About

My research broadly focuses on catchment water quality in northern Australia, particularly the role of anthropogenic stressors in aquatic communities. One key area of interest is in identification of progressive agricultural practices that offer improvements from a natural resource management perspective to industry, while also ensuring the long-term social and economic viability of farming enterprises. I am also interested in better quantifying the temporal and spatial extent of water quality contamination in coastal freshwater and estuarine wetlands, particularly with regard to chronic, sub-lethal exposure to pollutants.

Other areas of research interest broadly include fish ecology, particularly size-related trophic ecology and the evolutionary processes influencing the present-day Australasian fish fauna. This includes the biogeographic, phylogenetic and paleoecological drivers that have shaped the unique contemporary fish assemblage structure evident in Australian freshwaters. Other research interests include landscape ecology in relation to wetland connectivity, and the identification of primary production sources for aquatic communities and relationships to flow regime (i.e. dietary and isotopic ecology).

 

Research Disciplines
Socio-Economic Objectives
Honours
Awards
  • 2013 - Dean's List for Higher Research Degree Excellence
Fellowships
  • 2014 - Queensland Smithsonian Fellowship
Publications

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles
Conference Papers
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ResearchOnline@JCU stores 66+ research outputs authored by Aaron Davis from 2007 onwards.

Current Funding

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Great Barrier Reef Foundation - Contract Research

Review of water quality monitoring and evaluation for DIN-focused projects.

Indicative Funding
$540,000 over 2 years
Summary
Our team will coordinate and provide technical support across all the Reef Trust Partnership (RTP) dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and pesticide projects that involve water quality (WQ) monitoring managed by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. The purpose of the work is to ensure that the overall approach - including project design, equipment selection, sampling methods and analysis - is fit-for purpose and (to the extent appropriate) consistent across projects and programs. We will also ensure that project findings are communicated effectively and consistently.
Investigators
Stephen Lewis, Cassandra James, Zoe Bradey, Michelle McShane and Aaron Davis (TropWater)
Keywords
Dissolved inorganic nitrogen; Pesticides; Monitoring; Communication; Water Quality

Herbert Cane Productivity Services Ltd (HCPSL) - Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Project CaNE

Indicative Funding
$2,391,954 over 3 years
Summary
The CaNE? project will work with farmers to drive productive, financially, and environmentally sustainable farming systems. The project will address the issue of DIN being exported from the farm into freshwater and marine ecosystems within the Catchment area, while maintaining cane productivity. TropWATER is to provide local water quality monitoring support to local agronomic extension providers to facilitate farming practice change to produce water quality benefits in the lower Herbert River canegrowing region. The water quality monitoring program will involve scientific engagement, communication and education surrounding local water quality processes associated with agriculture.
Investigators
Aaron Davis in collaboration with Damien Burrows (TropWater)
Keywords
Great Barrier Reef; Agriculture; Water Quality; Nitrate; Stakeholder; Sugarcane

Department of the Environment and Energy - National Environmental Science Program (NESP) - Tropical Water Quality Hub (TWQ Hub)

NESP Tropical Water Quality Research Plan 7

Indicative Funding
$189,600
Summary
The National Environmental Science Program Tropical Water Quality Hub, funded by the federal government, has funded a wide variety of research projects during its operations from 2015-2021. As this programme draws to a close, there is a need to repatriate the knowledge and learnings from these research projects to relevant stakeholders and end-users. This project will undertake a series of meetings and workshops with end-users to enable the outcomes of research to be adopted. This engagement process will include analysis and synthesis of data collected to date.
Investigators
Damien Burrows, Aaron Davis, Katie Chartrand and Nathan Waltham (TropWater)
Keywords
Water Quality; Great Barrier Reef; Cane Farming; Citizen Science; Wetlands

Department of the Environment and Energy - National Environmental Science Program (NESP) - Tropical Water Quality Hub (TWQ Hub)

NESP 7.1 - Continuity Proposal for `Project 25? ? Farmers, Water Quality and On-Farm Decision-Making

Indicative Funding
$50,000 (administered by Reef and Rainforest Research Centre)
Summary
Landholder concerns surrounding the credibility of broad-scale water quality monitoring and modelling initiatives in the GBR catchment area has emerged as one of the major cane industry engagement challenges for promoting significant farming practice change, and delivering water quality improvements. Based around small, sub-catchment scale water quality monitoring in a key cane growing region of the GBR catchment, Project 25 successfully utilised a bottom-up approach to integrated sub-catchment monitoring and intervention to identify `hot spot? sub-catchments through localised water quality monitoring. In a collaborative programs between scientists from a range of organisations (JCU, CSIRO) and cane farming stakeholders, the Project emphasised industry ownership and control of monitoring design, and delivery of locally targeted water quality data and extension effort to provide confidence in on-farm decision making and facilitate practice change.
Investigators
Aaron Davis (TropWater)
Keywords
Continuity Proposal; water quality; land management; Natural resource management

Sugar Research Australia - Research Grant

Keeping our chemicals in their place - in the field

Indicative Funding
$55,602 over 4 years (administered by Sugar Research Australia)
Summary
The study assesses on-farm management practices in relation to minimising off-farm losses of pesticides in the Australian sugar industry. The study will involve a series of integrated short-term and long-term paddock-scale studies of pesticide movement in runoff to identify best management practices for pesticide management.
Investigators
Aaron Davis (TropWater)
Keywords
Great Barrier Reef; Water Quality; Sugarcane; Pesticides

Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment - National Environment Science Program (NESP) - Total Water Quality (TWQ)

Influencing agriculture practice behaviour change and trust frameworks.

Indicative Funding
$13,500 over 1 year (administered by Reef & Rainforest Research Centre)
Summary
The ecologically-determined water quality improvement targets for the Great Barrier Reef can only be met with significant improvement in farm management practices. Numerous programs over many years, utilising a variety of approaches, have worked with land managers and representative farmer groups, seeking to achieve high levels of uptake of recommended farming practices. However, these have only met with low-moderate success. There has been significant work encouraging and facilitating behaviour and practice change in recent years, including through, but certainly not limited to, the NESP TWQ Hub. Programs encouraging behaviour and practice change are set to remain a feature of contemporary reef funding programs. Thus it is timely to coordinate a synthesis of learnings in this domain. Increasing understanding of, and improving trust frameworks and behaviour change of land managers will lead to improved water quality to the Great Barrier Reef. Understanding the impetus, benefits and barriers of behaviour change for agricultural practice is a large step in improving water quality to the Great Barrier Reef.
Investigators
Suzanne Long, Rachel Hay, Aaron Davis, Allan Dale, Norman Duke, Bruce Taylor, Marie Vitelli and Julie Carmody in collaboration with Damien Burrows, Peter Thorburn and Jim Smart (Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, College of Business, Law & Governance, TropWater, Cairns Institute, Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation, College of Science & Engineering and Griffith University)
Keywords
Farming; Agriculture; Behaviour Change; Best practice; Culture

Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment - National Environment Science Program (NESP) - Total Water Quality (TWQ)

Reducing nitrogen runoff without reducing industry productivity

Indicative Funding
$14,805 over 1 year (administered by Reef & Rainforest Research Centre)
Summary
Many NESP TWQ Hub projects have contributed to an improved understanding of nitrogen (N) management in sugarcane farming leading to reduced dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) losses via improved management advice and practical solutions. The synthesis project will bring together a range of approaches that are addressing mechanisms for reducing N-losses, with a particular focus on real-time water quality monitoring, detection of N- loss hot-spots, on-farm N management, reef credit trading and other economic levers that incentivise improved farm management practices.
Investigators
Johanna Johnson, Aaron Davis, Yvette Everingham, Jane Waterhouse, Jim Smart, Mike Bell, John Rolfe, Peter Thorburn, Tony Webster and Michael Warne in collaboration with Weijin Wang, Chris Johnson, Phil Moody and Sheridan Morris (Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, TropWater, College of Science & Engineering, Griffith University, The University of Queensland, Central Queensland University, Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation and QLD Department of Environment and Science)
Keywords
Nitrogen; Runoff; Catchment; sugarcane farming; credits

Department of the Environment and Energy - National Environmental Science Program (NESP) - Tropical Water Quality Hub (TWQ Hub)

'Project 25' - farmers, water quality and on-farm decision-making

Indicative Funding
$400,000 over 3 years
Summary
Landholder concerns surrounding the credibility of broad-scale water quality monitoring and modelling initiatives in the GBR catchment area are one of the key cane industry engagement challenges for promoting significant farming practice change, and water quality improvements. Based around small, sub-catchment water quality monitoring in a key GBR cane growing region, Project 25 utilises a bottom-up approach to integrated sub-catchment monitoring and intervention to identify 'hot spot' sub-catchments through localised water quality monitoring. The Project emphasises industry ownership and control of monitoring design, and delivery of locally targeted water quality data and extension effort to facilitate practice change.
Investigators
Aaron Davis in collaboration with Bruce Taylor, Tony Webster and Simon Fielke (TropWater and Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation)
Keywords
Farming; Great Barrier Reef; Stakeholder; sugarcane; Monitoring; Nutrient
Data

These are the most recent metadata records associated with this researcher. To see a detailed description of all dataset records, visit Research Data Australia.

Collaboration

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.

  • 5+ collaborations
  • 4 collaborations
  • 3 collaborations
  • 2 collaborations
  • 1 collaboration
  • Indicates the Tropics (Torrid Zone)

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