This is a cross-cutting theme that integrates and syntheses understandings gained across the Institute’s research portfolio. Increasingly when decisions are made in natural resource management there is a requirement to assess not only the environmental consequences of change but also the social, cultural and economic effects. Spatial optimization is a method to maximize or minimize a management objective, given limited area, finite resources, and spatial relationships in a system. Optimisation approaches can be used to evaluate a great variety of options and allow trade-off analyses that are impossible with other methods. While the approach has been widely applied in terrestrial and marine nature conservation, its application in freshwater and estuarine ecosystems has been more limited, and it has yet to be applied to assess not only the biophysical, but the demographic, cultural and economic components of a system. Using information from all other themes, ecosystem-based, multiple-use scenarios will be explored and used as the basis of risk analyses. Our aim is to have the knowledge, tools and methods developed in this theme used to guide land and water management, and used to provide a basis for future environmental policies and planning.
Core skills: ecological modelling, hydrology, statistics, numerical and spatial modelling, operations research and software engineering.
Current Projects
- Title:
- Improving water quality in southeast Queensland reservoirs (due for completion June 2011)
- Project Researchers:
- A/Prof Michele Burford (PL)
Dr Catherine Leigh (RF)
Mr Matthew Prentice (PhD student)
Ms Roslynne O’Connell (PhD student)
Ms Priyanesh Muhid (PhD student)
Mr Stephen Faggotter (RA) - Description
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This project is undertaking research on the drivers of algal blooms in subtropical reservoirs. Algal blooms, including toxic blooms, are common problems in reservoirs in the region. Many factors may be responsible for causing blooms, including nutrients washed in from catchments, climatic conditions, and management practices. There are three main areas of research currently underway in this project:
- Understanding phosphorus cycling in reservoirs
- Establishing the causes of toxin production by algae
- Improving management of reservoir water resources by linking catchment condition with water quality and ecosystem health
- Partners:
- Seqwater, Gold Coast City Council, The University of Queensland, University of Waikato, Monash University, University of NSW, ARC