Revisiting the ontogeny of vocal learning in birds: from neuron to fitness. This project aims to test the hypothesis that acoustic exposure prior to hatching directly affects gene expression, neural development, behaviour and consequently fitness, in wild populations of songbirds. Recent research suggests that animals are receptive to acoustic parental signals long before birth and may use such previously unrecognised signals to make adaptive developmental decisions. This project will quantify t ....Revisiting the ontogeny of vocal learning in birds: from neuron to fitness. This project aims to test the hypothesis that acoustic exposure prior to hatching directly affects gene expression, neural development, behaviour and consequently fitness, in wild populations of songbirds. Recent research suggests that animals are receptive to acoustic parental signals long before birth and may use such previously unrecognised signals to make adaptive developmental decisions. This project will quantify the effect on neural development and vocal learning in embryonic birds, employing a model songbird species. The outcomes of this study will transform our understanding of the adaptive potential of prenatal vocal learning, which will have significant benefits for human speech and language development.Read moreRead less
Expanding gene-environment causality in evolutionary genetics. This project aims to investigate how environmental experiences shape phenotypes, engender variance in populations and ultimately contribute to evolution. It targets new discoveries for how environmental effects can multiply throughout ontogeny and/or propagate across generations. Although widely speculated to support new evolutionary paradigms, such knowledge lacks scrutiny according to the formal metric of quantitative genetics. Thi ....Expanding gene-environment causality in evolutionary genetics. This project aims to investigate how environmental experiences shape phenotypes, engender variance in populations and ultimately contribute to evolution. It targets new discoveries for how environmental effects can multiply throughout ontogeny and/or propagate across generations. Although widely speculated to support new evolutionary paradigms, such knowledge lacks scrutiny according to the formal metric of quantitative genetics. This project seeks to expose guppy pedigrees to unique manipulations and reconcile adaptive evolution across captive and wild populations. The outcome is expected to address knowledge gaps in the life and human sciences and potentially inform goals in primary production and conservation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100824
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Pre-natal communication in adaptation to hot climate. This project aims to reveal how birds programme their offspring for a warming world, by communicating acoustically with their embryos. Most animals, including humans, can hear external sounds before birth, but it is not known what function this plays. An Australian bird calls to its eggs at high ambient temperatures, which alters nestling growth and survival. This project will show the physiological effects involved and the consequences for a ....Pre-natal communication in adaptation to hot climate. This project aims to reveal how birds programme their offspring for a warming world, by communicating acoustically with their embryos. Most animals, including humans, can hear external sounds before birth, but it is not known what function this plays. An Australian bird calls to its eggs at high ambient temperatures, which alters nestling growth and survival. This project will show the physiological effects involved and the consequences for adaptation to heat in wild birds. This project will elucidate whether the global reduction in animal body size is an adaptive response to rising temperatures, and research the therapeutic benefits of pre-natal sounds.Read moreRead less
Cerebellar control of classical conditioning. This project proposes to use zebrafish, in combination with optogenetics, to identify and test patterns of neural activity that are responsible for classical conditioning. It will do this by describing the connections between the cerebellum and other brain regions, and by observing patterns of neural activity as learning takes place. Next, the project will block or recreate these patterns of activity to see whether they are necessary or sufficient fo ....Cerebellar control of classical conditioning. This project proposes to use zebrafish, in combination with optogenetics, to identify and test patterns of neural activity that are responsible for classical conditioning. It will do this by describing the connections between the cerebellum and other brain regions, and by observing patterns of neural activity as learning takes place. Next, the project will block or recreate these patterns of activity to see whether they are necessary or sufficient for learning. The goal is to describe, in concrete terms, how patterns of neural activity in this part of the brain result in learning. In so doing, the project also aims to develop and test new technologies and approaches for studying the functioning brain.Read moreRead less
Cerebellar control of motor coordination and learning. The cerebellum is the part of the brain responsible for smooth body movements, but many details of how it works are still unclear. This project is aimed at learning how the cerebellum communicates with the rest of the brain, and what parts of this communication are necessary for coordinated movement.
Neural mechanisms of motor learning. The cerebellum is the part of the brain responsible for smooth body movements, but many details of how it works are still unclear. This project is aimed at learning how the cerebellum communicates with the rest of the brain, and what parts of this communication are necessary for coordinated movement.
Human-animal relationships in zoos: Optimising animal and visitor experiences. Extensive research on human-animal relationships in agricultural and domestic settings shows that human-animal interaction affects animal behaviour and welfare, which in turn affect human attitudes to animals. As conservation and welfare organisations, zoos aim to provide visitors with opportunities to closely interact with animals to improve visitor experience and conservation outcomes, whilst maintaining good animal ....Human-animal relationships in zoos: Optimising animal and visitor experiences. Extensive research on human-animal relationships in agricultural and domestic settings shows that human-animal interaction affects animal behaviour and welfare, which in turn affect human attitudes to animals. As conservation and welfare organisations, zoos aim to provide visitors with opportunities to closely interact with animals to improve visitor experience and conservation outcomes, whilst maintaining good animal welfare. Some visitor interactions may be stressful for some animals creating conflict between animal welfare and visitor experience. By determining visitor effects, this project aims to provide zoos with practical animal management and educational strategies to optimise both animal welfare and visitor experience.Read moreRead less
Evolution of intelligence in small brains: how to navigate the messy natural outdoors smartly. This project unravels how small-brained desert ants navigate expertly using simple and coarse-grade visual cues, focusing on 1) how they use skylines, where the tops of terrestrial objects meet the sky, and 2) how they search efficiently for goals. The outcomes will be invaluable for designing robots that can navigate in the messy natural outdoors.
Evolution of the mammalian baculum. This project aims to test the hypothesis that the shape of the mammalian baculum (penis bone) evolved via its stimulatory effects on females that promote reproduction. The baculum is the most morphologically divergent bone in the mammalian body. The reason for this divergence is one of the most puzzling enigmas of mammalian morphology. This project will use comparative evolutionary methods, quantitative genetics, morphometrics, behavioural analysis and techniq ....Evolution of the mammalian baculum. This project aims to test the hypothesis that the shape of the mammalian baculum (penis bone) evolved via its stimulatory effects on females that promote reproduction. The baculum is the most morphologically divergent bone in the mammalian body. The reason for this divergence is one of the most puzzling enigmas of mammalian morphology. This project will use comparative evolutionary methods, quantitative genetics, morphometrics, behavioural analysis and techniques from neurobiology and physiology to test this hypothesis. This project aims to address fundamental questions in reproductive biology.Read moreRead less
Neural mechanisms of vestibular perception in zebrafish. This project aims to understand vestibular processing by removing physical movement. The vestibular system allows us to perceive gravity and movement, but it is not understood how the brain processes information from vestibular sensors in the inner ear. This project will exert forces on the zebrafish’s inner ear with a laser, stimulating the vestibular sense. This means that the animal will experience vestibular stimuli while stationary, a ....Neural mechanisms of vestibular perception in zebrafish. This project aims to understand vestibular processing by removing physical movement. The vestibular system allows us to perceive gravity and movement, but it is not understood how the brain processes information from vestibular sensors in the inner ear. This project will exert forces on the zebrafish’s inner ear with a laser, stimulating the vestibular sense. This means that the animal will experience vestibular stimuli while stationary, allowing calcium imaging of neurons that respond to vestibular cues and optogenetics to stimulate or silence these neurons. This is expected to reveal which cells and circuits mediate vestibular perception, processing and behaviour.Read moreRead less