GES staff profile - Prof. Jason Beringer
POSITION: Professor
Research | Teaching | Publications | Grants | Climate Group
BSc.(Hons.) 1992 Monash University
PhD 1999 Monash University
Graduate Certificate in Higher Education 2004 Monash University
Background
Ecosystems provide us with essential services such as carbon sequestration, water, clean air and biodiversity, valued at US$33 trillion p.a. globally. My contribution has been in understanding how ecosystems (and the services they provide) respond to climate change and disturbance to provide a fundamental basis for their future management. I have developed and led the Land-Ecosystem-Atmosphere Processes and Interactions (LEAPI) group which is a skilled multidisciplinary research team undertaking a research program to determine how the Australian terrestrial biosphere will respond to climate and land use change. The focus is on the major ecosystem cycles (water, carbon, and nitrogen), biotic composition and ecological community structure for understanding changes in the provision of ecosystem services and the impacts of people and a changing climate. I have provided an important foundation and tools for addressing policy-relevant questions posed by the potential future impacts of change and provide options for sustainable landscape management.
Research Interests
My program bridges across three themes and these are applied to different key ecosystems (savanna, urban, woodlands, tall forests and agriculture):
1. Terrestrial ecosystem-atmosphere research: Provide reliable estimates of greenhouse gas cycling (CO2, CH4, N20) and water budgets over important Australian ecosystems using intensive biogeochemical observatories (Flux Towers) that measure fluxes of water, CO2 and energy.
2. Integration and scaling: Reduce the uncertainty of estimates and scale up to regions.
3. Modelling and synthesis: Predict the responses of Australian ecosystems and their biophysical and biogeochemical cycles, to changing environmental conditions and land use change.
Key discipline areas : Primary areas of interest include micrometeorology, boundary layer climatology, land/atmosphere interactions, land surface modelling, remote sensing and global change (earth systems science).
Micrometeorology: Fundamental understanding of the interactions between the surface and atmosphere can only come about through rigorous measurement and modelling programs. I use various micrometeorological techniques to measure exchanges of heat, water and carbon dioxide from the surface. Future research may include measurements of CO2 isotope and isoprene fluxes. I am establishing a long-term energy and CO2 flux-monitoring site in the old growth Mountain Ash forest in Kinglake to investigate long-term carbon and water budgets in natural ecosystems.
Climate change: An over arching interest in global change and earth system interactions. Primary the links between the biosphere and climate change. Both physical and biogeochemical changes in the landscape will feedback to affect the carbon cycle and greenhouse gas emissions. Through micrometeorological techniques we can measure the sources and sinks of carbon in systems.
Land-atmosphere interactions: The land surface is vital in driving climate on multiple scales. Changes in vegetation type, soil parameters, and land/water interfaces are likely to feedback to alter climate. Current research includes investigating the interactions between fire, vegetation and climate. I also utilise land surface models and remote sensing in teaching and research.
See Research page for details on projects
Past Teaching Responsibilities
First Year
ATS1301 (previously coded GES1020 / ENV1022): “Australian physical environments: evolution, status and management”
Second Year
ATS2776 (previously coded GES2190) / ATM2211: “Climatology: Surface-atmosphere processes and interactions”
ATS2779 (previously coded GES2860) / ATM2250: “Climate Change and Variability”
Third Year
ATS3558 (previously coded GES3890/GES4890) / ATM3261: “Global Change and the Earth Systems”
Prizes and Awards
• 2012-2016 ARC Future Fellow
• 2006 Faculty of Arts Inaugural Early Career Researcher Award
• 2005 Monash University Research award (Time release fellowship for 12 months) $50,000
• 2004 Nomination for the Australian awards for University Teaching
• 2003 Monash University awards for teaching excellence (Special commendation)
• 2003 Faculty Teaching Award (Arts)
• 2002 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for critical thinking - shortlisted
• 2001 Great Australia Science Show - Fresh Science - national selection to present at Melbourne
Professional Associations
• International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP): Integrated Land-Ecosystem-Atmosphere Process study (ILEAPS) member
• EUFIRELAB, a wall-less Laboratory for Wildland Fire Sciences and Technologies in the Euro-Mediterranean Region (International Science Committee), 2005-
• Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
• American Meteorological Society
• American Geophysical Union
• Institute of Australian Geographers
• International Association for Urban Climate
See Publications page for full listing of refereed publications
See Grants page for details on funded projects
See People page for current staff, as well as past and present students
Email: jason.beringer@monash.edu