Testing the importance of large-scale climate factors to plant community assembly following land-use change. This project will examine the native plant species and functional diversity of Australia's rain forest communities to create a predictive framework of how plant communities recover following deforestation. Such a framework is key to focusing conservation efforts in degraded and multi-use landscapes.
Modelling dynamics in spatial ecology. This project addresses how birth, death and movement drive patterns of plants and animals in space and time. We aim to apply and extend dynamical statistical models grounded in theory. Dynamical models are needed for us to understand how species and ecological communities respond to environmental change and disturbance including bushfires, climate change and extremes and species invasion. Using data from forest plots and animal movement, we aim to understan ....Modelling dynamics in spatial ecology. This project addresses how birth, death and movement drive patterns of plants and animals in space and time. We aim to apply and extend dynamical statistical models grounded in theory. Dynamical models are needed for us to understand how species and ecological communities respond to environmental change and disturbance including bushfires, climate change and extremes and species invasion. Using data from forest plots and animal movement, we aim to understand influences on individuals and species, and how to use that to generate robust predictions. The project is expected to produce statistical models and software for use by ecologists. This should help predict, and manage, ecological impacts of environmental change and disturbances.Read moreRead less
A general theory for ecological trait-strategy dimensions. This project aims to bridge the gap in understanding of ecological strategies between plant and animal ecology, globally, using ants. It will test how environmental change influences the success of species, based on ecological strategies, and the consequences for ecosystem function. This project is expected to make a significant contribution to generality and prediction in ecology. Expected outcomes of this project include theory deve ....A general theory for ecological trait-strategy dimensions. This project aims to bridge the gap in understanding of ecological strategies between plant and animal ecology, globally, using ants. It will test how environmental change influences the success of species, based on ecological strategies, and the consequences for ecosystem function. This project is expected to make a significant contribution to generality and prediction in ecology. Expected outcomes of this project include theory development and application and enhanced global networks of trait researchers. Intended benefits include improved ecological theory, an enhanced capacity to predict how global change will affect organisms and increased understanding of the cascading effects of changes for ecosystem function.Read moreRead less
Assessing the ecosystem-wide risks of threatened species translocation. Assessing the ecosystem-wide risks of threatened species translocation. This project aims to develop the first quantitative risk assessment framework to improve decisions about moving threatened species to new places. Moving threatened plants and animals to new environments, or reintroducing them where they previously persisted, is a growing focus of conservation. Moving species can have unanticipated effects on other specie ....Assessing the ecosystem-wide risks of threatened species translocation. Assessing the ecosystem-wide risks of threatened species translocation. This project aims to develop the first quantitative risk assessment framework to improve decisions about moving threatened species to new places. Moving threatened plants and animals to new environments, or reintroducing them where they previously persisted, is a growing focus of conservation. Moving species can have unanticipated effects on other species in the ecosystem. Although the International Union for Conservation of Nature deems ecosystem-wide risk assessments essential for conservation translocations, no framework exists to assess these risks and inform these decisions. New tools for assessing the risks of conservation translocations are expected to improve global and local conservation outcomes.Read moreRead less
Consequences of temporal community turnover. This project aims to understand how environmental change affects compensatory dynamics of species. Species numbers do not change over time in local ecological communities, but species composition is changing at an unprecedented level across the globe. The implications of these compensatory dynamics for the resilience of ecological communities and how they affect ecosystems are important for community ecology and conservation. This project could reveal ....Consequences of temporal community turnover. This project aims to understand how environmental change affects compensatory dynamics of species. Species numbers do not change over time in local ecological communities, but species composition is changing at an unprecedented level across the globe. The implications of these compensatory dynamics for the resilience of ecological communities and how they affect ecosystems are important for community ecology and conservation. This project could reveal the functional consequences of temporal community change, contributing new insights into the effects of environmental change especially on soil ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Dispersal and species coexistence across patchy landscapes. Millions of dollars are spent rehabilitating degraded river ecosystems in the absence of knowing whether and how species will be able to disperse to and re-populate repaired sections. This research will provide definitive information allowing restoration efforts to be targeted properly in streams surrounded by, and serving, agricultural areas.
A global-scale analysis of functional traits in the face of global change. This project uses a global collaboration to develop a novel method for determining the response of extremely diverse animal taxa to global change. The method focusses on morphological traits and their functions and will improve conservation efforts by predicting the types of ecological processes and species threatened.
Species coexistence in the real world. This project aims to discover how similar species co-exist without weaker competitors going extinct. Hypotheses offer explanations for stable coexistence in the presence of competition, but logistic barriers mean field tests are almost completely lacking. Recent research on competition and dispersal presents an opportunity to deliver tests using riverine species, leading to experiments at landscape scales. The research will quantify the role of environmenta ....Species coexistence in the real world. This project aims to discover how similar species co-exist without weaker competitors going extinct. Hypotheses offer explanations for stable coexistence in the presence of competition, but logistic barriers mean field tests are almost completely lacking. Recent research on competition and dispersal presents an opportunity to deliver tests using riverine species, leading to experiments at landscape scales. The research will quantify the role of environmental variability and dispersal in permitting stable coexistence of species, thus filling a major knowledge gap. The project expects to provide fresh avenues for research into the causes of species losses – particularly for the 70 per cent that are invertebrates.Read moreRead less
Integrating niches, interactions and dispersal in species distribution models. This proposal aims to develop a framework for statistical modelling that integrates across spatial scales and disentangles the processes of environmental tolerance, biotic interactions and dispersal. Understanding the processes that drive species distributions and ecological communities is central to ecology and environmental management. This knowledge can be used to anticipate the impacts of environmental change on e ....Integrating niches, interactions and dispersal in species distribution models. This proposal aims to develop a framework for statistical modelling that integrates across spatial scales and disentangles the processes of environmental tolerance, biotic interactions and dispersal. Understanding the processes that drive species distributions and ecological communities is central to ecology and environmental management. This knowledge can be used to anticipate the impacts of environmental change on ecosystems, and the likely benefits of interventions. Current statistical models limit the data that can be used and the ecological questions that can be answered. This project expects to improve our ability to predict species distributions under changed environments given interacting species and dispersal across the landscape.Read moreRead less
Drivers of phenotypic evolution in a vulnerable alpine ecosystem. This project aims to deliver a comprehensive, integrated understanding of the capacity for resilience and drivers of response of highly vulnerable alpine species and communities to climate change. The project aims to determine how communities of interacting alpine plants, soil invertebrates and microbes can cope with or evolve to novel climatic conditions. The mountains are water towers critical to power supply and Australia's agr ....Drivers of phenotypic evolution in a vulnerable alpine ecosystem. This project aims to deliver a comprehensive, integrated understanding of the capacity for resilience and drivers of response of highly vulnerable alpine species and communities to climate change. The project aims to determine how communities of interacting alpine plants, soil invertebrates and microbes can cope with or evolve to novel climatic conditions. The mountains are water towers critical to power supply and Australia's agricultural productivity. Understanding physiological tolerance and the potential for rapid evolutionary responses of plants, animals and communities is necessary to predict impacts of climate change on the future productivity of the vulnerable Australian Alps and to provide novel options for climate adaptation. Read moreRead less