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Assessment of past biodiversity through DNA preserved in bulk bone. This project aims to make a unique study of fossils to determine how the composition and biodiversity of ecosystems have changed in response to anthropogenic influences. Fossil bones provide a window through which to study past environments and how they have changed, and the stories these fossils tell can be further enhanced by ancient DNA analyses. This project plans to use bulk bone metabarcoding where hundreds of low-value (f ....Assessment of past biodiversity through DNA preserved in bulk bone. This project aims to make a unique study of fossils to determine how the composition and biodiversity of ecosystems have changed in response to anthropogenic influences. Fossil bones provide a window through which to study past environments and how they have changed, and the stories these fossils tell can be further enhanced by ancient DNA analyses. This project plans to use bulk bone metabarcoding where hundreds of low-value (fragmented) bones are collectively ground together to provide a cost-effective genetic audit of fossil assemblages. Working on bone from across Oceania and south-east Asia, this project aims to provide a historical perspective on biodiversity. Understanding former ecosystem composition and extinction may facilitate effective restoration and conservation initiatives.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100542
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$355,000.00
Summary
Understanding adaptation of plants along environmental clines. This project aims to address a key debate on the relative roles of dispersal and selection on adaptation, testing how life history traits determine the magnitude of adaptation. Since dispersal should override selection, this project endeavours to show that plants that strongly disperse will display weaker signals of adaptation but a higher capacity to adapt. The project aims to test these predictions with ecological genomics and func ....Understanding adaptation of plants along environmental clines. This project aims to address a key debate on the relative roles of dispersal and selection on adaptation, testing how life history traits determine the magnitude of adaptation. Since dispersal should override selection, this project endeavours to show that plants that strongly disperse will display weaker signals of adaptation but a higher capacity to adapt. The project aims to test these predictions with ecological genomics and functional genetics at a multi-species scale across climate gradients in South Australia, using a novel design that separates dispersal (isolation-by-distance) from selection (isolation-by-ecology). This understanding will provide improved conservation planning that seeks to restore resilience to biological communities that are under increasing environmental pressures.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100065
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$370,000.00
Summary
Next generation enhancement of the South Australian regional facility for molecular ecology and evolution. The new equipment will enhance opportunities for innovative research in basic biology, archaeological, agricultural, biomedical, forensic and environmental sciences. This research is critical for monitoring the nature and extent of environmental change and developing strategies to promote adaptation by species to future climate change.
Genomics for persistence of Australian freshwater fish. Biodiversity faces an unpredictable cocktail of impacts and global environmental change, against which the best insurance is genetic diversity. We will develop genomic measures of ecological-genetic functions and evolutionary potential for managing Australian freshwater fish.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE110100234
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$430,000.00
Summary
Enhancement of South Australian high-performance computing facilities. These facilities will enable the efficient use of high-performance computing and will more than double the capability provided by eResearch SA for South Australian researchers. They will support large-scale applications, running over many processors in parallel (high-performance computing) or large numbers of single processors (high-throughput computing).
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100443
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Landscape genomics to make an endangered community resilient. This project aims to use landscape genomic techniques to assess how key species of the critically endangered Box-Gum Grassy Woodland community migrate and adapt under changing environmental conditions. Changing climate and land use threaten ecological communities, and alter environments at alarming rates. When species are pushed beyond their environmental tolerances, they will migrate, adapt or face local extinction. This alteration o ....Landscape genomics to make an endangered community resilient. This project aims to use landscape genomic techniques to assess how key species of the critically endangered Box-Gum Grassy Woodland community migrate and adapt under changing environmental conditions. Changing climate and land use threaten ecological communities, and alter environments at alarming rates. When species are pushed beyond their environmental tolerances, they will migrate, adapt or face local extinction. This alteration of the community structure affects the stability and function of the ecosystem. Expected outcomes include efficient use of limited conservation resources, ensuring the long term persistence of the endangered community.Read moreRead less
The chemical, molecular and evolutionary basis of key pollination transitions in Australian orchids and their conservation consequences. Many of Australia's unique orchids may face increased extinction risk in human modified landscapes because of their dependence on specific pollinators. This project will investigate the basis of transitions between key pollination strategies in orchids with the outcomes informing both evolutionary theory and future conservation programs.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100326
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$419,406.00
Summary
Genomics of drought adaptation in endangered Eucalyptus woodlands. This project aims to investigate divergence in drought response strategies among foundation Eucalyptus species, using the latest genomic advances. The project expects to contribute new knowledge of drought adaptation in trees, specifically identifying above and below ground interactions that may constrain evolutionary responses to climate change by assessing genotype-trait associations in an integrated, whole plant research model ....Genomics of drought adaptation in endangered Eucalyptus woodlands. This project aims to investigate divergence in drought response strategies among foundation Eucalyptus species, using the latest genomic advances. The project expects to contribute new knowledge of drought adaptation in trees, specifically identifying above and below ground interactions that may constrain evolutionary responses to climate change by assessing genotype-trait associations in an integrated, whole plant research model. Expected outcomes include enhanced capacity to design agroforestry and restoration breeding programs to increase tree productivity and resilience under increasing aridity. This will benefit the conservation of endangered Australian woodlands, restoration of degraded landscapes, and production forestry.Read moreRead less
The birth and death of mammalian sex chromosomes. This project aims to unravel the molecular mechanisms that underlie the transition from autosome to sex chromosome and progressive sex chromosome differentiation in mammals. Monotremes are the only mammalian species with a sex chromosome system that consists of ten sex chromosomes in platypus and nine in echidna. This project will analyse the genetic and epigenetic composition and organisation of the monotreme autosomes that evolved into sex chro ....The birth and death of mammalian sex chromosomes. This project aims to unravel the molecular mechanisms that underlie the transition from autosome to sex chromosome and progressive sex chromosome differentiation in mammals. Monotremes are the only mammalian species with a sex chromosome system that consists of ten sex chromosomes in platypus and nine in echidna. This project will analyse the genetic and epigenetic composition and organisation of the monotreme autosomes that evolved into sex chromosomes in other mammals and compare individual platypus and echidna sex chromosomes to discover how sex chromosomes come to be, differentiate and ultimately are replaced by new sex chromosomes.Read moreRead less
Understanding adaptation to improve conservation of Australian flora. Using the Australian flora as our model, this project aims to tackle a central issue of evolution and conservation - what drives species adaptation? Since dispersal should override selection in populations, we predict that plants that are good dispersers will display weak signals of adaptation, but a higher capacity to adapt, than poorer dispersers. From these expectations we plan to develop a new adaptation guild classificati ....Understanding adaptation to improve conservation of Australian flora. Using the Australian flora as our model, this project aims to tackle a central issue of evolution and conservation - what drives species adaptation? Since dispersal should override selection in populations, we predict that plants that are good dispersers will display weak signals of adaptation, but a higher capacity to adapt, than poorer dispersers. From these expectations we plan to develop a new adaptation guild classification, and test predictions using ecological genomics and functional genetics at a continental and multi-species scale. In addition to progressing a central tenet of evolutionary biology, this project aims to improve seed sourcing and biodiversity management, readily applicable to plants that can be quickly classified by life history traits.Read moreRead less