Farm dams in Australia have recorded some of the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per m2 among freshwater environments (Ollivier et al. 2018). Farm dam emissions represent a notable portion of overall agriculture emissions in Australia and are further exacerbated by fertiliser and manure run-off which increase nutrient loads, creating ideal conditions to produce greenhouseRead more
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The Blue Carbon Lab is excited to announce a new 200+ ha restoration project that will demonstrate the potential of fencing to exclude livestock from marginal farmland as a scalable, replicable, and low-cost strategy to restore blue carbon ecosystems. The project aims to remove key threats to tidal marsh and supratidal swamp forests, increase biodiversityRead more
Mangrove forests play a key role in climate change mitigation and adaptation, globally recognised as ‘Natural Climate Solutions’ (NCS). However, they, along with other blue carbon ecosystems, have experienced worldwide decline due to pressures from human activity such as land-use change, pollution, and overexploitation. For these coastal ecosystems to meaningfully mitigate impacts of climate changeRead more
Coastal wetland ecosystems, including saltmarsh, mangrove forests and seagrass meadows, play a crucial role in adapting and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Coastal wetlands store large amounts of carbon, also known as blue carbon, in their soils and vegetation- making them important carbon sinks. The protection and restoration of these ecosystems can help reduceRead more
More than 30 scientists from Seychelles participated in a blue carbon technical workshop aimed at demonstrating state-of-the-art sampling techniques to quantify and monitor blue carbon stocks. Blue carbon is the carbon stored in marine ecosystems such as mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and saltmarshes. These ecosystems are one of the world’s most efficient natural carbon sinks,Read more
Farm dam fieldwork 🐮🤠 Only a few days before the onset of Melbourne lockdown, two intrepid BCL members, Noyan and Pawel, completed a remarkable fieldwork campaign to measure farm dam emissions across the South-East of Australia. After visiting 64 farm dams and collecting 268,012 observations, we now have a massive dataset to analyse methane andRead more
It is with great sadness the unexpected passing of David Rhodes (November 19, 1958 – December 5, 2020). Dave was the director and senior archaeologist at Heritage Insight Pty Ltd, which he founded in 2000 and is one of the longest-running cultural heritage management companies in Victoria. Dave was responsible for all aspects of theRead more
Back in October 2020, Chase Aghan – Project Officer (Forest, Fire and Parks) for Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation and Dr Brad Farmilo – Senior Scientist & Plant ecologist, Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (DELWP) presented at the State-Wide Integrated Flora and Fauna Teams (SWIFFT) seminars series on native grasslands. They used the workRead more
Where has seagrass in Western Port been lost, and which of these areas are most suitable for attempting seagrass restoration? What are the most appropriate methodologies for restoration? These are the main questions we’ve been trying to answer over the past two years. Seagrass mapping in Western Port A team of scientists from Deakin’s EcoGenetics, Read more
What is the current status of reef health in Port Phillip Bay? How many sea urchins are there? Are sea urchins a problem in all parts of Port Phillip or just some? These are the questions we set out to answer by conducting a survey of reefs across Port Phillip Bay. Completing this Bay-wide surveyRead more
