Available post-graduate projects
Post-graduate students (Honours, Masters, PhD) are invited to submit project ideas for study as part of the research in the Mulloon Rehydration Initiative across a range of areas:
Productivity – farm and natural capital, including soil health
Hydrological – surface & sub-surface water balance & quality
Ecological Function – diversity & abundance
Social Capital – people, adapting to change and adopting new methods.
French intern François Villain from the Institut supérieur d'agriculture de Lille assessing soil samples.
Alluvial channel
There are a range of projects related to surface water quantity and quality at various scales: catchment, property, river reach.
Surface water quantity (level and or storage), quality, flow rates, discharge using data from automated stream gauges and manual measurements
Rapid stream assessment (manual) – previous data and reports
Aquatic macro-invertebrates Honours project– two surveys completed by Dr Paul Cooper (Australian National University)
Fish surveys – conducted by Dr Dan Starrs University of Canberra.
Dr Dan Starrs (University of Canberra) conducting electro backpack fishing during a baseline fish survey of Mulloon Creek, 2016.
Riparian corridor
All these projects already have data available ready to build on to address research related to riparian corridor including aquatic zone as habit for indicator species.
Rapid Appraisal of Riparian Condition (RARC) – baseline report completed
Bird surveys – data collected by Damon Oliver (NSW Government Office of Environment & Heritage), further surveys, data analysis and reporting
Fish surveys – conducted by Dr Dan Starrs University of Canberra.
Photo by landholder Antony Mulhall, 2017.
Floodplain
There are numerous projects that can be scaled to property and/or catchment and focus on one or all zones: Alluvial channel, Riparian corridor, Alluvial Plain.
Groundwater sensors
Analyse levels and storage, quality, connectivity with stream, multiple aquifers (shallow and deep)
Soil moisture sensors
Analyse for plant available water, volumetric water content, capacity, drainage upper limit
Require calibration with soil physical parameters eg bulk density
Salinity in soil and deeper regolith
Modelling water balance APSIM SoilWAT
Extensive climate station data in combination with water monitoring data
Extent and duration of flood events
Productivity of different management systems
Biomass sampling (manual and or plate meter)
Calibration of satellite data (Cibo Labs) and generate spatial analysis from point source.
Installing soil moisture sensors across the Mulloon floodplain.
Landscape Function Analysis (LFA)
Established sites across catchment in floodplains and across the catena sequence
Brushpack assessment from previous ANU Fenner School of Environment & Society students
Analyse spatial and temporal effect with satellite data.
Soils analysis
Chemical parameters – i.e. soil organic matter, salinity (initial study conducted)
Physical attributes – i.e. bulk density, composition
Biological attributes – i.e. soil biota, fungi
Infiltrometer at various sites including LFA or other landscape interventions iecontours, brushpacks
Further analysis of previous ANU Fenner School soils mapping project 2015.
Students from the Australian National University conducting LFA.
Satellite analysis - Cibo Labs
Satellite imagery provides a great range of applications in combination with other datasets.
Spatial and temporal analysis of
Pasture cover
Pasture greenness and growing period (i.e. has it been extended?)
Woody cover change
Assessment of satellite derived outputs indicating biomass and food on offer (FOO)
Link with RARC or LFA datasets.
Contact
For more information, please contact Research Coordinator Luke Peel via luke@themullooninstitute.org or speak to your university supervisor.
The Mulloon Rehydration Initiative is jointly funded through the Mulloon Institute and the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. The initiative is also assisted by the NSW Government through its Environmental Trust.