilities to counter existing and emerging communicable disease threats.
Deriving ecologically relevant targets to meet desired ecosystem condition for the Great Barrier Reef: a case study for seagrass meadows in the Burdekin region (Old ID 26473)
This project will derive ecologically relevant targets (ERTs) for water quality and sediment loads for the Burdekin basin and provide the ecological targets required to revise ERTs across the GBR by: 1) defining seagrass desired state targets for the GBR: 2) calculating water quality guidelines (light); and 3) calculating ERTs for te3rrestrially sourced sediment loads, using Cleveland Bay as a case study. Historical and new data collections will be compiled and used to derive ERTs via statistical models and eReefs (RECOM), and the seagrass sub-model in eReefs will be used to test ERTs.
Improving Kava production efficiency through genetics (Old ID 26574)
This project aims to improve the efficiency of kava (Piper methysticum) production by helping develop a test to distinguish between ‘noble’ and ‘two-day’ kava varieties. We will assess genetic diversity in wild and cultivated samples from across Vanuatu, and look for genetic markers that are unique to one variety or the other. This will improve the ability of kava growers and processors to produce consistently high quality product to help meet growing demand internationally.
10,000 years of Indigenous fisheries informs future Great Barrier Reef (Old ID 26940)
This project aims to document the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in shaping the fish resources of the Great Barrier Reef over millennia. Using novel analyses of archaeological faunal remains, this project expects to generate new knowledge on how people’s actions transformed marine systems and modified fish communities. Expected outcomes include establishing pre‐ European baseline data essential for managing contemporary fish populations, and a long‐term perspective on human exploitation of a shifting Great Barrier Reef. Benefits include a framework for integrating Indigenous fisheries management into conservation agendas and foregrounding the deep human history of the Reef to support future social‐ecological resilience.
ARC Research Hub for Supercharging Tropical Aquaculture Through Genetic Solutions (Old ID 27374)
This project aims to integrate cutting edge genetic and genomic approaches into innovative aquaculture enterprises that farm in tropical northern Australia. It will deliver the requisite genetic knowledge to instigate world-leading and highly productive breeding programs for five species (barramundi, pearl oyster, prawn, grouper and marine seaweed), along with a novel understanding of the genetic basis of disease resistance and how the production environment interfaces with the bacterial microbiome, pathogens and water quality to cause disease. It will increase Australia's capacity to deliver advanced genetics outcomes to the aquaculture sector, while increasing productivity, international competitiveness, and lowered risk due to disease.
Constraining the relationship between mantle discontinuities and convection processes beneath the Australian Plate (Old ID 27407)
Earth’s mantle is characterised by hot upwelling plumes and cold downgoing slabs, some of which are deflected at various depths in the upper mantle. The deflection shows some relationship to seismic discontinuities. which arise from mineral and compositional changes, but this is poorly understood. Consequently, the cause of deflection remains debated. The edges of the Australian tectonic plate display a range of subduction processes, providing an ideal natural laboratory. This project will establish any link between the behaviour of slabs and properties of mantle discontinuities, determine the influence of convection on discontinuities, and investigate correlations between deep and shallow structures.
Characterising Mary River flood sediment deposited in Hervey Bay. (Old ID 27627)
Analysis of recently deposited sediments in seagrass meadows offshore from the Mary River.