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 | Biography |  |
Research into how land cover (vegetation) affects ecohydrological and climate systems # I am an early career researcher with an interest in how vegetation affects water flows throughout a landscape (ecohydrology). After completing an Honours year with GPEM in 1999, I worked with the Queensland Local Government Association (LGAQ) for three years on a farm forestry project. I then commenced a Land and Water Australia funded PhD in 2003, which focussed on collaborative research with farmers in the catchments of the upper Brisbane River. Outcomes of this work were the development of the GLAMS land use survey method (published - Ecosystems), the Complex Adaptive Landscapes (CAL) model of ecohydrological systems functioning within landscapes (published - Ecological Complexity), and an adaptive form of vegetation management to increase water retention in agricultural landscapes (Integrated Vegetation Bands or IVBs).
# I have recently been awarded an ARC-Linkage from the Federal Government (June 2010 - June 2013), in which I perform a dual role of an industry Post-Doctoral Fellow (APDI) and a Chief Investigator (CI). This project will apply an adaptive form of vegetation management, termed Integrated Vegetation Bands (IVBs), to a farm near Springbrook, Southeast Queensland. The farm will have native rainforest species planted to form IVBs. The site will then be monitored to assess the ability of IVBs to increase stormwater retention, buffer climatic extremes, and enhance water quality, soil biological activity, carbon storage and biodiversity conservation. The aim is to minimise the land footprint and competition of the IVBs whilst maintaining five fundamental functions of resilient landscapes (i.e. water, climate, soil health, carbon and biodiversity), leading to an adaptive and sustainable land use option that reduces flooding risk by retaining more runoff in-situ, while improving soil moisture, carbon and biodiveristy and pasture resilience.
# This project includes the development and manufacturing of flumes for monitoring water flows in stream beds, and includes a large installation of soil moisture and temperature sensors (-10, -40 cm), and rainfall, humidity/temperature, wind speed and solar radiation sensors. Hillslope erosion is measured by custom sediment traps. Data will be collected at bi-monthly intervals and collated over the next three years to develop water balance simulation models, and models of micro-climate and soil biological and carbon changes.
# Collaborative partners on the project will then develop economic models of the costs/benefits of IVBs, including carbon balance, soil biological diversity and changes in surface invertebrates, reptiles and birds. Other investigators include Dr Paul Dargusch (UQ) and Dr Nick Callow (UQ), collaborative partners include Ms Christine Fyfe (UNE), Dr Clive McAlpine (UQ), the Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence (QCCCE), the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM), SEQ Catchments and individual farmers.
# This project is made possible by the substantial in-kind contributions by commercial businesses in southern Queensland and northern NSW. These include: ICT International (Armidale); DHI Water and Environment (Gold Coast); Ewe Beaut Products (Armidale); Thermo-Fisher Scientific (Brisbane); Polyfabrics (Crestmead); Mongrel Trailers (Narangba); Bluepool Ecohydrology (Armidale); and Madison Technolgies (Brisbane).
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| IVBs conceptual model
The conceptual model of integrated vegetation bands (IVBs). This is an adaptive design using the functional properties of different species of vegetation for enhancing water and nutrient retention in agricultural landscapes, while improving the maintenance of water quality, carbon pools, beneficial soil biota and surface biodiversity. The IVBs are designed to buffer against high volumes and velocities of stormwater runoff, repartition and increase infiltration of overland flow to otherwise drier areas of hillslopes, arrest the erosion of waterways, improve downstream water quality, reduce wind speed and temperature extremes, and increase soil health, carbon storage and conservation of biodiversity. This is only possible where competitive factors are reduced and complimentary functions maximised through careful design, establishment and management. A current ARC Linkage project will determine if this system can form an economically viable alternative for farmers/graziers to manage native regrowth vegetation. |
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