Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101266
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$358,536.00
Summary
Evolutionary and environmental basis of CO2 tolerance in coral reef fishes. This project aims to examine the effects of ocean acidification on coral reef fishes due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Physiological performance of fish vary under elevated CO2, but behaviour is consistently, negatively impacted. This project aims to investigate evolutionary trade-offs between behaviour and performance, physiological mechanisms key to compromising, maintaining, or enhancing metabolic pe ....Evolutionary and environmental basis of CO2 tolerance in coral reef fishes. This project aims to examine the effects of ocean acidification on coral reef fishes due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Physiological performance of fish vary under elevated CO2, but behaviour is consistently, negatively impacted. This project aims to investigate evolutionary trade-offs between behaviour and performance, physiological mechanisms key to compromising, maintaining, or enhancing metabolic performance under elevated CO2, and the importance of habitat in how fish respond to elevated CO2. As fish play critical roles in marine ecosystems by structuring food webs and driving ecological processes, this information will be critical for predicting the effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems and biodiversity.Read moreRead less
Integrating evolution and plasticity into predictions of population persistence in a changing climate: adaptation or extinction? To effectively manage biodiversity at a time of rapid environmental change, Australia needs accurate predictions of how human alterations to climate and habitat will affect species. This project integrates evolution and spatial ecology to develop new tools for predicting and understanding how species will respond to environmental change.
Functional evolution and therapeutic potential of snake venom coagulotoxins. This project aims to identify and understand the factors that influence the useful function of key residues (parts of larger compounds) in Australian snake venom coagulotoxins, which alter blood-clotting ability. In recent years, snake venom compounds have been demonstrated as useful models from which to synthesise therapeutic drugs to improve health and well-being. This project will test these important toxins on model ....Functional evolution and therapeutic potential of snake venom coagulotoxins. This project aims to identify and understand the factors that influence the useful function of key residues (parts of larger compounds) in Australian snake venom coagulotoxins, which alter blood-clotting ability. In recent years, snake venom compounds have been demonstrated as useful models from which to synthesise therapeutic drugs to improve health and well-being. This project will test these important toxins on model systems that represent natural prey items in order to determine the molecular and functional evolution of blood-clot forming enzymes. Expected outcomes include substantial contributions to the body of evolutionary biology knowledge, as well as narrowing the search for the ultimate drug candidates.Read moreRead less
Illuminating the evolutionary history of Australia’s most iconic animals. This project aims to pinpoint the nature and timing of key steps in macropod history and to test how these link with major climatic and biotic changes. Macropods (kangaroos and relatives) are widely considered the marsupial equivalents to hoofed mammals on other continents, but we have a weaker understanding of how their evolution was shaped by environmental change. This project will combine palaeontology, anatomy and gene ....Illuminating the evolutionary history of Australia’s most iconic animals. This project aims to pinpoint the nature and timing of key steps in macropod history and to test how these link with major climatic and biotic changes. Macropods (kangaroos and relatives) are widely considered the marsupial equivalents to hoofed mammals on other continents, but we have a weaker understanding of how their evolution was shaped by environmental change. This project will combine palaeontology, anatomy and genetics to address questions such as how and why ancestral macropods descended from the trees and evolved bipedal hopping, and the upper size limits of the kangaroo “body plan”. This should improve our understanding of the long-term effects of climate change on marsupials, and provide a test of key placental-based evolutionary models.Read moreRead less
Peripheral isolates as hotbeds of adaptive diversity. This project uses cutting edge molecular technology and spatial analyses to predict the location of diversity relevant to managing the impact of climate change. Knowledge generated in this project will open the door to the informed use of genetic translocation in efforts to kerb expected biodiversity losses.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100218
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$373,172.00
Summary
Can species interactions drive diversification? Species interactions may drive the evolution of species diversity but we currently lack the empirical evidence to demonstrate conclusively how this occurs. Using a group of closely-related species native to Australia's rainforest, this study will test how species interactions drive the evolution of mating traits and the formation of new species.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100354
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
How adaptation increases the intensity of sexual conflict. This project aims to test a theory that a species’ adaptation to its environment may cause sexual conflicts where gene variants increase the fitness of one sex but decrease it in the other. When populations harbour large numbers of these sexually antagonistic genes, adaptation is hampered and extinction becomes more likely. This project will fuse experimental evolution with quantitative genetic approaches to test this theory. Understandi ....How adaptation increases the intensity of sexual conflict. This project aims to test a theory that a species’ adaptation to its environment may cause sexual conflicts where gene variants increase the fitness of one sex but decrease it in the other. When populations harbour large numbers of these sexually antagonistic genes, adaptation is hampered and extinction becomes more likely. This project will fuse experimental evolution with quantitative genetic approaches to test this theory. Understanding sex differences in adaptation and the evolution of sexual dimorphism could enable scientists to predict levels of sexually deleterious variation under changing environmental conditions. Its findings are expected to provide new insights into sex differences in adaptation.Read moreRead less
Detecting sex differences in natural selection. This project aims to develop new genomic approaches for understanding how genetic mutations can differentially affect reproductive success in males and females. Applying novel tests, this project aims to uncover previously hidden genetic conflicts between the sexes. This will provide significant benefits, such as new tools that will be broadly applicable to the wider research community, and help to answer key questions in genetics and evolutionary ....Detecting sex differences in natural selection. This project aims to develop new genomic approaches for understanding how genetic mutations can differentially affect reproductive success in males and females. Applying novel tests, this project aims to uncover previously hidden genetic conflicts between the sexes. This will provide significant benefits, such as new tools that will be broadly applicable to the wider research community, and help to answer key questions in genetics and evolutionary biology in the current genomic era.Read moreRead less
Unravelling the molecular diversity and evolution of centipede venoms. The project intends to improve understanding of venom evolution in centipedes. Venoms have emerged as a rich source of pharmacological tools with potential for development into therapeutics and bioinsecticides. However, venoms-based discovery has been limited by the narrow taxonomical range of animals studied, with many groups of venomous animals overlooked. One such group is centipedes, whose venoms contain diverse toxins th ....Unravelling the molecular diversity and evolution of centipede venoms. The project intends to improve understanding of venom evolution in centipedes. Venoms have emerged as a rich source of pharmacological tools with potential for development into therapeutics and bioinsecticides. However, venoms-based discovery has been limited by the narrow taxonomical range of animals studied, with many groups of venomous animals overlooked. One such group is centipedes, whose venoms contain diverse toxins that differ between taxa. This project aims to provide an insight into centipede venom evolution, and how it might be constrained by venom-gland morphology. This study seeks to contribute to our understanding of protein evolution and direct biodiscovery efforts around centipede venom.Read moreRead less
A genomic approach to understanding the maintenance of genetic variation under sexual selection. Using a model Australian species, this project will dissect the linkages between DNA sequence variation, gene expression, phenotypic traits and fitness in a natural population. Data will facilitate powerful tests of evolutionary processes thought to maintain genetic variation in complex traits.