Current Research Themes

Methane drivers in aquatic systems – tracing methane-cycling biogeochemical pathways from rivers and lakes to wetlands, reservoirs, and wastewater plants.

Salinity as an ecological filter – mapping microbial succession across broad hypersaline gradients.

Nutrient fluxes & microbial function – using, traditional, passive sampling, and eDNA approaches to quantify nutrient–microbe coupling in aquatic systems.

Microbial early-warning indicators – Developing eDNA/eRNA tools for ecosystem-health assessments.

Opportunities for student research projects

1. Salinity & GHGs – quantifying greenhouse gas dynamics under climate-induced salinity changes.
2. Salinity & Microbiomes – using data science and bioinformatic approaches to analyse salinity induced microbiome shifts.
3. GHG sensor development – development and engineering of cost-effective DIY sensor applications for use in extreme Australian environments.

These projects suit students interested in microbial ecology, environmental chemistry or data science/bioinformatics. Lab, fieldwork, and R/python/bash support are provided.

Email christopher.keneally@adelaide.edu.au with a statement of research interests.
Informal enquiries welcome.

Recent Research Highlights

'Salty soup': climate threat to vital lagoon ecosystems – The Canberra Times, 1 June 2025.

Salt on the rise: What lagoon microbes reveal about the future of coastal ecosystems – Environment Institute, May 2025.

 ↳ Our 2025 Earth-Science Reviews paper showed the impacts of human activity and climate change are coalescing to make coastal lagoons saltier, changing the microbial life they support and the function they play in their ecosystems. Coastal lagoons, and the microbes within, are some of the planet’s most sensitive indicators of change. These ecosystems offer important opportunities for protecting biodiversity, supporting livelihoods, and securing climate co-benefits.

When a 1-in-100-year flood washed through the Coorong, it made the vital microbiome of this lagoon healthier – The Conversation, 27 Mar 2025.  
 ↳ Our 2025 Water Research study showed the 2022 Murray-Darling flood pulse cut methane production potential, boosted nutrient-removing taxa, and triggered whole-of-food-web rebounds in the internationally important and severely degraded Coorong wetland. The Conversation piece distils these findings for a general audience and underscores why well-timed environmental flows are critical for wetland restoration.

Organic matter fuels methane hotspots in hypersaline lagoons – Limnology & Oceanography, Sept 2024.
↳ Our 2024 study in Limnology & Oceanography showed that fine sediment “sinks” in the Coorong stockpile organic matter, enriching methylotrophic methanogens and driving concentrated CH₄ production despite high sulfate levels (which is typically thought to suppress CH₄ in coastal environments). By linking organic matter, Archaeal community shifts and greenhouse-gas, the paper highlights an underappreciated emissions source in global Carbon budgets and underscores the need to factor extreme lagoons into climate models.