Project description
Intertidal ecosystems such as saltmarsh support marine and terrestrial biodiversity and are valued for the many benefits they provide people. Yet these ecosystems have reduced in area by over 50% due to human impacts, while sea level rise is expected to result in further losses into the future. This led the Australian Government to list saltmarshes as a Threatened Ecological Community and accelerate their restoration. However, there is much to learn about the physical and ecological conditions that support saltmarsh and promote biodiversity, as well as what can be done to successfully restore them. Your honours project can certainly help with this. Projects can include;- Investigating the germination requirements of saltmarsh plants in experimental and natural settings.
- Developing planting methods to enhance restoration and ecosystem functions.
- Testing physiological stress-markers of plants subjected to climate extremes.
- Studying ‘terrestrial’ invertebrates within intertidal ecosystems, including wood borers, ants, and insect communities more generally.
Note: You need to register interest in projects from different supervisors (not a number of projects with the one supervisor).
You must also contact each supervisor directly to discuss both the project details and your suitability to undertake the project.