Quantifying environmental constraints on animal behaviour. This project aims to determine how habitat structure, weather and motion vision influence animal behaviour. Motion vision controls locomotion, foraging, evading predators and communicating. However, information on the conditions for motion vision in natural environments is limited. To address this, this project will combine field techniques with tools from 3D animation and computer vision. The project will focus on Australia’s dragon liz ....Quantifying environmental constraints on animal behaviour. This project aims to determine how habitat structure, weather and motion vision influence animal behaviour. Motion vision controls locomotion, foraging, evading predators and communicating. However, information on the conditions for motion vision in natural environments is limited. To address this, this project will combine field techniques with tools from 3D animation and computer vision. The project will focus on Australia’s dragon lizards, and place their motion displays in a visual-ecological context. The expected outcome is a more complete picture of the signalling context, which could advance sensory ecology, vision science and animal behaviour, with practical applications in artificial intelligence and derived benefits for education and community engagement in biology.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100096
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$436,032.00
Summary
Understanding the relationship between the social environment and cognition. The predominant theory for the evolution of intelligence, the social intelligence hypothesis (SIH), posits that within-group social interactions drive cognitive evolution. But the SIH overlooks a major component of social life: interactions with outsiders of the same species. Using a unique combination of meta-analytical and experimental approaches, the DECRA project will test the predictions of an expanded SIH, incorpo ....Understanding the relationship between the social environment and cognition. The predominant theory for the evolution of intelligence, the social intelligence hypothesis (SIH), posits that within-group social interactions drive cognitive evolution. But the SIH overlooks a major component of social life: interactions with outsiders of the same species. Using a unique combination of meta-analytical and experimental approaches, the DECRA project will test the predictions of an expanded SIH, incorporating the “Napoleonic” cognitive challenges posed by outsiders. The expected outcome is to gain a new understanding of which factors govern cognitive evolution – one of the longest-running debates in evolutionary biology.Read moreRead less
Transgenerational Consequences of Different Environmental Experiences. The project aims to deliver an integrative overview of behavioural, evolutionary and environmental epigenetics. In particular, by studying why stress-related experiences of organisms (e.g. exposure to toxins) can be passed onto the future generations regardless of its seemingly fitness-reducing impacts. It also aims to test if the seemingly beneficial effect of non-stress related experiences (e.g. environmental enrichment) ca ....Transgenerational Consequences of Different Environmental Experiences. The project aims to deliver an integrative overview of behavioural, evolutionary and environmental epigenetics. In particular, by studying why stress-related experiences of organisms (e.g. exposure to toxins) can be passed onto the future generations regardless of its seemingly fitness-reducing impacts. It also aims to test if the seemingly beneficial effect of non-stress related experiences (e.g. environmental enrichment) can be inherited transgenerationally. This project involves both research synthesis (e.g. meta-analysis) and experiments on zebrafish employing cutting-edge statistical, computational and molecular methods along with behavioural assays. Also, the outcomes of the synthesis are expected to guide future work in the field. Read moreRead less
Ecological role of sleep in maintaining optimal brain function in birds. This project aims to explain the function of sleep. Sleep is thought to maintain optimal brain functioning to support waking cognition. Nearly all sleep research is laboratory-based, which fails to realistically capture how animals benefit from sleep. Ecologists treat sleep as a simple behaviour, instead of as a heterogeneous neurophysiological state, while neuroscientists generally fail to appreciate the insights ecologica ....Ecological role of sleep in maintaining optimal brain function in birds. This project aims to explain the function of sleep. Sleep is thought to maintain optimal brain functioning to support waking cognition. Nearly all sleep research is laboratory-based, which fails to realistically capture how animals benefit from sleep. Ecologists treat sleep as a simple behaviour, instead of as a heterogeneous neurophysiological state, while neuroscientists generally fail to appreciate the insights ecological and evolutionary systems offer. This project adopts a cross-disciplinary approach, bringing together animal behaviour, ecology, evolution, anthropogenic disturbance and sleep neurophysiology. By doing so, the project will add a new dimension of understanding on the functions of sleep.Read moreRead less
Sex chromosomes and speciation: chromosome inversion and the large Z-effect. This project aims to understand the divergence of species and the importance of two genomic features of often disproportionately large effect between young taxa – the sex chromosomes, and chromosome inversions. The research will integrate genomics and transcriptomics with the study of traits closely aligned to speciation in birds – song, colour, and sperm morphology and protein composition. The project will provide sign ....Sex chromosomes and speciation: chromosome inversion and the large Z-effect. This project aims to understand the divergence of species and the importance of two genomic features of often disproportionately large effect between young taxa – the sex chromosomes, and chromosome inversions. The research will integrate genomics and transcriptomics with the study of traits closely aligned to speciation in birds – song, colour, and sperm morphology and protein composition. The project will provide significant benefits such as enhancing Australia’s strength in the field of evolutionary biology.Read moreRead less
Animal camouflage patterns. This project aims to understand whether animal camouflage patterns can produce the illusion of 3D form. By using the latest techniques in 3D computer imaging, vision science and animal behaviour, this work addresses the previously untested but fundamental theory on 3D camouflage patterns. The development of theory on the ecology and evolution of animal patterning will enhance our understanding of the processes that maintain biological diversity. This research is expec ....Animal camouflage patterns. This project aims to understand whether animal camouflage patterns can produce the illusion of 3D form. By using the latest techniques in 3D computer imaging, vision science and animal behaviour, this work addresses the previously untested but fundamental theory on 3D camouflage patterns. The development of theory on the ecology and evolution of animal patterning will enhance our understanding of the processes that maintain biological diversity. This research is expected to have broad impact across multiple disciplines and will inform novel military defence strategies and contribute to emerging bio-inspired technologies.Read moreRead less
Stomatopods v Cephalopods: discovery from an information coding arms-race. This proposal aims to unlock the power of a 400 million year old evolutionary arms race between two of earth's most successful predators, cephalopods (e.g. octopus) and mantis shrimp (stomatopods). New knowledge in vision (sensor design), neural coding (circuits and information flow) and behavioural (decisions and actions) innovations from these two groups will have fundamental and applied outcomes. The interdisciplinary ....Stomatopods v Cephalopods: discovery from an information coding arms-race. This proposal aims to unlock the power of a 400 million year old evolutionary arms race between two of earth's most successful predators, cephalopods (e.g. octopus) and mantis shrimp (stomatopods). New knowledge in vision (sensor design), neural coding (circuits and information flow) and behavioural (decisions and actions) innovations from these two groups will have fundamental and applied outcomes. The interdisciplinary and comparative nature of the project aims to amplify outcomes in questions of efficient neural coding, optical design and bio-inspired solutions. Benefits from the study include GPS-free navigation in marine engineering and rapid exposure of research results to millions of people through existing communication programs. Read moreRead less
Animating the study of visual communication. This project aims to inform how dynamic colour signals broker information exchange by connecting stimulus design with perception through space and time. Biological studies of colour signalling have largely proceeded via static terms that underestimate the true fluidity of natural contexts. This project aspires to animate the field using innovative approaches such as programmable nano-drones to reveal how flashing colours are perceived under diverse vi ....Animating the study of visual communication. This project aims to inform how dynamic colour signals broker information exchange by connecting stimulus design with perception through space and time. Biological studies of colour signalling have largely proceeded via static terms that underestimate the true fluidity of natural contexts. This project aspires to animate the field using innovative approaches such as programmable nano-drones to reveal how flashing colours are perceived under diverse viewing conditions. The knowledge advances are expected to generate new intellectual paradigms and models, and have significant scope for bio-inspiration in areas such as telecommunication, information processing and the optimal design of visual displays.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220101316
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$368,174.00
Summary
Protecting prey from predators using sensory tactics. This project aims to develop new approaches to prevent the extinction of threatened native species from invasive predators, such as rats, pigs, cats and foxes. Many native species are hard to see but vulnerable to being found by predators with powerful senses of smell and hearing. By harnessing the sensory cues of prey that predators use when hunting, this project expects to discover olfactory and auditory techniques that prevent predators fi ....Protecting prey from predators using sensory tactics. This project aims to develop new approaches to prevent the extinction of threatened native species from invasive predators, such as rats, pigs, cats and foxes. Many native species are hard to see but vulnerable to being found by predators with powerful senses of smell and hearing. By harnessing the sensory cues of prey that predators use when hunting, this project expects to discover olfactory and auditory techniques that prevent predators finding threatened species. In doing so, the project intends to provide new perspectives on how animals find food using multiple senses, and lead the recovery of threatened species in areas where predators remain within Australia and globally. Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL190100134
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,010,635.00
Summary
Sexual conflict and evolutionary dynamics of insecticide resistance genes. This project aims to develop new approaches to mitigate resistance evolution by applying sexual selection theory to predict evolution of insecticide resistance in flies. A key assumption of current agriculture management strategies is that resistance carries fecundity or survival costs, but this is rarely demonstrated, especially in nature. Not all resistance mutations are novel; many represent pre-existing variants maint ....Sexual conflict and evolutionary dynamics of insecticide resistance genes. This project aims to develop new approaches to mitigate resistance evolution by applying sexual selection theory to predict evolution of insecticide resistance in flies. A key assumption of current agriculture management strategies is that resistance carries fecundity or survival costs, but this is rarely demonstrated, especially in nature. Not all resistance mutations are novel; many represent pre-existing variants maintained by balancing selection i.e. opposing effects in males and females, or by environmental fluctuations. This research will provide new insight into how resistance evolves and is maintained in natural populations and may result in potential reduction in pesticide use with associated economic and biodiversity benefits. Read moreRead less