Ecosystem Assessment, Restoration and Resilience

Current projects

Currently updating list of projects. Please check back later. 

Past projects

Detection of weed species using high-resolution drone imagery and object based image analysis

Ecosystem altering weeds are considered to be one of the major threats to the long-term success of post-mine rehabilitation. Therefore, many mine sites closely monitor the presence, abundance, distribution, and spread of declared weed species in their rehabilitated areas. Monitoring for weeds is traditionally carried out through ground-based field work and visual assessments. 

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Rehabilitation of mines in the Alligator Rivers Region

In collaboration with the Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist (ERISS, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment) we are developing and refining approaches to monitor the rehabilitation of current and legacy mines in the Alligator Rivers Region (ARR), in the Top End of the Northern Territory.  

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Wildlife Dispersal Modelling for Road Mitigation Purposes (Kenya)

Identification of wildlife crossing locations to mitigate the effects of a proposed expressway.

The Kenya project work assesses the environmental impacts of anthropogenic activities and disturbance on ecosystems, particularly in the context of new infrastructure rather than mining.

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Elucidating the cellular distribution and pathways of nickel accumulation in tropical hyperaccumulator plant species

Hyperaccumulators are unusual plants that accumulate particular metals or metalloids in their living tissues to levels that may be orders of magnitude greater than is normal for most plants growing on similar soils. Discovering hyperaccumulators and understanding their agronomy could lead to identifying potential species to be utilized in novel phytotechnologies such as phytomining for phytoextraction of valuable metals.

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Testing the Resilience of Mine Site Rehabilitation

How do engineered landscapes respond to fire? This project aims to test established rehabilitation by applying fire and measuring the vegetation and landform response in the 2 years following the burn.

The project is using high spatial and temporal spectral imagery captured by drone along with ground surveys to assess fire severity and recovery, and determine the long-term impacts on lease relinquishment for a number of sites in Queensland and New South Wales. Fires have been conducted at Curragh Mine, Glencore Newlands Mine (night burn photos) and Ensham Mine.

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Monitoring mines and their rehabilitation success

Land monitoring is required throughout the life of a mine. It is required to understand straight-forward aspects such as the impact area of a mine or the state of its infrastructure, as well as for complex aspects such as understanding the landform and its stability (e.g. erosion) or aspects relating to its post-mine rehabilitation. 

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Mapping biodiversity corridors and mine rehabilitation opportunities

Currently, some of the major threats to biodiversity are habitat loss/change and fragmentation. These processes have a synergistic effect that results in progressively smaller patches of native ecosystems, divided by anthropogenic features and/or activities (e.g. agriculture, urbanisation, patches of land divided by the road or railroad networks, etc.).

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