Centre for Ecohydrology news

• Visiting Specialist working on salt-tolerant grasses. - Wed, 11 Nov 2009 +0800
  Centre for Ecohydrology staff have been privileged recently to meet with Professor Andre Lauchli who is working with Natasha Teakle and Ed Barrett-Lennard on interactions between salinity and waterlogging, comparing Tall Wheatgrass and Puccinellia.

• Understanding the potential returns from trees - Mon, 09 Nov 2009 +0800
  A new tool to assess the value of carbon held by trees on farms and forests is being launched by the Department of Food and Agriculture, WA. The Farm Forestry Toolbox uses the latest growth modelling software to give predictions on how fast a tree will grow.

• Industry support honoured at UWA Celebration of Annual Giving - Tue, 06 Oct 2009 +0800
  MWH, a global leader in the wet infrastructure sector, recently established the MWH Scholarship in Hydrogeology to encourage students to undertake research and studies in the field of hydrogeology. Inaugural scholarship winner, Kai Kinkella, met MWH representatives from Colorado during their recent visit to Perth. Kai also attended the recent UWA The Celebration of Annual Giving evening, where he met Jed Youngs, the Principal Hydrogeologist and Group Manager for Natural Resources at the Perth branch of MWH.

• Making Links - Korea. - Tue, 06 Oct 2009 +0800
  Centre for Ecohydrology Director, Neil Coles, and Soil Conservationist, David Stanton caught up with colleague Kyunrock Paik in Korea during August. Dr Paik, who was previously with the UWA School of Environmental Systems Engineering and the Centre, moved to Korea University in 2008. Dr Paik is now secretary of the KU's Disaster Prevention Laboratory, housed within their Water Resources Program.

• Science and Innovation Award - Tue, 29 Sep 2009 +0800
  Congratulations to Natasha Teakle, from the Centre for Ecohydrology and School of Plant Biology at UWA, on winning a Science and Innovation Award for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 2009. Natasha was one of 13 industry winners presented with their awards at a formal dinner at Parliament house in Canberra on the 15th September.

• Building Links - China - Tue, 22 Sep 2009 +0800
  Since its beginning two years ago the Centre of Excellence for Ecohydrology has been developing relationships with research groups in other countries. One of the Centre's important relationships is that with researchers in China. A series of visits and exchanges is approaching the point where key research projects are being developed between the Centre, UWA and HoHai University in Nanjing.

• Student Projects for 2010 eligible for funding. - Min, 07 Sep 2009 +0800
  This week Centre for Ecohydrology released details of its projects available for fourth year, honours and postgraduate students. All projects are eligible for funding of up to $1000 from the Centre to cover equipment and field expenses. In addition some projects offer bursaries and summer vacation employment from the Department of Agriculture and Food, WA.

• Agroforestry for Natural Resource Management - Mon, 28 Jun 2009 +0800
  A new book, Agroforestry for natural resource management, includes contributions from the Centre for Ecohydrology's Keith Smettem and Ed Barrett-Lennard.

• Opening of the Centre of Excellence for Ecohydrology - Wed, 24 Jun, 2009 12:00:00 +0800
  The Centre of Excellence for Ecohydrology was officially opened on June 23, 2009, by Mr Bill Marmion MLA representing the Premier, Colin Barnett. The Centre is a significant partnership between the University of Western Australia, the Department of Agriculture and Food and Edith Cowan University, whose research will focus on water and nutrient management in a changing climate and deliver tangible benefits to the State's agricultural and water industries.

• Cold Water, Nutrients and Modelling - Tues, 19 May 2009 13:13:13 +0800
  Nutrients researcher Mark Rivers found himself in deep water recently - assisting with streambed surveys in the River Leith, Cumbria, UK. Mark's dip into the icy waters was part of a two day visit to the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC) and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology at Lancaster University. Before his visit to Lancaster Mark attended the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna where he presented results of the preliminary stages of his research into dynamic model (or models) of environmental nutrient transport processes through catchments over time. Read more about both events at www.ecohydrology.uwa.edu.au

• Students Gain from Industry/Academic partnership - Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:00:00 +0800
  Engineering students at UWA are reaping the benefits of academic/industry partnerships in the form of talks and discussions with industry experts. Final year design students from SESE and Mechanical/Chemical Engineering met engineers and hydrologists with expertise and authority in the real world of floods, roadways, drinking water and water safety. Projects Director of the Centre of Excellence in Ecohydrology*, A/Prof Neil Coles, originally from DAFWA, was able to call on his peers in government bodies to bring their skills to UWA to augment the excellent coursework with the spice of experience.

• Scholarship for Ecohydrology Student - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:20:00 +0800
  Honours student Kai Kinkella has been awarded the MWH Scholarship in Hydrogeology for his project "Evaluation of climate variability on long term trends in groundwater tables in south-western agricultural areas in WA".

• Catchment Detox - Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:00:00 +0800
  Catchment management is no game, but you can have fun playing Catchment Detox, an interactive online game sponsored by ABC Science, CSIRO Land and Water and the eWater CRC. Evaluate your catchment, select activities and deal with environmental problems while managing a budget. Each turn lasts a "game year", and you can manage your catchment for up to 100 years.

• Fire, Flood and Acid Mud - Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:25:00 +0900
  A special edition of Catalyst investigates fire, flood and acid mud in the Murray Darling Basin. From source to mouth, Catalyst discovers just what's going wrong and what science suggests might be done to avert total disaster. Preview the program and watch interviews not being screened on the Catalyst Website.

• Finding Ecohydrology News on the web - Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:50:00 +0900
  Ecohydrology, water resources, water management and environmental management are all in the news every day now. To help you follow the news we've put together a list of online sites covering traditional media outlets, magazines, blogs, blog lists and podcasts that may help you tap in to the discussions, issues, problems and proposals that are shaping the world of water resources.

• Irrigation experiment - Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:00:00 +0900
  See new photos of Analeim Nega's experimental site at Wokalup

• 'Ecohydrology' now ISI-tracked - Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:00:00 +0800
  Good news - the journal Ecohydrology is now ISI tracked. It is unusual for a journal to be tracked so early in its life. That it has achieved this milestone is a tribute to publishers, editors and contributors. Citation tracking in the ISI Web of Science shows how many times an article has been cited by other articles in the database. It also lists the articles which have cited the original article, and provides full-text links when available.

• Ecohydrology/SESE students wins state AWA Undergraduate of the Year - Mon, 01 Dec 2008 +0800
  Congratulations to Ali Barrett-Lennard for winning the State AWA Undergraduate of the Year Award. She gave a great talk and we now have the perpetual trophy back in SESE. She now goes to OzWater in Melbourne in March to represent the State. A great outcome for the Ecohydrology/DAFWA student project initiative. Keep up the good work!

• WQRA PhD Scholarships - Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0800
  Water Quality Research Australia is a national research centre with a program that focuses on collaborative research of national application in the areas of drinking water quality, recycled water and specific areas of wastewater management. Applications are currently invited for four PhD top-up scholarships and an ARC and WQRA PhD Scholarship of up to three and a half years duration. The closing date for applications is 31 October 2008. There is also a small grants scheme with grants up to $5000.00. The closing date is 15 October 2008.

• Journal of Ecohydrology available Online and in Print - Wed, 1 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  With little fanfare the first edition of the journal Ecohydrology was published online in early April 2008. The print edition was issued shortly later and Editor-in-Chief Keith R. J. Smettem, returning from the EGU conference held in Vienna in April, was able to deliver a copy direct to the Centre for Ecohydrology.

• Visualising the Workshop - Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  The Centre for Ecohydrology is very involved in the workshop Ecohydrology/Ecophysiology of Plants in Water-limited Environments which is taking place this week at UWA. To give you a feel for what is happening at the workshop here is a wordle generated from the abstracts of the keynote talks for each session this week.

• Ecohydrology-Ecophysiology Workshop - Mon, 8 Sep 2008 18:37:00 +0800
  The Centre for Ecohydrology and the UWA School of Plant Biology are gearing up for a busy time as they prepare to co-host a workshop titled 'Ecohydrology and Ecophysiology of Plants in Water-Limited Environments'. Running from Monday September 15 to Friday September 19 the workshop features four days of presentations on themes as diverse as "Plant Hydraulics" and "Ecosystem Health and Management". Friday, September 19, will see a change of pace as most workshop participants set out on a field trip to the Peel-Harvey region.

• Research Projects - Thu, 4 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  Are you looking for a research project for your honours or fourth year in 2009? We have something for everyone, but we are definitely not One size fits all ! Take a look at our list of projects for next year. We have projects involving fieldwork (expenses paid), some are more concerned with modelling and calibration and some involve upgrading software and datasets to current conditions.

• DIPCON 2008 - Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  Rebecca Ovens from the Centre for Ecohydrology will be presenting a paper at DIPCON 2008. Running from August 25-29, DIPCON is the annual conference for the International Water Association's Integrated Diffuse Pollution Management group, and Rebecca will be presenting an overview of research on Farm gate nutrient balances in south west Western Australia.

• Climate Vegetation and Water Seminar 2008 - Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  Professor Keith Smettem will be speaking on August 20 at a full day seminar sponsored by the Department of Water, WA. The day will focus on how climate change and vegetation affect water in WA catchments from Mundaring to Collie , and Professor Smettem's segment will be entitled " The influence of climate on recharge at a catchment scale: What changes can we expect to see in plantations across different soil types? "

• Oil Mallee Conference Report - Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  The First National Oil Mallee conference was held in Perth on March 14th 2008, and has been hailed as a great success. The conference was well attended with over 170 people listening and participating in sessions following the key conference themes of Carbon sequestration, Bioenergy and Sustainable Production

• Climate Change Moderates Salinity - Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  Salinity is continuing to extend in Western Australian agricultural areas, but the Department of Agriculture and Food has found it is being moderated by the recent dry period since 2000. Spokesman Richard George said the Department's regional hydrologists recently analysed groundwater trends in more than 1300 bores in about 100 catchments across 19 million hectares.

• Trees, Farms, Salinity - Thu, 3 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  Integrated farm forestry has little impact in delivering salinity benefits, a long-term assessment by the Department of Agriculture and Food in Western Australia has found. This finding was presented to the International Salinity Forum in Adelaide and the Natural Resource Management Conference in Bridgetown this week by department researchers Don Bennett and Richard George.

• National Oil Mallee Conference - Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  The first National Oil Mallee Conference is being held on Friday the 14th of March. Its major themes are * Integrated Mallee Farming Systems * a national initiative towards a new national industry * Carbon sequestration, bio-energy and sustainable production from integrated Mallee agroforestry.

• Awards - Centre of Excellence - Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  There was excitement at the ARWA Centre for Ecohydrology today when the Premier, Alan Carpenter, announced that the Centre will become a State Centre of Excellence in Ecohydrology. The Premier's announcement, at the launch of Brilliant Science WA month, means $1.5 million in additional funding from the State to the Centre. Centre directors Professor Keith Smettem and Dr Neil Coles were pleased that the central importance of ecohydrology to WA and the world, and the high standards of research and practice promoted by the Centre are being recognized in this way.

• Visitors - Postgrads from Hohai University - Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  The Centre for Ecohydrology will be hosting three postgraduate students from Hohai University during February, March and April 2008. The students are from a group of nine from Hohai who will be working with groups in SESE.

• Dam(n) Maintenance - Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0800
  We are now in the season of Bunuru . From now until the start of Makuru it is time for landholders to consider maintenance of their farm dams. The "Ecohydrology in Practice" area on this website contains an updated version of the "FARMWATER KIT" originally produced by DAFWA. Under the general topic of Developing Reliable Farmwater Supplies...

• Windbreaks in the Wheatbelt - Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0800
  Living windbreaks of trees and shrubs may become increasingly important in the State's farming areas if climate change predictions prove accurate. But maximising their value requires careful planning according to the Department of Agriculture and Food. Senior research officer Rob Sudmeyer said windbreaks of planted or remnant trees and shrubs were essentially an extra form of farm insurance and had more value in dry years, and especially dry and windy years. However, he said like any insurance they came at a cost.

• Best Management Practices - Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:15:52 +0800
  Ecohydrology scientist Dr. Nardia Keipert, with colleagues from the Waroona and Albany Offices of the Department of Agriculture, is using experience gained working on the Peel-Harvey Catchment to prepare Water Quality Improvement Plans (WQIPs) for the Swan-Canning Estuary in Perth and the Vasse-Geographe Estuary in Busselton.

• Featured Researcher - Karen Holmes - Sat, 10 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0800
  Dr Karen Holmes brings to the Centre for Ecohydrology her expertise in large area spatial analysis of soil and landscape. Her Ph.D. in Earth Systems Science at the University of California Santa Barbara involved visiting the Amazon in Brazil where she was modelling large area soil bio-geochemisty. This research was funded by a NASA Earth System Science Fellowship.