The effect of native invasions on Australian fisheries species. This project aims to forecast climate-related changes in the diversity, distribution and abundance of fisheries species. In a changing world where many people depend on oceans for food and livelihood, predicting the future distribution of fisheries species is a challenge. Native invasions and ocean warming are stressing inshore fisheries species, but rigorous empirical data and models that can reliably forecast these effects are lac ....The effect of native invasions on Australian fisheries species. This project aims to forecast climate-related changes in the diversity, distribution and abundance of fisheries species. In a changing world where many people depend on oceans for food and livelihood, predicting the future distribution of fisheries species is a challenge. Native invasions and ocean warming are stressing inshore fisheries species, but rigorous empirical data and models that can reliably forecast these effects are lacking. This project intends to reveal the drivers of successful native invasions, evaluate their effect on fish diversity and productivity, and develop holistic models that forecast their effects on inshore fisheries species’ near-future distribution and stocks.Read moreRead less
Action selection in insects: how a microbrain knows what to do. Identifying what to do demands integrating sensory information with our current physiological state and memory of past experience to select the best possible action. This is the action selection problem. Our project aims to discover how tiny insect brains solve this fundamental problem. The project combines neural recordings from animals exploring virtual reality, behavioural analyses and computational modelling. The expected outco ....Action selection in insects: how a microbrain knows what to do. Identifying what to do demands integrating sensory information with our current physiological state and memory of past experience to select the best possible action. This is the action selection problem. Our project aims to discover how tiny insect brains solve this fundamental problem. The project combines neural recordings from animals exploring virtual reality, behavioural analyses and computational modelling. The expected outcome is a new understanding of the brain as an effective behavioural control system. This will benefit systems and comparative neuroscience. Our findings may also inspire solutions for robotic systems that must operate autonomously in remote and challenging environments such as disaster relief or exploration.Read moreRead less
Design of the cardiovascular system of living and fossil vertebrates. This project aims to understand how the heart and blood vessels evolved in mammals, birds, reptiles and fish to achieve efficiency. The heart is the most important organ for life. The project will study the structure and function of vertebrate animals’ hollow and spongy hearts to show how energetics shaped their evolution. It will measure arterial holes in bone to gauge brain and bone metabolism, which opens up a new way to me ....Design of the cardiovascular system of living and fossil vertebrates. This project aims to understand how the heart and blood vessels evolved in mammals, birds, reptiles and fish to achieve efficiency. The heart is the most important organ for life. The project will study the structure and function of vertebrate animals’ hollow and spongy hearts to show how energetics shaped their evolution. It will measure arterial holes in bone to gauge brain and bone metabolism, which opens up a new way to measure metabolism in extinct animals directly from fossils, rather than by inference from living relatives. The expected outcome is to correlate cardiovascular design and metabolic rates of organs.Read moreRead less
Life or death decisions: making fast, accurate choices in a complex world. This project aims to understand how hoverflies and honey bees, with tiny brains and sensory systems, excel at making fast and accurate decisions while on the fly in a complex world. The project will combine brain recordings with flight analyses and computational modelling to generate new knowledge on how animals may utilize movements to simplify information sampling. Expected outcomes are a novel, comprehensive understand ....Life or death decisions: making fast, accurate choices in a complex world. This project aims to understand how hoverflies and honey bees, with tiny brains and sensory systems, excel at making fast and accurate decisions while on the fly in a complex world. The project will combine brain recordings with flight analyses and computational modelling to generate new knowledge on how animals may utilize movements to simplify information sampling. Expected outcomes are a novel, comprehensive understanding of how animal movements could enhance decision speed and accuracy. This should provide substantial benefits for neuroscience, and for enhancing performance of autonomous robotic systems operating in challenging environments, such as disaster relief, mining and remote exploration. Read moreRead less
Structural reorganization of the hymenopteran mitochondrial genome. This study will be the first detailed investigation of the evolution of mt genome reorganization, and as such it will identify the processes that shape the evolution of a molecule widely used to interpret phylogeny. A description of the processes that lead to mt genome reorganization will have a substantial impact on our understanding in two areas of mt biology; (1) the discovery of new molecular phenomena that impact on the or ....Structural reorganization of the hymenopteran mitochondrial genome. This study will be the first detailed investigation of the evolution of mt genome reorganization, and as such it will identify the processes that shape the evolution of a molecule widely used to interpret phylogeny. A description of the processes that lead to mt genome reorganization will have a substantial impact on our understanding in two areas of mt biology; (1) the discovery of new molecular phenomena that impact on the organization and evolution of this genome, and (2) the interpretation of its phylogenetic content. It will establish our research group as a leader in the field of evolutionary genetics. Training of high quality students, with exposure to international researchers, will be a significant component of this program.Read moreRead less
Skeletal endocrine signalling in the regulation of glucose metabolism. This project seeks to explore a highly novel and interesting recent development in bone biology: the fact that the skeleton is a central regulator of glucose metabolism. Currently, the mechanisms involved in this process remain unclear. mTORC1 has been identified as a signalling pathway in bone cells that modulates glucose metabolism. This project plans to selectively delete mTORC1 in the bone cells of mice to examine how ske ....Skeletal endocrine signalling in the regulation of glucose metabolism. This project seeks to explore a highly novel and interesting recent development in bone biology: the fact that the skeleton is a central regulator of glucose metabolism. Currently, the mechanisms involved in this process remain unclear. mTORC1 has been identified as a signalling pathway in bone cells that modulates glucose metabolism. This project plans to selectively delete mTORC1 in the bone cells of mice to examine how skeletal mTORC1 signalling regulates glucose metabolism, and identify novel pathways and circulating factors involved in this process. These studies may provide greater understanding of the basic biology of glucose metabolism, and may have applications in animal husbandry and the future management of diabetes.Read moreRead less
How climate-resilient are our temperate fisheries species? This project assesses the resilience of our temperate fisheries species to climate change. Using natural warming hotspots and volcanic CO2 vents we study populations of fisheries species that are already pre-adapted to future climate, and therefore could act as key populations for replenishment of future fisheries stocks. An innovative and interdisciplinary approach combines the ecology, genetics, behaviour, and physiology of fisheries s ....How climate-resilient are our temperate fisheries species? This project assesses the resilience of our temperate fisheries species to climate change. Using natural warming hotspots and volcanic CO2 vents we study populations of fisheries species that are already pre-adapted to future climate, and therefore could act as key populations for replenishment of future fisheries stocks. An innovative and interdisciplinary approach combines the ecology, genetics, behaviour, and physiology of fisheries species to evaluate their climate resilience. An advanced food web model will be developed to forecast changes to fisheries production in a future world. This provides a much-improved forecast of climate adaptation and managing future biodiversity and fisheries species through resilient genes and populations.Read moreRead less
Estimating genotype-environment interaction using genomic information. This project aims to develop statistical methods that can explore genotype–environment interaction at the genomic level using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms or sequence data. It plans to estimate how the effects of genetic variants change with changing environmental conditions and how overall genetic variance changes due to changing effects in specific gene regions. It plans to deliver statistical models and meth ....Estimating genotype-environment interaction using genomic information. This project aims to develop statistical methods that can explore genotype–environment interaction at the genomic level using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms or sequence data. It plans to estimate how the effects of genetic variants change with changing environmental conditions and how overall genetic variance changes due to changing effects in specific gene regions. It plans to deliver statistical models and methods and an efficient algorithm implemented in software, which would broadly benefit the field of complex trait genetics. Methods to estimate genotype–environment interaction effects at the genomic level would help elucidate complex biological systems, including human genetic response to changing environmental factors and the potential adaptation of animals to changing environmental conditions.Read moreRead less
Empowering next-generation sea-ice models with wave–ice mathematics. Sea ice is a crucial part of the Australian and global climate systems, and the most sensitive indicator of the alarming climate changes in motion. This project aims to deliver a vital component in next-generation sea-ice models, by modelling ocean waves in the ice-covered ocean, and implementing it in the leading large-scale sea-ice model. The waves-in-ice model will be accurate for the range of possible wave–ice conditions, u ....Empowering next-generation sea-ice models with wave–ice mathematics. Sea ice is a crucial part of the Australian and global climate systems, and the most sensitive indicator of the alarming climate changes in motion. This project aims to deliver a vital component in next-generation sea-ice models, by modelling ocean waves in the ice-covered ocean, and implementing it in the leading large-scale sea-ice model. The waves-in-ice model will be accurate for the range of possible wave–ice conditions, using understanding derived from state-of-the-art experimental measurements. Powerful mathematical approximation methods will be developed to generate model efficiency. The outcomes will create a new standard in sea-ice modelling, with significant benefits for sea-ice forecasting and climate studies.Read moreRead less
How do protein quality control mechanisms maintain neuronal ageing? This project aims to interrogate how mechanisms of protein quality control act in the brain - an organ that is particularly vulnerable to a high load of misfolded protein - to maintain normal physiology during ageing. This project expects to make advances in cellular biochemistry and neuroscience, using an innovative proximity labelling approach to identify quality control regulators in neurons that specifically engage with misf ....How do protein quality control mechanisms maintain neuronal ageing? This project aims to interrogate how mechanisms of protein quality control act in the brain - an organ that is particularly vulnerable to a high load of misfolded protein - to maintain normal physiology during ageing. This project expects to make advances in cellular biochemistry and neuroscience, using an innovative proximity labelling approach to identify quality control regulators in neurons that specifically engage with misfolded proteins during ageing, within the nervous system of a living animal. Expected outcomes of this project will generate new knowledge of brain physiology and ageing relevant to all animals. This should provide significant benefits, such as a greater understanding of long-term brain functions including memory.Read moreRead less