Ecosystems

Studies related to ecosystems, their character, function, services, assessment and management, and implication of modifications.

Research topic "Ecosystems" is further divided into following sections:

• Ecosystem Properties
• Created Ecosystems
• Climatic Systems

Involved research staff

• Godwin Ayoko - Faculty of Science / Physical and Chemical Sciences
  telephone: 07 3138 1206 fax: 07 3138 1804 e-mail: g.ayoko@qut.edu.au
• Andrew Baker - Faculty of Science / Natural Resource Sciences
  telephone: +61 7 3138 4443 mobile: +61 4 2427 2051 fax: +61 7 3138 1535 e-mail: am.baker@qut.edu.au
• Richard Brown - Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering / Engineering Systems
  telephone: 07 3138 5157 fax: 07 3138 1516 e-mail: richard.brown@qut.edu.au
• Malcolm Cox - Faculty of Science / Natural Resource Sciences
  telephone: 07 3138 1649 fax: 07 3138 1535 e-mail: m.cox@qut.edu.au
• Ray Frost - Faculty of Science / Physical and Chemical Sciences
  telephone: 07 3138 2407 mobile: 0414 84 2407 fax: 07 3138 1804 e-mail: r.frost@qut.edu.au
• Stuart Gage - Faculty of Entomology, Zoology (Adjunct) / Michigan State University
  telephone: 1-517-355-2135 fax: 1-517-432-9415 e-mail: gages@msu.edu
• Ashantha Goonetilleke - Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering / Urban Development
  telephone: 07 3138 1539 fax: 07 3138 1170 e-mail: a.goonetilleke@qut.edu.au
• Peter Grace - Faculty of Science / Natural Resource Sciences
  telephone: 07 3138 2610 mobile: 0434 609 099 fax: 3138 2330 e-mail: pr.grace@qut.edu.au
• Grant Hamilton - Faculty of Science / Mathematical Sciences
  telephone: +61 7 313 88313 fax: +61 7 313 82310 e-mail: g.hamilton@qut.edu.au
• Andrew Hammond - Faculty of Science / Natural Resource Sciences
  telephone: 07 3138 4185 fax: 07 3138 1535 e-mail: ap.hammond@qut.edu.au
• Mike Hefferan - Faculty of Research / Institute for Sustainable Resources
  telephone: 3138 9283 mobile: 0414 014 241 fax: 3138 4438 e-mail: m.hefferan@qut.edu.au
• Serge Kokot - Faculty of Science / Physical and Chemical Sciences
  telephone: 07 3138 2472 fax: 07 3138 1804 e-mail: s.kokot@qut.edu.au
• Peter Mather - Faculty of Science / Natural Resource Sciences
  telephone: 07 3138 1737 fax: 07 3138 2330 e-mail: p.mather@qut.edu.au
• Kerrie Mengersen - Faculty of Science / Mathematical Sciences
  telephone: 07 3138 2063 fax: 07 3138 2310 e-mail: k.mengersen@qut.edu.au
• Paul Roe - Faculty of IT / Software Engineering and Data Communications
  telephone: 07 3138 9323 fax: 07 3138 9390 e-mail: p.roe@qut.edu.au
• Gregory Webb - Faculty of Science / Natural Resource Sciences
  telephone: 07 3138 2804 fax: 07 3138 1535 e-mail: ge.webb@qut.edu.au
• Keith Weier - Faculty of Science / Institute for Sustainable Resources
  telephone: 07 5478 6336 mobile: 0428 193 256 e-mail: kg.weier@bigpond.com
• Ian Williamson - Faculty of Science / Natural Resource Sciences
  telephone: 07 3138 2779 fax: 07 3138 1535 e-mail: i.williamson@qut.edu.au
• Habib Yezdani - Faculty of Science / Natural Resource Sciences
  telephone: 07 3138 4880 mobile: 0401 657 179 fax: 07 3138 4878 e-mail: h.yezdani@qut.edu.au

Related research projects

• Managing fragmentation and connectivity in riverine landscapes
  - Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology Research Grant.
  project time frame: 2003 - 2005
  project budget: $480,000
  project participants: Andrew Baker (Secondary Investigator)
   
• Conservation of freshwater mussels from inland Australia
  - Griffith University Research Grant. Secondary Investigator (with Hughes, J.M. and Sheldon, F)
  project time frame: 2004 - 2006
  project budget: $13,000
  project participants: Mike Hefferan (Secondary Investigator), Andrew Baker (Secondary Investigator)
   
• Stock structure of commercially important freshwater fishes in the Mekong River system
  project time frame: 2004-2006
  project budget: $338 785
  project participants: Peter Mather (Chief Investigator)
   
• Assessing the potential for low cost formulated diets for mud crab aquaculture in Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam
  project time frame: 2004-2006
  project budget: $373 714
  project participants: Peter Mather (Chief Investigator)
   
• Genetic diversity in wild and cultured stocks of Abalone (Haliotis rubra) in northern NSW
  project time frame: 2005-2006
  project budget: $40 000
  project participants: Peter Mather (Chief Investigator)
   
• Impact of hatchery practices on genetic diversity in cultured and wild stocks of two commercially important marine species in NSW
  - QUT Srategic Links with Industry Grant Scheme
  project time frame: 2005-2006
  project budget: $44 000
  project participants: Peter Mather (Chief Investigator)
   
• Enhancement of freshwater prawn aquaculture in the Pacific: Assessing freshwater prawn stock quality and nutrition in Fiji
  project time frame: 2007-2009
  project budget: $331 288
  project participants: Peter Mather (Chief Investigator)
   
• The evolution of Australian rainforest faunas and the implications of continuing climate change
  - ARC Linkage Grant in collaboration with University of New South Wales, Queensland Museum, University of Queensland, Cement Australia and others.
  project budget: $900 000
  project participants: Gregory Webb (Principal Investigator), Andrew Baker (Associate Researcher)
   
• Cane toad ecology & distribution - focus on cane toad in southern part of range in sub coastal Queensland
  project participants: Ian Williamson
   
• Ecology of frogs in western Darling Downs area of southern Queensland
  project participants: Ian Williamson
   
• Ecology and habitat use of sand whiting
  project participants: Ian Williamson
   
• Environmental Impacts of Pollutant Mixing and Dispersion: Information Exchange and Collaboration for Laboratory and Field Investigation
  - Joint Japan Society for the Promotion of Science / Australian Academy of Science. Grant to support research associated with Fellowship
  project time frame: 2005
  project budget: $30 000
  project participants: Richard Brown
   
• Greenhouse gas emissions in south-east Qld
  - AGO/ARC
  project participants: Peter Grace
   
• Greenhouse gas emission offsets through N2O abatement
  - EPRI
  project participants: Peter Grace
   
• Rainfall simulation to evaluate pollutant build-up and wash-off from selected land uses in the Port of Brisbane
  - The primary objective of this project is to develop an understanding of the potential for the generation of pollutant loads within the existing land use system in the Port of Brisbane using rainfall simulation. This will lead to identification of relationships between land use and the various pollutants detected
  project participants: Ashantha Goonetilleke
   
• Population structure of widespread species of chironomid midges along the coast and sub-coast of eastern Australia
  - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health Grant, with Cranston, P. and McKie, B.)
  project time frame: 2005-2006
  project budget: $15 000
  project participants: Andrew Baker (Princpal Investigator)
   
• Fine-scale environmental and genetic spatial structuring of the giant freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii, through a little-known biogeographic boundary: the Isthmus of Kra
  - School of Natural Resource Sciences: Biological Systems Grant. Principal Investigator (with Wilson, J., Mather, P.B. and Cox, M.).
  project time frame: 2004-2006
  project budget: $10 000
  project participants: Andrew Baker (Principal Investigator), Peter Mather, Malcolm Cox
   

Publications

• Crawford, A.C.; Richardson, N; Mather, P.: A comparative study of cellulase and xylanase enzyme activity in freshwater crayfish and marine prawns - Aquaculture Research, 36: 586 - 92, 2005
• Harding, D; Williamson, I.: A note on the habitat requirements of the swamp crayfish on Bribie Island, south eastern Queensland - Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 49 (1), 452, 2003
• Carmoday, O; Frost, R.; Yunfei, X; Kokot, S.: Adsorption of hydrocarbons on organo-clays- implications for oil spill remediation - in print, JCIS, 2006
• Peckarsky, B; Hughes, J.M.; Mather, P.; Hillyer, M; Encalada, A.C.: Are populations of mayflies living in adjacent fish and fishless streams genetically differentiated? - Freshwater Biology, 50(1): 42 - 51, 2004
• Gage, S.: Climate variability in the North Central Region: Characterizing drought severity patterns - [In] Climate Variability and Ecosystem Response at Long Term Ecological Research Sites. (D. Greenland, D. Goodin. and R. Smith Eds.). Oxford Univ. Press. 457 pp, 2003
• Williamson, I.: Competition between the larvae of the introduced cane toad Bufo marinus (Anura: Bufonidae) and native anurans from the Darling Downs area of southern Queensland - Australian Journal of Ecology 24, 636-643, 1999
• Baker, A.; Bartlett, C; Bunn, S.E.; Goudkamp, K; Sheldon, F; Hughes, J.M.: Cryptic species and morphological plasticity in long-lived bivalves (Unionoida: Hyriidae) from inland Australia - Molecular Ecology 12: 2707–2717, 2003
• Gramotnev, G; Brown, R.; Ristovski, Z; Hitchins, J; Morawska, L: Determination of average emission factors for vehicles on a busy road - Atmos. Environ. 37(4), 465-474, 2003
• Pavasovic, M; Richardson, N.A.; Anderson, A.J.; Mann, D; Mather, P.: Effect of temperature and diet on digestive enzyme profiles in the mud crab, Scylla serrata - Aquaculture 242: 641 - 54, 2004
• Mather, P.; Lal, S.N.; Wilson, J.: Experimental evaluation of selection to improve red body colour in Fijian hybrid tilapia - Aquaculture Research 32: 1 -8, 2001
• Meager, J.J.; Williamson, I.; King, C.R.: Factors affecting the distribution, abundance and diversity of fishes of soft-substrata tidal pools within Moreton Bay, Australia - Hydrobiologia 537, 71-80, 2005
• Appleyard, S.A.; Mather, P.: Genetic characterisation of Fijian tilapia using allozymes and Random amplified Polymorphic DNA - Asian Fisheries Science, 15: 249 - 264, 2002
• Prentis, P.J.; Vesey, A; Meyers, N.M.; Mather, P.: Genetic structuring of the stream lily, Helmholtzia glaberima (Philydraceae) within Toloona Creek, south-east Queensland - Australian Journal of Botany, 52: 201 - 207, 2004
• Robertson, G.P.; Grace, P.: Greenhouse gas fluxes in tropical agriculture: The need for a full-cost accounting of global warming potentials - Environment, Development and Sustainability, 6, 51-63, 2004
• Meager, J.J.; Williamson, I.; Loneragan, N.R.; Vance, D.J.: Habitat selection of juvenile banana prawns, Penaeus merguiensis de Man: testing the roles of habitat structure, predators, light phase and prawn size - Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 324, 89-98, 2005
• de Bruyn, M; Wilson, J.A; Mather, P.: Huxley's line demarcates extensive genetic divergence among eastern and western forms of the Giant Freshwater Prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution 30(1): 251 - 57, 2004
• Pavasovic, A; Richarson, N.A.; Mather, P.; Anderson, A.J.: Influence of insoluble dietary cellulose on digestive enzyme activity, feed digestibility and survival in the red claw crayfish - Aquaculture Research, In Press, 2006
• Hamilton, G.; Alston, C; Chiffings, T; Abal, E; Hart, B; Mengersen, K.: Integrating Science through Bayesian Belief Networks: Case study of Lyngbya in Moreton Bay. - In Zerger, A. and Argent, R.M. (eds) MODSIM 2005 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand, December 2005, pp392 - 399
• Meager, J.J.; Vance, D.J.; Williamson, I.; Loneragan, N.R.: Microhabitat distribution of juvenile Penaeus merguiensis and other epibenthic crustaceans within a mangrove forest in subtropical Australia - Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 294, 127-144, 2003
• Chand, V; de Bruyn, M; Mather, P.: Microsatellite loci in the eastern form of the giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) - Molecular Ecology Notes 5: 308 - 310, 2005
• Baker, A.; Sheldon, F; Somerville, J; Walker, K.F.; Hughes, J.M.: Mitochondrial DNA phylogenetic structuring suggests genetic similarity between two morphologically plastic genera of Australian freshwater mussels (Unionoida: Hyriidae) - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 32: 902-912, 2004
• Baker, A.; Hughes, J.M.; Dean, J.C.; Bunn, S.E.: Mitochondrial DNA reveals phylogenetic structuring and cryptic diversity in Australian freshwater macroinvertebrate assemblages - Marine and Freshwater Research 55: 629-640, 2004
• Baker, A.; Hurwood, D.A.; Krogh, M; Hughes, J.M.: Mitochondrial signatures of restricted gene flow within divergent lineages of a freshwater shrimp (Paratya australiensis) - Heredity 93: 196-207, 2004
• Hu, W.; Mengersen, K.; Oldenburg, B.; Dale, P.; Tong, S.L.: Mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) and the transmission of Ross River virus in Brisbane, Australia - J Med Entomol, 43 (2), 375-381, 2006
• Hurwood, D; Heasman, M; Mather, P.: Population structure in the Australian Flat oyster Ostrea angasi (Sowerby 1871): among estuaries in southern New South wales - Marine and Freshwater Research, 56: 1099 - 1106, 2005
• Hu, W.; Mengersen, K.; Oldenburg, B.; Tong, S.L.: Rainfall, Mosquito Density and the Transmission of Ross River Virus: A Time Series Forecasting Model - Ecological Modelling, in press, 2006
• Grace, P.; Ladd, J.N.; Robertson, G.P.; Gage, S.: SOCRATES - a simple model for predicting long-term changes in soil organic carbon in terrestrial ecosystems - Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 38, 1172 - 1176, 2006
• Dimmock, A; Williamson, I.; Mather, P.: The influence of environment on the morphology of Macrobrachium australiense - Aquaculture International 12, 435-456, 2004
• Harding, D; Williamson, I.: The influence of light phase and predators on the behaviour of swamp crayfish - Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 49(2), 704, 2004
• Grace, P.; Colung-Garcia, M; Gage, S.; Safir, G.R.; Robertson, G.P.: The potential impact of climate change on North Central Region's soil organic carbon resources - Ecosystems. 9:1-13, 2006
• Egodawatta, P; Goonetilleke, A.; Ayoko, G.; Thomas, E: Understanding the interrelationships between stormwater quality and rainfall and runoff factors in residential catchments - Book of Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on urban drainage modelling and the 4th International Conference on water sensitive urban design, Vol 1, ppV1.43-V1.50, 2006
• Porter, J.R.; Jamieson, P.D.; Grace, P.: Wheat production systems and climate. - In: J. Canadell, D. Pataki, L. Pitelka (Eds). Terrestrial Ecosystems in a Changing World. The IGBP Book Series. Springer, Berlin (in press), 2006
back to top