Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240101022
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$457,000.00
Summary
Linking movement and animal vision to uncover functions of dynamic colours. This project aims to address a fundamental biological question: what drives the extraordinary diversity of colours in nature? Using cutting-edge, interdisciplinary techniques, this project expects to link visual properties, movement and animal vision to discover functions of animal colouration, generating significant new insights for the fields of visual ecology, animal behaviour and camouflage. The outcomes of this proj ....Linking movement and animal vision to uncover functions of dynamic colours. This project aims to address a fundamental biological question: what drives the extraordinary diversity of colours in nature? Using cutting-edge, interdisciplinary techniques, this project expects to link visual properties, movement and animal vision to discover functions of animal colouration, generating significant new insights for the fields of visual ecology, animal behaviour and camouflage. The outcomes of this project include enhanced national and international collaboration and new tools for animal behaviour, perception and camouflage research. This work will benefit our understanding of vision, colour and the relationship between the two, with significant scope for bio-inspired solutions to sensor and image processing problems.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101346
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$418,893.00
Summary
Cave microbial metabolism as a missing biogeochemical sink. The aim of this project is to unveil the microbial biodiversity, novel metabolic capabilities and chemosynthetic primary production of subsurface ecosystems, such as those found in caves. Leveraging a powerful blend of geospatial, molecular and biogeochemical approaches this project expects to identify the microbial basis of subsurface biogeochemical processes driving the earth’s major elementary cycles. Expected outcomes include a pred ....Cave microbial metabolism as a missing biogeochemical sink. The aim of this project is to unveil the microbial biodiversity, novel metabolic capabilities and chemosynthetic primary production of subsurface ecosystems, such as those found in caves. Leveraging a powerful blend of geospatial, molecular and biogeochemical approaches this project expects to identify the microbial basis of subsurface biogeochemical processes driving the earth’s major elementary cycles. Expected outcomes include a predictive framework to assess and upscale the impact of these microbial communities on the environment. Benefits include predicting and responding to climate risks, such as the desertification of agricultural soils, by uncovering how microorganisms respond to nutrient and carbon depletion.Read moreRead less
Enabling wider use of mechanistic models for biodiversity forecasts . Forecasting species distributions is challenging yet necessary. The pattern-based models commonly used are error-prone. Mechanistic models, best equipped for the task, are limited by lack of data. This project aims to enable wider use of mechanistic models by developing new methods for dealing with incomplete trait data and uncertainty. It expects to generate new knowledge about how species’ traits define the environments in w ....Enabling wider use of mechanistic models for biodiversity forecasts . Forecasting species distributions is challenging yet necessary. The pattern-based models commonly used are error-prone. Mechanistic models, best equipped for the task, are limited by lack of data. This project aims to enable wider use of mechanistic models by developing new methods for dealing with incomplete trait data and uncertainty. It expects to generate new knowledge about how species’ traits define the environments in which they persist. Anticipated outcomes include enhanced capacity to apply mechanistic models to conservation problems, methods for communicating uncertainties and models for tens of species of immediate conservation interest. This will enable more reliable biodiversity forecasts, supporting better decision-making.
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Deep-time history of culturally significant lands and waters in Timor-Leste. This project aims to provide a new framework for understanding and managing lands and waters of exceptional biological and cultural value. The project expects to generate the first long-term records of ecological change in Timor-Leste's unique forest and tropical savanna ecosystems, providing novel insights into ancient cultural landscapes threatened by climate change. Expected outcomes include enhanced collaboration be ....Deep-time history of culturally significant lands and waters in Timor-Leste. This project aims to provide a new framework for understanding and managing lands and waters of exceptional biological and cultural value. The project expects to generate the first long-term records of ecological change in Timor-Leste's unique forest and tropical savanna ecosystems, providing novel insights into ancient cultural landscapes threatened by climate change. Expected outcomes include enhanced collaboration between Australia and Timor-Leste and comprehensive data and educational resources relevant to managing climate impacts on livelihoods. This should provide significant benefits to scientific dialogue in the Asia-Pacific region and help support economic opportunities that respect indigenous environmental knowledge.Read moreRead less
Contact Networks, Immunity, and Evolution in Competing Cancer Epidemics. The project aims to evaluate evolutionary interactions between two transmissible cancer epidemics affecting Tasmanian devils and quantify their feedback on infection risk and epidemic behaviour. Using contact tracing and a phylogenetic framework we aim to quantify how tumour lineages evolve with each generation of infection and their effects on susceptibility to infection and disease progression. We expect to reveal the hos ....Contact Networks, Immunity, and Evolution in Competing Cancer Epidemics. The project aims to evaluate evolutionary interactions between two transmissible cancer epidemics affecting Tasmanian devils and quantify their feedback on infection risk and epidemic behaviour. Using contact tracing and a phylogenetic framework we aim to quantify how tumour lineages evolve with each generation of infection and their effects on susceptibility to infection and disease progression. We expect to reveal the host immuno-genetic basis underpinning cancer suppression and the adaptive capacity of populations in response to infectious diseases. This should significantly improve our ability to understand and manage this and other epidemic outbreaks in wildlife, as well as advancing our knowledge in cancer ecology and evolution.Read moreRead less