Determining the relative roles of dispersal and vicariance in the assembly of the New Zealand fauna. New fossils from New Zealand's St Bathans Fauna (19-16 million years) will revolutionise our understanding of the shared biodiversity and evolutionary history of New Zealand and Australia through the first views of the origin and evolution of major Gondwanan groups including frogs, crocodiles, birds and bats on the now mostly-drowned continent Zealandia.
Fossils, rocks and early Cambrian clocks: calibrating body plan assembly and lineage splits in ancestral animals from Gondwana. The precise timing of when animal body plans evolved and rapidly diversified during the Cambrian Explosion remains mysterious. This project will investigate vast collections of exquisitely preserved early-middle Cambrian fossils from Australia to determine the precise order of evolutionary events at the root of the animal tree of life.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102034
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
How did mammals evolve large brains? A multidisciplinary view from the pouch. This project applies novel data collection techniques to explain how the large brain sizes of today's mammals (including humans) are possible. The focus will be on brain structure, development, and evolution in the mostly Australian marsupials, whose ancestral mode of brain development makes them an ideal group for studies of brain size evolution.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190101338
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$373,711.00
Summary
Building your future: builder-building coevolution in animal architectures. This project aims to reconstruct how animal architectures change throughout time and how this affects body shapes and functions of their builders. By clarifying the biological role of building behaviour this project will assist in predicting long term responses of wildlife, ecosystems and human life to a changing environment. The project expects to be achieved by comparing the structure, assembly and mechanical performan ....Building your future: builder-building coevolution in animal architectures. This project aims to reconstruct how animal architectures change throughout time and how this affects body shapes and functions of their builders. By clarifying the biological role of building behaviour this project will assist in predicting long term responses of wildlife, ecosystems and human life to a changing environment. The project expects to be achieved by comparing the structure, assembly and mechanical performance of animal architectures with animal morphology and performance in a global phylogenetic framework. This is critical for strategic planning of wildlife and landscape management.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100755
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$371,000.00
Summary
Evolution of genome architecture. The project aims to understand how changes to genome architecture over evolutionary time are linked to the diversity of animal morphology. Our genome sequence is arranged into higher order structures that enable coordinated gene expression. The appropriate expression of genes in time and space is necessary to produce the multitude of cell types that make up a multicellular organism. Yet, to date, genome topology is poorly explored, especially between species. Th ....Evolution of genome architecture. The project aims to understand how changes to genome architecture over evolutionary time are linked to the diversity of animal morphology. Our genome sequence is arranged into higher order structures that enable coordinated gene expression. The appropriate expression of genes in time and space is necessary to produce the multitude of cell types that make up a multicellular organism. Yet, to date, genome topology is poorly explored, especially between species. The project involves comparisons of the 3D structure of genomes in divergent species. These findings are expected to inform the underlying principles of gene regulation in animals and species evolution.Read moreRead less
Improving access to phylogenomic resources for under-resourced species: a new look at existing tools. This project will have an impact on our understanding of how to most effectively use existing genomic resources to benefit a wider range of species and to better design new genomic resources. By doing so, improved access to genomic resources will be provided to species that currently have few options.
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL100100080
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,859,732.00
Summary
Evolutionary ecology of vegetation. A more fundamental understanding will be developed about the architecture and ecology of vegetation and why it varies around the world. Understanding confers benefits for land management as well as cultural value. Under a high carbon dioxide future scenario, models will be needed that operate through fundamental mechanisms of evolution, competition and physiology, rather than through extrapolation from present-day plants. Australia is a leader in globalising p ....Evolutionary ecology of vegetation. A more fundamental understanding will be developed about the architecture and ecology of vegetation and why it varies around the world. Understanding confers benefits for land management as well as cultural value. Under a high carbon dioxide future scenario, models will be needed that operate through fundamental mechanisms of evolution, competition and physiology, rather than through extrapolation from present-day plants. Australia is a leader in globalising plant trait ecology, and the program will develop that role further. Through intensive short courses within the Sydney basin and at national scale, research capacity will be developed towards the coming four-way fusion among functional ecology, earth system science, comparative genomics and palaeobiology.Read moreRead less
Estimating evolutionary time-scales using genomic sequence data: exploiting opportunities and meeting challenges. Genomic data are being produced at a phenomenal rate, enabling detailed investigations of various biological questions. This project will exploit the new opportunities for improving the estimation of evolutionary time-scales, and develop methods and software to address the new challenges that have surfaced.
Can lateral gene transfer lead to ecological innovation in eukaryotes? The role of saxitoxin in the diversification of Alexandrium. This project will determine the processes that led to the acquisition and diversification of the genetic basis for a potent neurotoxin, saxitoxin. This project will determine its impact on the evolution of the marine producing organisms and investigate novel genetic methods of toxin detection.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100957
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Using ancient fossils and new methods to unravel Australian mammal evolution in deep time. This project will explore the evolution of Australia's unique mammal fauna by studying fossil mammals recently discovered at Tingamarra, a 55 million year old fossil site in north-eastern Queensland. In particular, it will help us understand the origin, radiation and diversification of Australia's iconic marsupials.