Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Covid-19 And Preparing Planetary Health For Future Ecological Crises: Hopes From Glycomics For Vaccine Innovation, Xueqing Wang, Zhaohua Zhong, Wei Wang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

A key lesson emerging from COVID-19 is that pandemic proofing planetary health against future ecological crises calls for systems science and preventive medicine innovations. With greater proximity of the human and animal natural habitats in the 21st century, it is also noteworthy that zoonotic infections such as COVID-19 that jump from animals to humans are increasingly plausible in the coming decades. In this context, glycomics technologies and the third alphabet of life, the sugar code, offer veritable prospects to move omics systems science from discovery to diverse applications of relevance to global public health and preventive medicine. In this expert …

Riverine Biota As Environmental Indicators Of Artisanal Small-Scale And Large-Scale Gold Mining Impacts On Riverine Ecosystems In Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana, K. F. Macdonald, M. Lund, E. Van Etten

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

A study on two adjacent small ephemeral river systems in the upper Tano River Basin in Brong Ahafo, Ghana; one impacted by ASGM and the other by a modern large gold mining (LSM), showed that impacts of mining on river sediment and water quality and quantity were reflected in the macroinvertebrate and microbial communities. This study investigated the impacts of ASGM on the ecology of the Surow River and that of a large-scale mining (LSM, the Ahafo mine) on the Subri River between February 2013 and April 2014 Macroinvertebrate communities responded to the shift in river water and sediment qualities, …

The Value Of Animal Behaviour As A Bio-Indicator Of Restoration Quality, Floyd Holmes

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Woodland restoration is a complex endeavour, and restoration ecology as a scientific discipline requires constant re-assessments and adjustments if it is to improve outcomes and better provide for biodiversity. The promise of effective restoration is often used to justify destructive processes that affect many of the world’s ecosystems. It is therefore imperative that those promises can be met, which comes down to restoration ecologists’ and land managers’ capacity to predict and facilitate desirable ecological changes in a timely and socio-economically responsible manner. As perspectives have changed, and knowledge has been gained over the past few decades there have been several …

A Global Synthesis Of Managing Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Under Sustainable Groundwater Policy, Melissa M. Rohde, Raymond H. Froend, Jeanette Howard

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Groundwater is a vital water supply worldwide for people and nature. However, species and ecosystems that depend on groundwater for some or all of their water needs, known as groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs), are increasingly becoming threatened worldwide due to growing human water demands. Over the past two decades, the protection and management of GDEs have been incorporated into several water management policy initiatives worldwide including jurisdictions within Australia, the European Union, South Africa, and the United States. Among these, Australia has implemented the most comprehensive framework to manage and protect GDEs through its water policy initiatives. Using a science-based …

An Ecological Characterisation Of A Shallow Seasonal Claypan Wetland, Southwestern Australia, Nakisa Shahrestani

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Perched, seasonal claypans of southwestern Australia are poorly understood in terms of their ecological character, such as relationship between hydrology and their biota. An example is Little Darkin Swamp, located on the Darling Plateau in southwestern Australia. The overall aim of this thesis was to describe its ecological character, to understand what drives this claypan system and how its ephemeral nature affects wetland processes and functions.

This study first comprised a detailed characterisation of the wetland’s attributes, following the geomorphic-hydrological approach proposed by Semeniuk and Semeniuk (2011). This revealed that its hydrology is highly dependent on rainfall, that it is …

Ecological Connectivity Of Kimberley Marine Communities. Synthesis Report Of Project 1.1.3 Prepared For The Kimberley Marine Research Program, Zoe Richards, Oliver Berry, Jim Underwood, Kathryn Mcmahon, Mike Travers, Glenn Moore, Udhi Hernawan, Joseph Dibattista, Richard Evans, James Gilmour

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The overarching objective of KMRP Project 1.1.3 (Ecological Connectivity of Kimberley Marine Communities) was to provide the first estimates of ecological connectivity across multiple spatial scales for a suite of model/priority marine organisms in the Kimberley. More specifically, this project aimed to provide species-specific estimates of realised connectivity at a reef-scale ( < 1 > km), inter-reef scale (1-100 km) and inter-region scale (100 + km) through genetic analyses of seven key animals and plants with contrasting dispersive life histories that are representative of common taxa.