Christopher Keneally

Dr Christopher Keneally

Grant Funded Researcher (A)

School of Biological Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.

I am a microbial ecologist based in the Freshwater & Ecophysiology Lab, interested in how microbes influence human, animal, and ecosystem health through their central roles in the environment.

My research explores microbial community dynamics in diverse ecosystems (from clinical contexts to the natural environment), combining remote aquatic fieldwork, sensor development, wet lab microbiology, multi-omics (DNA/RNA/Metabolomics), isotope tracing, biogeochemical modelling, data science and bioinformatics.

By answering questions about complex systems, my research aims to inform ecosystem restoration, one-health, and climate-adaptation strategy.

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.

 

PhD Summary

Salinity-Dependent Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemical Dynamics in a Degraded Hypersaline Coastal Lagoon

My PhD decoded the microbiology and functional genomics driving nutrient and carbon cycling in the hypersaline Coorong: A Ramsar-listed wetland of international importance at the Murray-Darling estuary, South Australia. The work points to practical bioremediation options and shows how microbes adapt to extreme stress, informing climate models, and some aspects of early-Earth development and astrobiology.

PhD Research Summary video, winner of a communication award at The University of Adelaide's Ingenuity 2021 - Accompanying research poster

 
  • 2024 - 2026 Enhancing the predictive modelling platform and assessing the climate impacts on ecosystem services of the CLLMM to guide adaptation strategies. Cwth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. CI: Brookes, J.D. Investigators: Hipsey, M.R., Huang, P., Zhai,S., Mosley, L., Keneally, C.C., Leterme, S., Ye, Q., Sarakinis, K.G., Earle, J., Bailleul, F., Howson, T., Bi, P., Anikeeva, O., Hansen, A., O'Connor, P., Wedderburn, S., Grigg, B.
  • 2025 - 2027 River Torrens Debris Program (Phase 1-3). Green Adelaide Landscape Board Project. CI: Brookes, J.D. Investigators: Delean S., Keneally, C.C., Kearslake T.

Travel Grants etc.

  • 2023 Student Travel Grant - Australian Freshwater Sciences Society (AFSS)
  • 2018 Global Learning Travel Grant

Coursework teaching

  • ENV BIOL 3004: Freshwater Ecology III (Semester 1 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) - Lecturing, demonstrating & tutoring
  • ENV BIOL 2502 - Ecology II (Semester 2 2024) - Guest lecturer
  • BIOLOGY 1101: Molecules, Genes, & Cells (Semester 1 2022 & 2023) - Demonstrating

Informal supervision

  • PPR3: Principles and Practices of Research (Semester 2 2021 & 2024) - Supervision of undergraduate research students

  • Other Supervision Activities
    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2025 - 2025 Co-Supervisor Sulfide inhibition of methane oxidation in the Coorong, South Australia University of Adelaide Honours Degree of Bachelor of Science Honours Full Time James Hensel
    2020 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Denitrification rates in sediments of the Coorong, South Australia University of Adelaide Principles & Practice of Research (Advanced) III Other Full Time Matilda Southgate
  • Position: Grant Funded Researcher (A)
  • Phone: 83133042
  • Email: christopher.keneally@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Benham, floor G
  • Org Unit: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
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