Stories
Science, Research, Climate Change and Agriculture: Stories From The Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment
Divider
Divider
1 November 2016
On November 1st 2016, the annual Australian Research Council grants were announced with four new Discovery projects to be led by the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment.
13 October 2016 - By Dr Chris Turbill
You may have seen the news that the human lifespan cannot be extended beyond about 115 years, as shown by a demographic analysis confirming that the steady improvements in lifespan seen for many populations over recent decades has stalled since the 1990s. The researchers' conclusion that "the maximum lifespan of humans is fixed and subject to natural constraints" is sobering reading for those who dream that human ageing can one day be successfully hacked.
14 October 2016
An international study has found the economic value of biodiversity in forest productivity is worth roughly US$330 billion per annum, highlighting the importance of protecting the world's remaining species rich ecosystems. Published in Science, the Positive Biodiversity–Productivity Relationship Predominant in Global Forests study is the work of over 80 scientists from 44 countries.
30 September 2016
Dr Jonathan Plett from Western Sydney University's Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment has been awarded a 2016 NSW Young Tall Poppy Science Award for his research and engagement on the relationships between plants and the fungi in soils.
22 September 2016
The female Superb Lyrebird of Australia is finally getting her day in the sun. The male is justly famous for his amazing ability to mimic sounds. But for the first time, scientists have conducted a systematic study of the sounds that female Superb Lyrebirds make. They find that she, too, is a skilled vocalist that can imitate the voices of at least 19 other bird species.
12 September 2016
A study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, has found that across much of inland Australia plants are near a tipping point in their ability to cope with rising high-temperature extremes. This suggests that future heat-waves could have devastating effects on Australia's flora.
3 August 2016
Using the world's only Whole Tree Chambers, scientists at Western Sydney University's Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment examined the response of wholly-enclosed trees to see how closely the responses of native Australian trees matched the global prediction models in research published by New Phytologist...
21 July 2016: Australian and Indian researchers are pooling efforts – and funding – to safeguard fruit and vegetable crops, and insect pollinators, in the face of challenges such as honey bee habitat loss and disease.
7 July 2016
A future where landscapers, local councils and developers can quickly determine the best long-term plant species to establish, in the face of climate change and other challenges, is not too far away. Today, two of the nation's leading universities, the NSW Government and Horticulture Innovation Australia announced a $10 million dollar research consortium that is working to make this a reality...
The conflict between urbanites and wildlife recently developed a new battleground: the small coastal New South Wales town of Batemans Bay, where the exceptional flowering of spotted gums has attracted a huge influx of grey-headed flying-foxes from across Australia's southeast. In response to intense and highly publicised community concern, federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has announced he will seek an immediate National Interest Exemption to facilitate dispersal of these bats – a move that risks undermining legal protections afforded to this and other threatened species...
