Australia’s science and research priorities: conversation starter

CLIMATE CHANGE must be at/near the top of the list of our greatest challenges. I think we have fantastic models for predicting future climate change, but there are several areas for more work:

* ECOSYSTEM RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE: We have excellent species distribution models, but we have remarkably little empirical data about how Australian species/ecosystems have responded to climate change so far. There are many pressing questions (e.g. do Australian ecosystems respond in a similar way to those in Europe/North America; which types of species/ecosystems are most likely to become extinct; what aspects of climate change (higher maxima, higher means, variation?) are most important in impacting ecosystems and people; how should we deal with species migrating to new ranges where they didn't historically occur; and will ecosystem change be gradual, or will we see sudden state shifts - e.g. rainforests that are burnt too frequently becoming shrublands?) Also, our current conservation goals (which generally aim to hold ecosystems in/return them to a pre-European state) are akin to trying to hold back an incoming tide. We urgently need to understand how much ecosystems are likely to change, and reshape our management strategies to minimise biodiversity loss.

*TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS TO REDUCE EMISSIONS. This isn't my area, but there is clearly a LOT to be done here. Transition to renewables, power storage etc.

* MINIMISING THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON HUMAN WELLBEING. This is not my area either but given the high death toll and substantial impacts on human health and wellbeing associated with the increasing heatwaves, fires and floods associated with climate change, this is clearly a very important topic. Urban greening and urban design to reduce impacts of heatwaves, improving air quality through reduced use of gas in houses and petrol/diesel in vehicles, and safeguarding our food supply in the face of climate change are all major priorities.

We have amazing scientists, but there is a mammoth amount of work to be done. I would love to see a substantial increase in support for the keen early career researchers who desperately want to build careers and make the world a better place.