TERN infrastructure, open data and research services are being used by some of Australia’s most successful scientists, spread across many universities and institutions. Three Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence—Australia’s most prestigious foci of research expertise—rely on TERN to deliver world-leading climate science and vegetation biology; and make the most appropriate environmental decisions.
TERN is the national observatory for Australian ecosystems, delivering data streams that enable environmental research and management. Our infrastructure and data products are being used by some of Australia’s most successful scientists, spread across many universities and institutions.
How do we know? More than $8.5 million worth of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery projects funded over the past four years rely on components of the collaborative research infrastructure delivered through TERN. Moreover, we can now report that three prestigious ARC Centres of Excellence (ARC CoE) currently rely on TERN’s infrastructure and open data.
The ARC CoE for Climate System Science; the ARC CoE for Plant Energy Biology; and the ARC CoE for Environmental Decisions all rely on TERN to deliver world-leading climate science and advanced vegetation biology; and make the most appropriate environmental decisions.
National ecosystem data for advanced climate science
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science uses TERN’s data on the exchanges of gas and water between the atmosphere and ecosystems collected by our national network of flux monitoring towers. TERN’s flux data, together with modelled climate data from TERN’s ecosystem modelling infrastructure, is used by the CoE in the development and applications of land-surface climate models and in research that is improving our understanding of ecosystem function and biogeochemical cycles.
Thanks to the incorporation of real measurements of ecosystem processes, which have been made available through TERN, CoE for Climate System Science researchers have improved Australia’s Community Atmosphere-Biosphere-Land Exchange model (CABLE), and Australian Community Climate Earth Systems Simulator (ACCESS) used in climate prediction. In one such CoE for Climate System Science project, OzFlux data was vital in the testing of a new component of CABLE, which was subsequently successfully incorporated into ACCESS and used to estimate the intensity of future heat waves and demonstrate their potential impacts.
NCRIS impact statistics at a glance: TERN supports CoE for Climate System Science
- 10 CoE for Climate System Science researchers currently use or have used TERN data.
- 15 peer-reviewed journal articles directly using TERN data have been published by the CoE for Climate System Science and a large volume of additional journal papers have been published using models improved via TERN data.
Data collected by TERN’s national network of flux monitoring towers, including at Tumbarumba in southern New South Wales (above) are used by the CoE for Climate System Science in the development and applications of land-surface climate models and in research that is improving our understanding of ecosystem function and biogeochemical cycles
Advanced ecosystem observatories support advanced vegetation biology
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Energy Biology uses TERN research infrastructure, data and collaborative networks to conduct research into plant energy efficiency—a measure of the synthesis, transport, storage and use of plant molecules that determines the final yield of plant products. Researchers from the CoE for Plant Energy Biology regularly visit TERN’s environmental monitoring ‘SuperSites’ to undertake field experiments. This field data is often used in association with climate and energy and water flux data collected by co-located TERN flux monitoring infrastructure. For example, in just one TERN supported project by the CoE for Plant Energy Biology, data collected by CoE researchers at TERN’s monitoring sites were used with TERN delivered climate data to assess the global variability of leaf respiration in relation to climate and plant types and traits.
There is considerable evidence that our infrastructure has been instrumental in establishing and maintaining successful collaborative networks between CoE for Plant Energy Biology researchers and the broader ecosystem science community. The establishment of the Australian Phenocam Network is one example and was created thanks to collaborations between TERN and CoE for Plant Energy Biology and an ARC Linkage Project grant. TERN currently works with the CoE for Plant Energy Biology and fellow NCRIS project the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility (APPF), to maintain the infrastructure that delivers real-time, open access imagery and plant phenology data. A 2014 TERN led workshop on vegetation modelling, biodiversity and ecosystem function that brought together Australia’s leading plant scientists, including from the CoE for Plant Energy Biology, is another example of the impact TERN’s collaborative networks deliver.
NCRIS impact statistics at a glance: TERN supports CoE for Plant Energy Biology
- 7 Centre of Excellence for Plant Energy Biology researchers currently use or have used TERN data.
- 4 peer-reviewed journal articles directly using TERN data have been published by Centre of Excellence for Plant Energy Biology researchers, with a number of addition journal papers currently in preparation or review.
TERN’s national vegetation surveillance infrastructure, inclduing the above ‘phenocams’ installed at TERN’s FNQ Rainforest SuperSite, and data it delivers are helping CoE for Plant Energy Biology researchers monitor vegetation and better understand how climate change will affect ecosystems around the world
Long-term monitoring sites support environmental decision making
TERN supports multiple themes of research with the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, including: environmental policy and management evaluation; optimal monitoring; and ecological theory. Researchers at the CoE for Environmental Decisions use TERN’s network of long-term ecological monitoring sites and the data it collects and makes publically available.
NCRIS impact statistics at a glance: TERN supports CoE for Environmental Decisions
- 2 Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions researchers currently use or have used TERN research infrastructure and/or data.
CoE for Environmental Decisions researchers, together with Australian National University (ANU) ecologists, have used TERN’s long-term ecological research sites at Nanangroe in New South Wales (above) to better integrate the environment and farming to deliver increased productivity, improved conservation outcomes and more resilient farming communities (photo courtesy of Chris MacGregor)
33 out of the 34 ARC CoE rely on NCRIS infrastrcuture
It’s not just TERN infrastructure that’s supporting Australia’s most successful scientists. 33 out of the 34 Australian Research Council (ARC) Centres of Excellence (CoE) funded between 2011 and 2017 rely on components of the collaborative research infrastructure delivered through NCRIS.
ARC CoE rely on NCRIS infrastructure, such as telescopes, synchrotrons, ocean observing networks, and e-research systems, to undertake innovative and transformational research that advances Australia’s capabilities and knowledge.
Support of almost 100% of these prestigious foci of expertise is evidence that NCRIS infrastructure is critical for delivering outstanding research and maintaining and developing Australia’s international standing in research areas of national priority.
- This is the first in a series of articles compiled by Australia’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure (NCRIS) projects to highlight how NCRIS infrastructure is being used to deliver meaningful, useful, real world impact. Keep an eye out in future TERN eNewsletters for more NCRIS impact stories and in the meantime, find out more on Twitter via #NCRISimpact.
Published in TERN newsletter October 2017
