News
Monitoring Australia’s life-sustaining ‘Critical Zone’ resources
A consortium of Australian universities has secured $1.2M of Australian Government funding to help create a network of Critical Zone Observatories (CZO) across Australia. The funding will enable research into Australia’s outer skin—from treetop to bedrock, where water, atmosphere, ecosystems, soil and rock interact—to better understand and manage the availability of its life-sustaining resources.
Site of the Month: Calperum Mallee SuperSite
This month’s site feature has us travelling into red dirt country again – to TERN’s Calperum Mallee SuperSite in the Riverland of South Australia. Over its 10-year lifetime, the site’s infrastructure has monitored ecosystem processes that shed light on how Australia’s widespread vegetation called Mallee is able to survive in such hot, dry, fire-prone conditions.
Site of the Month: Ashley Dene
For this month’s site feature, let’s journey to Te Waipounamu, the South Island of New Zealand. The Ashley Dene OzFlux site is located in one of New Zealand’s large dairy regions, on the Canterbury Plains, and its data are essential contributions to research projects on the carbon, water and nitrogen exchange of dairy forage systems.
Site of the Month: Alice Mulga SuperSite
More than a decade of ecosystem measurements in Australia’s Red Centre are providing an unprecedented understanding of the health and function of Australia’s vast arid ecosystems. The data tell a tale of a tough life in the desert, with highly variable rainfall patterns and carbon dynamics, but of which, thanks to research infrastructure investments, Australia’s scientists are developing an intimate understanding.
Increasing temperatures and drought frequency may diminish the benefits of fertilisation in managed grasslands
A recently completed study conducted at 21 research sites around the world, including four of TERN’s, has analysed how nutrient addition affects the ability of soil organisms to process organic matter and how climate modulates this response. The results have significant implications for global land management and carbon budgeting.
Australia’s Environment 2020 mid-year update
The drought has loosened its grip across much of Australia, while millions of hectares burnt last summer have started recovering thanks to good autumn rain. These are the main conclusions from a mid-year update on the condition of Australia’s environment.
Centre Spotlight: Training Centre for Forest Value
In August we showcase the University of Tasmania’s Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Forest Value and its work in capacity building for the forest industries and wood products through training and applied research.
Site of the Month: Wombat Stringybark Eucalypt SuperSite
This month, we’re in the Wombat State Forest located near Daylesford in Central Victoria, showcasing a decade of research infrastructure-enabled science on forest carbon cycles, soil, vegetation growth dynamics, and their responses to drought and other disturbances.
Centre Spotlight: Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Remediation
This edition we highlight RMIT University’s Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Remediation (EnSuRe) and its research and work with industry to minimise the impact of land, water and air pollution.
Site of the Month: Kopuatai Bog
In this edition of Site of the Month, we’re off to Aotearoa (New Zealand) to learn more about the Kopuatai Bog, its unique biodiversity and storage of 24 million tonnes of carbon—the equivalent of more than five million cars driven for a year. The OzFlux site’s research infrastructure provides critical insights on environmental change and the role that peatland ecosystems play in regulating the global carbon cycle.