climate change

Program 9 will have four projects designed to develop new tools for reef managers. One project will develop methodology to allow managers to evaluate alternative management scenarios and choose between options. It will focus on tools to assist in the management of the inshore region for biodiversity outcomes, particularly inshore multi-species fisheries management, using a stakeholder driven approach.

Program 3 will have four projects focused on biodiversity drivers of Queensland’s Wet Tropics rainforests, particularly rainforest refugia and hot spots of genetic diversity in the World Heritage Area and adjacent Cape York regions. The Program will deliver species distribution models and composite biodiversity maps using long term data sets to describe patterns of environmental change. The Program will also search for remnant populations of critically endangered frogs and monitor the abundance of key vertebrate species such as the cassowary and the spectacled flying fox.

Program 7 will have three projects addressing different threats to rainforest health. A generalised analytical toolkit will be developed for assessing vulnerability to extreme climatic events, particularly the sensitivity of Wet Tropics fauna to temperature extremes. The role of fire as a driver of rainforest distribution (particularly on the threatened ecosystem of the Mabi forest) will be determined.