Dr Christopher Keneally

I’m a microbial ecologist at the University of Adelaide working across inland waters and estuarine systems. My research combines field sensing, wet-lab microbiology and bioinformatics to quantify how microbial communities regulate carbon and nutrient cycling under changing salinity and hydrology. I focus on lakes and reservoirs in the Murray–Darling Basin and on the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth, with collaborations across Australia, Asia–Pacific, and more broadly through the Global Lakes and Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON). Methodologically, I integrate multi-omics (DNA/RNA/metabolomics), isotopic tracing, and biogeochemical modelling with eDNA/eRNA indicators to link process rates to community composition and environmental drivers. This evidence informs climate adaptation and water-quality management with government and industry partners. A key application is harmful algal blooms: by resolving nutrient sources, light and mixing constraints, and microbial interactions along fresh-to-marine salinity gradients, my work improves early warning, prediction and mitigation of blooms in lakes, MDB waterways and estuarine systems such as the Coorong.