The fitness consequences of age-dependent changes in cognitive abilities. This project aims to investigate health-related topics in invasive fish. The evolution of large brains suggests that smarter individuals have more offspring due to natural and sexual selection. This project aims to test if the ability to perform cognitively challenging tasks predicts reproductive success. In addition, many life history traits show a trade-off between early and late life performance. This project will test ....The fitness consequences of age-dependent changes in cognitive abilities. This project aims to investigate health-related topics in invasive fish. The evolution of large brains suggests that smarter individuals have more offspring due to natural and sexual selection. This project aims to test if the ability to perform cognitively challenging tasks predicts reproductive success. In addition, many life history traits show a trade-off between early and late life performance. This project will test this prediction to see if individuals with above average cognitive performance when young are below average when old, that is faster 'cognitive senescence', or whether some individuals stay relatively smarter than others throughout their lives.Read moreRead less
Vocal mimicry in songbirds. Many of the world’s largest clade of birds - the songbirds - incorporate vocal mimicry in their songs, but while scientific interest in vocal mimicry dates from Aristotle, limited progress has been made. With our unique research program we aim to provide an empirically based, theoretically informed understanding of avian vocal mimicry. In an important advance, we will examine both sexes to test long-held male-centric assumptions about evolutionary origins and maintena ....Vocal mimicry in songbirds. Many of the world’s largest clade of birds - the songbirds - incorporate vocal mimicry in their songs, but while scientific interest in vocal mimicry dates from Aristotle, limited progress has been made. With our unique research program we aim to provide an empirically based, theoretically informed understanding of avian vocal mimicry. In an important advance, we will examine both sexes to test long-held male-centric assumptions about evolutionary origins and maintenance of this trait. Crucially, we focus on lineages found only in Australia and PNG, where songbirds originated, to develop a robust scientific understanding of vocal mimicry across the entire songbird clade, and so provide an important new perspective on why and how song began.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
Maternal contributions to offspring development in a changing climate. This project aims to investigate how maternal contributions to offspring developmental environments affect metabolism, learning, growth, and survival of offspring. This project expects to provide mechanistic and evolutionary insights into how changes in metabolic function, brought about by changes in the developmental environment, contribute to variation in learning and life-history. Expected outcomes include an in-depth unde ....Maternal contributions to offspring development in a changing climate. This project aims to investigate how maternal contributions to offspring developmental environments affect metabolism, learning, growth, and survival of offspring. This project expects to provide mechanistic and evolutionary insights into how changes in metabolic function, brought about by changes in the developmental environment, contribute to variation in learning and life-history. Expected outcomes include an in-depth understanding of how changes in maternal investment and hormones impact offspring developing in different thermal environments and how such changes are mediated by compromised physiological function – providing significant benefits in understanding population persistence in Australia's rapidly changing climate.Read moreRead less
Dynamic assessment of threats to marine megafauna in face of global change. This project aims to develop a global approach to synthesise global tracking datasets and deliver near real-time diagnostics on risks for marine megafauna at a global scale pushing forward a new frontier in dynamic marine spatial management to improve conservation. This project expects to increase our understanding of how marine megafauna movements vary with environmental changes and how much they overlap with threatenin ....Dynamic assessment of threats to marine megafauna in face of global change. This project aims to develop a global approach to synthesise global tracking datasets and deliver near real-time diagnostics on risks for marine megafauna at a global scale pushing forward a new frontier in dynamic marine spatial management to improve conservation. This project expects to increase our understanding of how marine megafauna movements vary with environmental changes and how much they overlap with threatening global human activities. Expected outcomes will demonstrate how big data in marine telemetry can be synthesised and translated into ecologically significant behaviours. This should provide significant benefits to address global scientific and societal problems highlighted in the Australian science and research priorities.Read moreRead less
Does coevolution drive speciation? This project aims to connect micro-evolutionary processes with macro-evolutionary patterns to test the extent to which tightly coupled co-evolutionary interactions between species drive evolutionary diversification. The project will use techniques including the most recent phylogenetic modelling methods, field experiments and molecular genetics. Expected outcomes include advancing understanding of the mechanisms that generate biodiversity and developing new tec ....Does coevolution drive speciation? This project aims to connect micro-evolutionary processes with macro-evolutionary patterns to test the extent to which tightly coupled co-evolutionary interactions between species drive evolutionary diversification. The project will use techniques including the most recent phylogenetic modelling methods, field experiments and molecular genetics. Expected outcomes include advancing understanding of the mechanisms that generate biodiversity and developing new techniques for acquisition of DNA from museum specimens. The project is expected to provide significant benefits, such as insights into the processes that promote new species in nature.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100500
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$414,089.00
Summary
The role of enemies in the generation of biodiversity. A fundamental question in biology is how new species are generated. The role of abiotic factors has been widely explored, but there is still little known about the role that ecological or behavioural interactions between organisms, such as parasitism or predation, play in the generation of diversity. This project aims to test the importance of anti-predator defences (warning colours) in generating species. It will combine micro- and macroevo ....The role of enemies in the generation of biodiversity. A fundamental question in biology is how new species are generated. The role of abiotic factors has been widely explored, but there is still little known about the role that ecological or behavioural interactions between organisms, such as parasitism or predation, play in the generation of diversity. This project aims to test the importance of anti-predator defences (warning colours) in generating species. It will combine micro- and macroevolutionary analyses to provide an in-depth test of this association. This project aims to provide a bridge between behavioural ecology and macroevolutionary processes, using Australian fauna, and increase our knowledge about whether and how enemies can contribute to generating diversity of life on earth.Read moreRead less