Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100490
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$426,742.00
Summary
Understanding infection tolerance to improve management of wildlife disease. This project aims to investigate tolerance (the ability to limit the detrimental effects of infection) as a key animal defence strategy against disease. It focuses on diseases in natural systems, using the devastating amphibian fungal skin disease, chytridiomycosis, as a model. Expected outcomes include improved understanding of the relative importance of tolerance and resistance, and insight into the key immune and phy ....Understanding infection tolerance to improve management of wildlife disease. This project aims to investigate tolerance (the ability to limit the detrimental effects of infection) as a key animal defence strategy against disease. It focuses on diseases in natural systems, using the devastating amphibian fungal skin disease, chytridiomycosis, as a model. Expected outcomes include improved understanding of the relative importance of tolerance and resistance, and insight into the key immune and physiologic mechanisms underlying variations in tolerance. Anticipated benefits include improved strategies for mitigating infectious wildlife diseases via identifying targets for therapeutic interventions, ecological management and assisted-evolution strategies. This project should also benefit amphibian conservation globally.Read moreRead less
Forecasting coral reef recovery with new data-driven dispersal models. This project aims to combine innovative mathematical methods and new genetic data to accurately predict the larval dispersal patterns of reef fish and corals. Larval dispersal is central to the ecology of coral reefs, and has vital implications for conservation. Most marine organisms spend their early life dispersing in the ocean, but our understanding of where these tiny larvae go is limited by sparse data and unvalidated mo ....Forecasting coral reef recovery with new data-driven dispersal models. This project aims to combine innovative mathematical methods and new genetic data to accurately predict the larval dispersal patterns of reef fish and corals. Larval dispersal is central to the ecology of coral reefs, and has vital implications for conservation. Most marine organisms spend their early life dispersing in the ocean, but our understanding of where these tiny larvae go is limited by sparse data and unvalidated models. Applied to extensive case-studies from Australia and across the western Pacific Ocean, these methods will be used to forecast and understand the recovery of fish and coral populations following severe disturbances. This will provide benefits such as enabling us to prioritise conservation actions in the aftermath of severe disturbances, including the catastrophic 2016 mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.Read moreRead less
Outfoxing the fox: new cost-effective ways to protect threatened species. This project aims to address the damage caused by invasive foxes by applying new methods of protection for threatened species. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the areas of conservation biology and invasive species management by comparing the effectiveness of fox control strategies for improving the population viability of declining freshwater turtles. Expected outcomes of this project include a community- ....Outfoxing the fox: new cost-effective ways to protect threatened species. This project aims to address the damage caused by invasive foxes by applying new methods of protection for threatened species. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the areas of conservation biology and invasive species management by comparing the effectiveness of fox control strategies for improving the population viability of declining freshwater turtles. Expected outcomes of this project include a community-based conservation model that prevents turtle extinctions in south-eastern Australia at considerable cost savings. Significant benefits include improved management of the impacts of invasive species, and restoration of ecosystem services provided by the scavenging role of freshwater turtles for maintaining water quality.Read moreRead less
Adaptive management of arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Australia’s arid zones contain some of the world’s most threatened ecosystems. Management must begin immediately, but our understanding of these fragile species and ecosystems is currently very limited. This project will develop and apply new research in Adaptive Management (“learning by doing”) to ensure the persistence of these rare places.
A stitch in time: evidence-based strategy to keep platypus from extinction. This project aims to assess the status of the iconic platypus, identified as ‘near-threatened’ in 2014. The project’s multidisciplinary approach plans to compare regulated and unregulated rivers to investigate metapopulation structure (via physical and genetic tagging), current condition and future adaptability of the species, as well as other threats and habitat quality. The project also links vulnerability of platypus ....A stitch in time: evidence-based strategy to keep platypus from extinction. This project aims to assess the status of the iconic platypus, identified as ‘near-threatened’ in 2014. The project’s multidisciplinary approach plans to compare regulated and unregulated rivers to investigate metapopulation structure (via physical and genetic tagging), current condition and future adaptability of the species, as well as other threats and habitat quality. The project also links vulnerability of platypus populations to conservation actions that reduce extinction risk, through rigorous decision analyses. It is anticipated that the project will deliver implementable conservation actions at relevant scales.Read moreRead less
Surviving the inferno: how threatened macropods survive catastrophic fire. This project aims to determine the impact of the catastrophic black summer fires of 2019/20 on threatened wallabies, including the parma wallaby (that had 70% of its entire distribution burnt) and the red-legged pademelon. Following these fires, wildlife across Australia has been decimated. This project expects to generate new knowledge by comparing burnt and unburnt areas before and after the fires to determine their imp ....Surviving the inferno: how threatened macropods survive catastrophic fire. This project aims to determine the impact of the catastrophic black summer fires of 2019/20 on threatened wallabies, including the parma wallaby (that had 70% of its entire distribution burnt) and the red-legged pademelon. Following these fires, wildlife across Australia has been decimated. This project expects to generate new knowledge by comparing burnt and unburnt areas before and after the fires to determine their impact on threatened wallaby conservation ecology. The expected outcomes of this project include improved understanding of the impact of fires on Australia's iconic wildlife. This should significantly improve our ability to reduce the risk on these species in future megafires. Read moreRead less
The role of life history and food supply in the extinction of carnivorous marsupials. This project will test why marsupial predators show exceptionally diverse species lifespan and reproductive traits, reveal how these are affected by prey supply and climate change, and how they are linked to alarming species declines in our north. Understanding causes of vulnerability will help to focus conservation efforts to avert extinctions
A novel modelling approach for understanding wildlife disease dynamics. This project aims to develop a novel framework for field wildlife disease systems, applied to chytrid fungal infection of an endangered frog species as a case study. The project expects to develop models able to be applied to many disease systems, improve understanding of host resistance and tolerance to infection, and improve capacity for mitigation of emerging infectious diseases. This work should have international impac ....A novel modelling approach for understanding wildlife disease dynamics. This project aims to develop a novel framework for field wildlife disease systems, applied to chytrid fungal infection of an endangered frog species as a case study. The project expects to develop models able to be applied to many disease systems, improve understanding of host resistance and tolerance to infection, and improve capacity for mitigation of emerging infectious diseases. This work should have international impact and provide significant national benefits in ensuring the conservation of Australia’s biodiversity.Read moreRead less
The role of pollutants and emerging diseases in endangering a global migratory flyway. This project aims to investigate the role of chemical pollution on disease susceptibility and survival in shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). Among all long-distance migratory birds, the more than eight million shorebirds along the EAAF have notably been hit hard by global change, with population declines up to 80%. This project will use data from birds on their Asian migratory stopover ....The role of pollutants and emerging diseases in endangering a global migratory flyway. This project aims to investigate the role of chemical pollution on disease susceptibility and survival in shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). Among all long-distance migratory birds, the more than eight million shorebirds along the EAAF have notably been hit hard by global change, with population declines up to 80%. This project will use data from birds on their Asian migratory stopover sites, data from seven years of blood and virus samples, and 38 years of banding data collected while staying on the Australian non-breeding grounds. The project will provide essential data for developing mitigation strategies to help curb the populations’ demise, while informing on the effects of pollution on the role of migrants in disease spread.Read moreRead less
Maximising the benefit of emerging technologies for ecological survey. This project aims to provide a framework for designing effective and efficient ecological surveys. Scientists, governments and conservation agencies rely on ecological surveys to inform their species management decision-making. Advances in survey methods may improve efficiency but they are risky until they are tested. This project aims to build a framework that optimally allocates resources among different survey methods over ....Maximising the benefit of emerging technologies for ecological survey. This project aims to provide a framework for designing effective and efficient ecological surveys. Scientists, governments and conservation agencies rely on ecological surveys to inform their species management decision-making. Advances in survey methods may improve efficiency but they are risky until they are tested. This project aims to build a framework that optimally allocates resources among different survey methods over time. The framework would advance the theory of ecological survey design by addressing uncertainty in detection, and improve understanding of emerging methods such as eDNA sampling, drones and sniffer dogs. The project plans to use the framework to develop the best schedule for introducing new methods to four environmental management problems in Australia and the United States.Read moreRead less