Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE150100083
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$540,000.00
Summary
A high throughput phenomics facility for pace of life traits in animals. A high throughput phenomics facility for pace of life traits in animals: This project seeks to create the first high-throughput phenomic facility for animals in Australia. The molecular revolution has brought unprecedented capacity to understand genetic variation. Genetic variation is now better understood and more easily and cheaply characterised than the physical traits that organisms exhibit. Linking phenotypic variation ....A high throughput phenomics facility for pace of life traits in animals. A high throughput phenomics facility for pace of life traits in animals: This project seeks to create the first high-throughput phenomic facility for animals in Australia. The molecular revolution has brought unprecedented capacity to understand genetic variation. Genetic variation is now better understood and more easily and cheaply characterised than the physical traits that organisms exhibit. Linking phenotypic variation to genetic variation represents the major challenge in harnessing the power of the biomolecular age. This facility will accommodate animals from marine, freshwater and terrestrial systems across a diverse array of phyla. It will allow Australian researchers to leverage advances in high throughput genomic technologies to address a major bottleneck in biology.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101266
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$358,536.00
Summary
Evolutionary and environmental basis of CO2 tolerance in coral reef fishes. This project aims to examine the effects of ocean acidification on coral reef fishes due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Physiological performance of fish vary under elevated CO2, but behaviour is consistently, negatively impacted. This project aims to investigate evolutionary trade-offs between behaviour and performance, physiological mechanisms key to compromising, maintaining, or enhancing metabolic pe ....Evolutionary and environmental basis of CO2 tolerance in coral reef fishes. This project aims to examine the effects of ocean acidification on coral reef fishes due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Physiological performance of fish vary under elevated CO2, but behaviour is consistently, negatively impacted. This project aims to investigate evolutionary trade-offs between behaviour and performance, physiological mechanisms key to compromising, maintaining, or enhancing metabolic performance under elevated CO2, and the importance of habitat in how fish respond to elevated CO2. As fish play critical roles in marine ecosystems by structuring food webs and driving ecological processes, this information will be critical for predicting the effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems and biodiversity.Read moreRead less
The failure-threshold of leaves in drought. This project aims to reveal how specific water-stress thresholds damage the leaves of Australian crop and forest species during drought. Water stress affects agricultural productivity and plant survival in drought-prone regions such as Australia. Using optical and X-ray techniques, this project seeks to visualise and quantify the dynamic processes of damage and repair in leaves under stress. Anticipated outputs include a practical basis to predict drou ....The failure-threshold of leaves in drought. This project aims to reveal how specific water-stress thresholds damage the leaves of Australian crop and forest species during drought. Water stress affects agricultural productivity and plant survival in drought-prone regions such as Australia. Using optical and X-ray techniques, this project seeks to visualise and quantify the dynamic processes of damage and repair in leaves under stress. Anticipated outputs include a practical basis to predict drought-induced canopy death; identification of threats to ecologically sensitive plants; and selection and screening tools to improve the drought resilience of agriculturally important crop species.Read moreRead less
Finding damage thresholds in pyrethrum to optimise crop profitability. This project aims to use a new vascular approach to develop a quantitative stress tolerance framework for the crop species pyrethrum, defining the risks to plant production of water, heat and frost stress. Using novel optical and x-ray technology, this project seeks to pinpoint damaging stress thresholds and combine this knowledge with crop monitoring technology in a way that will allow crop managers to avoid damaging stress ....Finding damage thresholds in pyrethrum to optimise crop profitability. This project aims to use a new vascular approach to develop a quantitative stress tolerance framework for the crop species pyrethrum, defining the risks to plant production of water, heat and frost stress. Using novel optical and x-ray technology, this project seeks to pinpoint damaging stress thresholds and combine this knowledge with crop monitoring technology in a way that will allow crop managers to avoid damaging stress events. The intended outcome is to enable the pyrethrum industry, and ultimately a diversity of crop managers, to better utilise new advances in monitoring technology to maximise the benefits of irrigation such that yields are high relative to water use and damage by stress is avoided. Immediate beneficiaries will be the pyrethrum industry, but the research will provide a model, applicable to the multitude of irrigated crops in Australia. Read moreRead less
Do hotter and drier regions harbour adaptive variation for climate change? This project aims to improve our understanding of the capacity of trees to respond to climate change. This is essential for the maintenance of biodiversity, forest health and productivity. In south-west Australia, climate variation has increased the frequency and intensity of droughts, which has resulted in tree death and negatively affected essential ecosystem services. Adaptive land management is urgently needed to miti ....Do hotter and drier regions harbour adaptive variation for climate change? This project aims to improve our understanding of the capacity of trees to respond to climate change. This is essential for the maintenance of biodiversity, forest health and productivity. In south-west Australia, climate variation has increased the frequency and intensity of droughts, which has resulted in tree death and negatively affected essential ecosystem services. Adaptive land management is urgently needed to mitigate the risk of large-scale drought mortality in a rapidly changing climate. This project seeks to deliver a scientific basis for the adoption of assisted gene migration in south-west forests, through a detailed understanding of genetic adaptation and physiological tolerance, to improve drought-resilience under future hotter and drier climates.Read moreRead less
Exploring the unseen: the adaptive significance of animal-visible and infrared colour change. Our research on benefits of rapid colour change in cold-blooded animals, spanning the full spectrum of solar energy, will provide novel insights into the adaptive significance of animal colour patterns. It will also provide a natural model for development of advanced colour-changing materials with a wide range of applications.
The basis of oyster resilience to global environmental change. This project aims to investigate the impact of global environmental change on the survival of Australia’s oyster industry, by combining the science of genetics, physiology and ecology to identify already resilient oysters. Through the first complete understanding of resilience in oysters, including the trade-offs they have made in other fitness traits, the project develops new capacities to 'climate and future-proof' our natural oyst ....The basis of oyster resilience to global environmental change. This project aims to investigate the impact of global environmental change on the survival of Australia’s oyster industry, by combining the science of genetics, physiology and ecology to identify already resilient oysters. Through the first complete understanding of resilience in oysters, including the trade-offs they have made in other fitness traits, the project develops new capacities to 'climate and future-proof' our natural oyster populations and the Australian oyster industry, to enable the restoration of degraded oyster habitats. This project will ensure the future of an iconic and economically important national industry and food source and contribute to preserving the critical cultural links of Indigenous Australians with their lands.Read moreRead less
The physiology of biome shifts and macroevolutionary change: how did Australian skinks colonise the arid zone so successfully? This project will examine two of Australia's most diverse lizard lineages, Lerista and Ctenotus, and will identify the physiological and morphological traits that enabled them to adaptively radiate within the arid zone. It will highlight those traits likely to be adaptive for environments predicted to become widespread under climate change.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101075
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,837.00
Summary
Ecophysiology and evolution of sleep and adaptive sleeplessness. The function of sleep is enigmatic, even though the treatment of costly sleep disorders requires an understanding of the function that sleep performs. This project approaches this enigma with the comprehensive study of sleep in diverse animals to examine ecological-induced plasticity and evolution of sleep. Using innovative technologies in real-world situations, this project will spearhead the study of sleep ecophysiology to identi ....Ecophysiology and evolution of sleep and adaptive sleeplessness. The function of sleep is enigmatic, even though the treatment of costly sleep disorders requires an understanding of the function that sleep performs. This project approaches this enigma with the comprehensive study of sleep in diverse animals to examine ecological-induced plasticity and evolution of sleep. Using innovative technologies in real-world situations, this project will spearhead the study of sleep ecophysiology to identify animals that are resilient to the negative effects of sleep loss, and will determine whether the evolution of new types of animal was associated with the co-evolution of new types of sleep. The outcomes will have wide-ranging implications for our view of sleep function, prescriptions for an optimal amount of sleep and human health and wellbeing.Read moreRead less
The role of leaf veins in vascular plant evolution. Leaves are continuously irrigated by a system of internal plumbing that defines their maximum photosynthetic output, and angiosperms are the most productive plants on earth largely by virtue of a uniquely efficient system of leaf plumbing. This project will identify how such an important modification of leaf water transport came to evolve.