2019 Research Projects

Vehicles on beaches
Recreational driving is a common practice on many beaches. This project will review the physical and biological impacts of vehicle use on beach systems.

Urban flooding is a major problem in many cities
Assessment of urban flooding is challenging because conventional flood models are computationally intensive. However recently, the University of Exeter has developed CADDIES—a rapid flood modelling tool. Flooding can be modelled in CADDIES in a fraction of the time it takes conventional models. This research aims to apply CADDIES to the San Francisco Bay Area, working in collaboration with Stanford University along with Exeter. The project will then see if model inputs and outputs align with the InVEST framework—modelling tools being developed out of Stanford as part of the Natural Capital Project (https://www.naturalcapitalproject.org/). The student will be part of the Waterway Ecosystem Research Group (https://thewerg.org/). The student will need strong analytical skills. Programming skills would be highly desirable.

Making rivers great again! Assessing the potential of environmental flows to restore native plant communities
In partnership with the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, we are seeking student/s to investigate the potential for environmental flows to restore native riparian vegetation. Many of Australia’s rivers are degraded due to water extraction, flow regulation and other anthropogenic pressures. Increasingly, water is being returned to rivers as “environmental flows” to improve their health, including the restoration of native vegetation. Better knowledge of the relationships between river flows and riparian vegetation dynamics is required to best target environmental flows. To inform Victoria’s Environmental Flows Monitoring and Assessment Program, we are seeking student/s for a range of projects investigating vegetation flow-ecology relationships via a combination of nursery and field-based experiments, and/or interrogation of a large existing dataset. These projects would be jointly supported by the Arthur Rylah Institute and The University of Melbourne.

Assessing the potential for natural regeneration following removal of a weedy shrub (Kunzea leptospermoides).
In partnership with Zoos Victoria, we are seeking a student to investigate the potential to restore areas heavily invaded by the shrub, Kunzea leptospermoides (Yarra Burgan). Approximately 75% of the Coranderrk Bushland Reserve (adjacent to the Healesville Sanctuary and managed by Zoos Victoria) is heavily invaded by Burgan. This invasion is linked with overbrowsing by macropods and altered fire regimes. Burgan invasion is associated with reduced understorey vegetation diversity and cover, and dieback of overstorey trees. A program is currently underway to remove Burgan from large areas of the reserve. We are seeking a student to assess the potential for recovery via natural regeneration following Burgan removal using both field-based (vegetation surveys) and nursery based (soil seedbank assays) studies. This project would be jointly supported by Zoos Victoria and the SEFS at The University of Melbourne.

No eye deer? Developing revegetation techniques to outsmart introduced deer in Australia.
Introduced deer species cause considerable damage to native vegetation. And attempts to restore through revegetation are often hampered by deer. Furthermore, fencing may affect native fauna. Next year, Parks Victoria will be fencing a large floodplain area of the Macclesfield Creek to protect 100,000s of recent plantings that are deer-affected. The resulting recovery of the plantings is uncertain. There are also a number of smaller fenced plots set up to trial different fencing setups to exclude deer, but facilitate movement of native fauna. The effectiveness of these fences and implications for revegetation is required. This project provides an opportunity to work with Parks Victoria staff and local community groups to improve revegetation outcomes in the face of severe browsing pressure from deer.

Saving our critically endangered fauna one planting at a time?
Revegetation is a common approach to restoring habitat for our native fauna. However, plantings and vegetation trajectories are often compromised such that the resulting vegetation community may not provide appropriate habitat. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent (and will likely be spent) revegetating Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve in the Yarra Valley to provide habitat for the critically endangered Helmeted Honeyeater and lowland Leadbeater’s Possum. A range of factors affect the success of these plantings, including weed control (or lack of), protection (or lack of) from browsers (deer, wallabies) and other environmental factors (shade, flooding, etc.). There are a range of potential projects to assess the effectiveness of revegetation efforts at Yellingbo that could contribute knowledge to aiding the preservation of these species.

Leaf breakdown is a critical ecosystem process in freshwater systems; influencing the availability of organic matter to higher trophic levels and influencing food web structure. Published research suggests that urbanisation increases the microbial driven breakdown of labile leaf litter. However, recent experiments in local Melbourne streams suggest this impact model might be more complicated than first thought.  This project will investigate the impacts of urbanisation on leaf litter breakdown; how you measure it and how you interpret it. This will be achieved through assessing decomposition using a variety of methods including differing; shapes of mesh exclusion bags, leaf species and substrate types.

Assessing plant sensitivity to drought by examining anatomical traits
This project will examine the xylem anatomy of nine species of eucalypts within three groups: those that are sensitive to drought, those that are drought-tolerant and those which inhabit mesic environments. What are the differences in pit membrane structure of the plants? Is there a link between the thickness of pit membranes and the ability to withstand drought? The student will collect eucalypt stems and examine them under the Transmission Electron Microscope. Measurements of pit membrane thickness will be calculated and statistical analysis will reveal whether there are any significant differences between the species. This project is suited to a student with an interest in xylem anatomy and an eye for detail.

Unravelling below ground diversity of green roofs
Most plants used in green roofs have mycorrhizal symbiotic associations when grown in native conditions. This research will investigate the impact, abundance and diversity of these associations when these plants are grown on green roof soils. The student will be part of a multidisciplinary team working on urban ecology and plant soil interactions.

Home and away: Habitat‐specific positive and negative effects of soil biota on seedling growth
Soil biota, in particular fungi and other microbes, are known to interactively influence plant community structure. This project will use a greenhouse experiment to compare the growth of several Eucalypt species naturally growing along a climate gradient with soil from home (where species typically occur) and away (where conspecific adults rarely occur) habitats. The results will inform on the advantages and disadvantages that species face when growing home and away and the implications that these effects have for species migration.

Effect of elevated CO2 on soil microbial communities 
Sustained elevated CO2 has significant impacts on plant performance and plant root exudations. This can, in turn, affect soil biota that rely on plant root secretions. This project will use a glasshouse experiment to investigate the effect of long term exposure to elevated C02 on soil microbial communities.

Soil ecology in the urban environment
Interest in urban ecosystems has grown exponentially in the past decade. However belowground ecology in these systems remains largely unexplored. This project will review the literature on belowground ecology of urban ecosystems (12.5 points) and will explore diversity and interactions with aboveground vegetation across a range of urban environments (e.g. green roofs, community gardens, parks and reservoirs) (25-50 points).

Direct and indirect effects of fires on forest diversity
Fire is a common disturbance agent in Australia. Many studies have evaluated the direct impact of different fire regimes on faunal diversity and abundance. However it is more likely that fauna will respond to fire-driven changes in their habitat (i.e. indirect fire effects) than to the fire event itself. Despite this fact, few studies have attempted to quantify the relative importance of both direct and indirect effects of prescribed fire on faunal community composition. This study will jointly analyse fire-driven changes in forest structure and fauna to identify the key factors driving changes in fauna composition.

PlaceAgency is a collaborative project focused on the theory and practice of placemaking and its various strategies. The project aims to build capacity, test theory, experiment with processes and identify methods to evaluate placemaking decisions in order to create vibrant, citizen engaged public spaces and ultimately, better cities. A consortium will co-create a comprehensive suite of placemaking modules and deliver 4-6 ‘sandbox studios’ per university where students engage with, design and/or build real-world placemaking interventions. A yearly summit will showcase best practice examples, student’s studio outcomes, evaluation methods and build procurer’s capacity on placemaking theory and practice. The PlaceAgency Consortium includes 5 universities (Adelaide University, Curtin University, The University of Melbourne, The University of Queensland and University of Technology of Sydney) and 16 practitioners and counts with support from 26 placemaking procurers. Activities conducted by the consortium as part of this project are funded by Myer Foundation.

Within the Place Agency program: Case Study Analysis

Over November-Dec 2017, the Place Agency Consortium engaged with the 26 placemaking procurers in an opinion gathering survey to identify their perspectives on placemaking, the opportunities and barriers they face and the processes they follow. The information was compiled through an online survey where with relatively brief answers. The procurers were also provided an opportunity to nominate what they consider to be

'best-practice' case studies. While we have the survey responses, there is need to conduct analysis of these responses to identify the common barriers and to select the nominated case studies into developing a critical case study analysis which answers? What do these nominated cases have in common?

Cris Hernández hernandezc@unimelb.edu.au

Potential based innovation
The main intention of this research is to answer the question: ‘how does a project aimed at building from potential, rather than problem based thinking, impact innovation?’. The source of data is a research is the Seacombe west project and 40 hours of video footage of the workshops had with community, government, industry, researchers and designers. Ethics has already been received for this project. Seacombe west is a proposed 700 ha development in Victoria, based on regenerative design principles, it used the LENSES framework to develop the process of collecting information on the potential of site and then drive the masterplan process. The student will develop the process to analyse the footage, then apply this to the footage and develop a paper that uses the analysis to talk about the potential of this approach. The paper will be presented at a conference in December in Sydney. Literature review will be based on three streams – innovation thinking, regenerative development and film footage analysis.

This research project will explore how cross-cultural knowledge systems can deliver new approaches to regenerative development, including understanding how Indigenous perspectives of place and kinship can offer new approaches to our global-local environmental challenges. By immersing themselves in New Zealand's Tūhoe tribal culture (as part of travelling studio - Summer intensive), students will have the opportunity to interrogate political processes and internalisations of colonialist mindsets and ‘norms’ for the co-creation of our thriving future.

Dr Tanja Beer
beert@unimelb.edu.aSchoo

Dr Allyson O’Brien
allyson@unimelb.edu.au

Dr Allyson O’Brien
allyson@unimelb.edu.au

Improving predictions of fish population responses to stream flow. Flow is often viewed as a ‘master variable’ that underpins the abundance and diversity of many aquatic species. However, it is unclear which metrics of stream flow are best-suited to predicting fish population dynamics. In collaboration with researchers at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, this project will identify and calculate different components of flow on several timeframes, and will use existing data to examine how these flow components affect fish populations in south-eastern Australia.

Dr Jian Yen
jian.yen@unimelb.edu.au

Zeb Tonkin (Arthur Rylah Institute)

Economic trade influences most aspects of our lives: how much we pay for milk, where our clothes are made, what’s in the supermarket, how much we get paid. Trade also has a profound effect on nature and biodiversity through its influence on commodity demand, land-based production and the impact of land use on biodiversity. This project links the changes in commodity demands to the spatial distributions of biodiversity through the use of species distribution modelling. Depending on the interest of the student, this project could focus on developing species distribution models for specific taxa and their response to global or regional trade-related decisions (e.g. free trade agreements), or on specific species’ responses to changes in demand for a particular commodity (e.g. coffee). Note that this project will not involve fieldwork.

Payal Bal
payal.bal@unimelb.edu.au