Evolution of Australia's globally unique hotspot of floral diversity. Australia has a globally recognised biodiversity hotspot, the southwest of Western Australia, but this unique eucalypt-dominated flora is threatened. This project will gain new insights into the evolutionary processes that generate and maintain such diversity, their vulnerability; and how the iconic eucalypts came to dominate the Australian landscape.
Evolutionary history and conservation of an iconic Australian plant group. This project aims to strengthen biodiversity conservation using evolutionary biology. By using new DNA sequencing technologies the project aims to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the diverse and ecologically important plant family Proteaceae. This will be used to discover how past environmental changes have produced the biodiversity we see today, and forecast likely future changes to biodiversity under expected r ....Evolutionary history and conservation of an iconic Australian plant group. This project aims to strengthen biodiversity conservation using evolutionary biology. By using new DNA sequencing technologies the project aims to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the diverse and ecologically important plant family Proteaceae. This will be used to discover how past environmental changes have produced the biodiversity we see today, and forecast likely future changes to biodiversity under expected rapid environmental change. The key outcome will be a new methodology for a predictive, forward-looking conservation science that accounts explicitly for the dynamic, evolving nature of biodiversity. The key benefit will be a more robust scientific basis for strategic allocation of limited conservation resources.Read moreRead less
Phenotypic plasticity and plant water use in a changing climate: a multi-species, multi-site investigation. Plants are highly responsive to the conditions under which they grow, but the combination of conditions they experience will be altered under climate change. This research into plant responses to the novel environments posed by climate change will examine plasticity in water-use-traits to better predict native plant tolerance of climate change.
New approaches to understanding the forces driving convergent evolution. This project aims to address the evolutionary biology question of what drives convergent evolution of morphological phenotypes. Leveraging previous research on the phylogenetics of Australian reptiles and amphibians, the project will apply new methodological and analytical tools for quantifying and evaluating morphological diversity in a phylogenetic context. The project expects to test the influence of climate, habitat and ....New approaches to understanding the forces driving convergent evolution. This project aims to address the evolutionary biology question of what drives convergent evolution of morphological phenotypes. Leveraging previous research on the phylogenetics of Australian reptiles and amphibians, the project will apply new methodological and analytical tools for quantifying and evaluating morphological diversity in a phylogenetic context. The project expects to test the influence of climate, habitat and evolutionary history on driving convergent morphological evolution across multiple independent animal groups. The project will address fundamental theories on convergent evolution and will improve public awareness of Australia’s unique animals and their history.Read moreRead less
Phenotypic diversity dynamics at a continental scale. This project aims to build on previous research on the phylogenetics of Australian vertebrate animals to apply sophisticated new methodological and analytical tools for modelling species diversification. Australia is famous for the great diversity and uniqueness of its plants and animals, due in part to 40 million years of relative isolation. The project plans to test the influence of historical climate and habitat shifts on morphological evo ....Phenotypic diversity dynamics at a continental scale. This project aims to build on previous research on the phylogenetics of Australian vertebrate animals to apply sophisticated new methodological and analytical tools for modelling species diversification. Australia is famous for the great diversity and uniqueness of its plants and animals, due in part to 40 million years of relative isolation. The project plans to test the influence of historical climate and habitat shifts on morphological evolution and assembly of the Australian biota. This project could showcase Australia as the best place in the World to rigorously test hypotheses concerning rates of biological diversification at a continental scale.Read moreRead less
Improving access to phylogenomic resources for under-resourced species: a new look at existing tools. This project will have an impact on our understanding of how to most effectively use existing genomic resources to benefit a wider range of species and to better design new genomic resources. By doing so, improved access to genomic resources will be provided to species that currently have few options.
Biological diversification across Australia in space and time. This project aims to address fundamental questions about the diversification of Australian species and to have practical and impactful outcomes. It will leverage previous ARC funded research on the phylogenomics of Australian reptiles and amphibians and apply sophisticated analytical tools for quantifying and evaluating biological diversity in multiple dimensions and in a phylogenetic context. The expected outcomes include a publicly ....Biological diversification across Australia in space and time. This project aims to address fundamental questions about the diversification of Australian species and to have practical and impactful outcomes. It will leverage previous ARC funded research on the phylogenomics of Australian reptiles and amphibians and apply sophisticated analytical tools for quantifying and evaluating biological diversity in multiple dimensions and in a phylogenetic context. The expected outcomes include a publicly accessible comprehensive database that will be integrated with the Atlas of Living Australia and rigorous testing of a series of hypotheses concerning how old and recent Australian groups evolved in response to biotic invasions and climate change. Read moreRead less
Evolving rates: foundations for the next generation of molecular clocks. This project aims to investigate the causes and consequences of variation in rate of DNA sequence evolution across three kingdoms of life. Dates estimated from DNA sequences have a wide range of applications, including evolutionary biology, conservation prioritisation and epidemiology. These methods rely on accurate rate estimates, but current models lack information about the biological drivers of rates of genomic change. ....Evolving rates: foundations for the next generation of molecular clocks. This project aims to investigate the causes and consequences of variation in rate of DNA sequence evolution across three kingdoms of life. Dates estimated from DNA sequences have a wide range of applications, including evolutionary biology, conservation prioritisation and epidemiology. These methods rely on accurate rate estimates, but current models lack information about the biological drivers of rates of genomic change. This project will test reliability of current methods, identify potentially misleading estimates of disease origin or conservation priorities, and develop new approaches with empirically-informed models of rate change.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100491
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$418,386.00
Summary
Linking genomic changes to the generation of biodiversity. This project aims to provide a suite of theories, methods and software to enhance our understanding on how the generation of variation at molecular level is linked to the generation of species richness at lineage level. This new approach tests various ways that molecular changes are manifested as patterns of diversification, as revealed by genomic data analysed at the lineage level in phylogenetic studies. Expected outcomes of this proje ....Linking genomic changes to the generation of biodiversity. This project aims to provide a suite of theories, methods and software to enhance our understanding on how the generation of variation at molecular level is linked to the generation of species richness at lineage level. This new approach tests various ways that molecular changes are manifested as patterns of diversification, as revealed by genomic data analysed at the lineage level in phylogenetic studies. Expected outcomes of this project add to a growing body of evolutionary theory and provide practical phylogenetic tools for future analyses. These should benefit Australia by improving our understanding on the formation of Australia’s biodiversity hotspots.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101720
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$386,923.00
Summary
Pollination by sexual deception and the evolution of specialisation. Specialised pollination systems are of global scientific importance because they offer unique insights into speciation and are exceptionally vulnerable to anthropogenic change. Fundamental gaps remain in our knowledge of the adaptations required for specialisation, the ecological processes favouring its evolution, and whether specialisation facilitates or constrains floral evolution. This project aims to address these questions ....Pollination by sexual deception and the evolution of specialisation. Specialised pollination systems are of global scientific importance because they offer unique insights into speciation and are exceptionally vulnerable to anthropogenic change. Fundamental gaps remain in our knowledge of the adaptations required for specialisation, the ecological processes favouring its evolution, and whether specialisation facilitates or constrains floral evolution. This project aims to address these questions in a unique and diverse group of Australian orchids that are pollinated by sexual mimicry. This work will apply experimental, ecological and phylogenetic approaches to understand the visual and chemical adaptations to sexual mimicry and their consequences for species diversification, floral evolution and conservation.Read moreRead less