Resolving how five million years of dramatic climatic changes shaped Australia's unique fauna. Australia’s biota is a product of its unique heritage, tectonic history and most especially its climate. Over the past five million years it has been beset by a series of intense climatic shifts driven by a combination of global and regional factors. This project will be the first to track faunal responses to environmental changes across this critical interval. It will establish the dynamics of the ori ....Resolving how five million years of dramatic climatic changes shaped Australia's unique fauna. Australia’s biota is a product of its unique heritage, tectonic history and most especially its climate. Over the past five million years it has been beset by a series of intense climatic shifts driven by a combination of global and regional factors. This project will be the first to track faunal responses to environmental changes across this critical interval. It will establish the dynamics of the origin of the modern southern vertebrate fauna, analysing changes in diversity, diet and community structure. By exploring associations between phases of faunal turnover and key climatic transitions, it will bring a Southern Hemisphere perspective to evolutionary models of Cenozoic faunal change largely generated to date from Northern Hemisphere data.Read moreRead less
Testing our knowledge on the dawn of animal life: evidence from the fossil record against modern ecological and morphological analogues. The Cambrian 'Explosion', half a billion years ago, is regarded as one of the most important events in the history of the Earth, when most major animal groups first appear in the rock record, and for which South Australia has recently become a significant source of spectacular fossils. However, important questions remain regarding their Ediacaran roots, the spe ....Testing our knowledge on the dawn of animal life: evidence from the fossil record against modern ecological and morphological analogues. The Cambrian 'Explosion', half a billion years ago, is regarded as one of the most important events in the history of the Earth, when most major animal groups first appear in the rock record, and for which South Australia has recently become a significant source of spectacular fossils. However, important questions remain regarding their Ediacaran roots, the speed of evolution at the time, and the environments in which the radiation took place. Studying the fossil evidence in the light of present-day ecological frameworks, and in comparison with modern behavioural and morphological analogues, as well as living relatives, can help us better assess our understanding of this first radiation of animals.Read moreRead less
Molecular Archaeology: Carbon isotope analysis of amino acids as a means to investigate diets, physiology, metabolism and palaeoenvironment. The investigation of the bones of past societies and animals at the molecular level opens up a whole array of alternative data about palaeodiet and environment. Investigating the past in this way provides a unique perspective about how diet and health have changed in humans and about how animals and the environment have changed. When we understand the past ....Molecular Archaeology: Carbon isotope analysis of amino acids as a means to investigate diets, physiology, metabolism and palaeoenvironment. The investigation of the bones of past societies and animals at the molecular level opens up a whole array of alternative data about palaeodiet and environment. Investigating the past in this way provides a unique perspective about how diet and health have changed in humans and about how animals and the environment have changed. When we understand the past in this manner we can better understand current health issues linked to diet and how the environment and climate is changing.Read moreRead less
Quantifying the Tree of Life's Diversity with the Paleobiology Database. The Paleobiology Database is the Internet's key source of scientific data on the fossil record. It records names and classification of fossil organisms and the ages, locations, and environments of the places that yield these fossils. It has often been used to estimate the number of species existing at different points in geological time. Macquarie will house the Database as it is expanded to record evolutionary relations ....Quantifying the Tree of Life's Diversity with the Paleobiology Database. The Paleobiology Database is the Internet's key source of scientific data on the fossil record. It records names and classification of fossil organisms and the ages, locations, and environments of the places that yield these fossils. It has often been used to estimate the number of species existing at different points in geological time. Macquarie will house the Database as it is expanded to record evolutionary relationships of many species. This information will help to estimate dates of origination for major groups such as mammals and birds. It will also help to show whether mass extinctions tend to target old groups with few surviving species, which will help to predict which groups will survive the current mass extinction.Read moreRead less
Where currents collide: tracking the biological impacts of climate change. This project will track the effects of climate change on Australia's unique marine biodiversity. Understanding the impacts of changing ocean currents on our coastal communities underpins the conservation and management of our valuable coastal resources.
Quantifying the effects of western colonisation on Great Barrier Reef molluscan communities. Dead shells provide a record of the pre-colonisation Great Barrier Reef (GBR) ecosystem. Using this record this research will determine what the GBR looked like before James Cook and the first fleet arrived in Australia. This study will also sample living molluscs to quantify the current state of these communities. Together these data will provide environment managers and stakeholders with the first quan ....Quantifying the effects of western colonisation on Great Barrier Reef molluscan communities. Dead shells provide a record of the pre-colonisation Great Barrier Reef (GBR) ecosystem. Using this record this research will determine what the GBR looked like before James Cook and the first fleet arrived in Australia. This study will also sample living molluscs to quantify the current state of these communities. Together these data will provide environment managers and stakeholders with the first quantitative estimates of human impacts on this world heritage ecosystem. This project will address the questions: Do protected areas return to a pre-colonial state or do they represent another non-natural state? What type of management scheme results in communities most similar to the pre-colonial state?Read moreRead less
Past and future effects of climate change on the carbon-water balance of plants. Over the coming century, climate change will profoundly impact Australian vegetation via the direct effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) on plants and the indirect effects of CO2-forced changes in rainfall and temperature, with major implications for agricultural production and water resources. This project will address these threats by providing new tools for measuring and predicting vegetation-clim ....Past and future effects of climate change on the carbon-water balance of plants. Over the coming century, climate change will profoundly impact Australian vegetation via the direct effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) on plants and the indirect effects of CO2-forced changes in rainfall and temperature, with major implications for agricultural production and water resources. This project will address these threats by providing new tools for measuring and predicting vegetation-climate feedbacks. It will determine the combined effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 and drought on the productivity of natural and agricultural landscapes, and provide the biophysical framework for developing the next generation of high-yielding, drought tolerant crop varieties for the rapidly approaching greenhouse world.Read moreRead less
An inventory of past biodiversity in Western Australia using ancient DNA. Fossil bones and museum skins are genetic time capsules that facilitate the exploration of Australia's past biodiversity. Travelling back in 'genetic time' provides important insights into how ecosystems functioned prior to the arrival of Europeans and the feral species that accompanied them. This funding will facilitate research into the genetic heritage of endangered WA species such as Woylies and Cockatoos. Native speci ....An inventory of past biodiversity in Western Australia using ancient DNA. Fossil bones and museum skins are genetic time capsules that facilitate the exploration of Australia's past biodiversity. Travelling back in 'genetic time' provides important insights into how ecosystems functioned prior to the arrival of Europeans and the feral species that accompanied them. This funding will facilitate research into the genetic heritage of endangered WA species such as Woylies and Cockatoos. Native species face increasing pressures from climate change and invasive species. Compiling a genetic inventory of WA's past biodiversity will assist in developing scientifically sound conservation management responses. Such approaches are critically important if this biodiversity hotspot is to be preserved for future generations.Read moreRead less
Using ancient fish ear bones to overcome the shifting baseline syndrome in freshwater fish populations. Chemical tracers in fish ear bones from 5,500 years ago through to modern times will provide information on changes in fish ecology over centuries and identify why freshwater fish populations have declined. Outcomes will provide knowledge of how fish populations would react to altered fishing pressure and restoration of environments.
Stories from the past: the impact of industrialisation on the human microbiome. This project aims to explore the history and origin of ‘Industrial’ diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and autism. Non-communicable, ‘Industrial’ diseases are rising at an alarming rate in Australia, and changes to the beneficial microorganisms within the human body (microbiota) may be to blame. This project will explore how human microbiota have changed over the past 100 years in response to cultural, ....Stories from the past: the impact of industrialisation on the human microbiome. This project aims to explore the history and origin of ‘Industrial’ diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and autism. Non-communicable, ‘Industrial’ diseases are rising at an alarming rate in Australia, and changes to the beneficial microorganisms within the human body (microbiota) may be to blame. This project will explore how human microbiota have changed over the past 100 years in response to cultural, environmental, and lifestyle factors linked with Industrialisation. This approach will allow stories from the past to inform modern medical treatment strategies and public health decisions in the future. The project will identify changes in environment, diet, hygiene, and medicine that have altered human microbiota in the past and sparked the Industrial disease epidemic in Australia today.Read moreRead less