Buffering the ecosystem impact of invasive cane toads. This project aims to address the devastating ecological problems caused by invasive species, by developing a novel approach that does not rely upon eradicating the invader through training vulnerable native predators not to eat toxic cane toads. Expected outcomes of this project include building a broad coalition of conservation-focused groups, from private land-owners and local businesses through to Indigenous groups and government and non- ....Buffering the ecosystem impact of invasive cane toads. This project aims to address the devastating ecological problems caused by invasive species, by developing a novel approach that does not rely upon eradicating the invader through training vulnerable native predators not to eat toxic cane toads. Expected outcomes of this project include building a broad coalition of conservation-focused groups, from private land-owners and local businesses through to Indigenous groups and government and non-government agencies across the entire Kimberley region. It will also result in the evaluation of methods for deployment of taste-aversion at a landscape scale. This should provide significant benefits by conserving vulnerable fauna and building a powerful network within a region of high biodiversity in tropical Australia.Read moreRead less
Heterarchical modelling of nutritional ecology: from individuals to communities. The project will combine advances in nutritional theory, agent-based modelling and landscape ecology to produce a modelling framework with which to understand the interrelationships between the physiology and behaviour of individual organisms and the populations, communities and ecosystems in which they reside. The resulting computational model will provide a major new initiative in quantitative ecology and allow sp ....Heterarchical modelling of nutritional ecology: from individuals to communities. The project will combine advances in nutritional theory, agent-based modelling and landscape ecology to produce a modelling framework with which to understand the interrelationships between the physiology and behaviour of individual organisms and the populations, communities and ecosystems in which they reside. The resulting computational model will provide a major new initiative in quantitative ecology and allow specific practical problems to be addressed in relation to agricultural pests, invasive species, conservation biology and animal production systems.Read moreRead less
Discovering how termites use vibrations to make foraging decisions. Termites are pests affecting one third of Australian homes. The annual cost of treatment and damage repair is over $20 billion worldwide. Yet, little is known about how termites make foraging decisions based on vibrations. This project will study the key features in vibration signals produced by termites to unlock the secrets of their foraging behaviour.
Stress, virulence and bacterial disease in temperate seaweeds: the rise of the microbes. Climate change is predicted to increase the spread and virulence of pathogens, and decrease the resistance to disease via temperature stress on the hosts. Combined with other human impacts (higher nutrients, pollution), we may be facing a major rise in the effect of disease on natural communities. However, these effects are largely unstudied. We will investigate the impact of marine pathogens on kelps and ....Stress, virulence and bacterial disease in temperate seaweeds: the rise of the microbes. Climate change is predicted to increase the spread and virulence of pathogens, and decrease the resistance to disease via temperature stress on the hosts. Combined with other human impacts (higher nutrients, pollution), we may be facing a major rise in the effect of disease on natural communities. However, these effects are largely unstudied. We will investigate the impact of marine pathogens on kelps and other seaweeds when they are stressed by temperature, elevated nutrients or other anthropogenic stressors. Kelp are the 'trees of the oceans', the organisms responsible for creating much of the habitat that fishes and other organisms live in. The loss of kelp forests due to disease would radically change these environments.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775666
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$200,000.00
Summary
Flora and Fauna Research Facility. Our ability to make informed decisions regarding conservation and management of unique Australian ecosytems depends greatly on our understanding of the organisms inhabiting them. Researchers at the University of Wollongong are addressing this need through a wide range of studies including the: effects of climate change on plants, biology of invasive species, possible causes for declining frog populations, role of the immune system in aging and natural selection ....Flora and Fauna Research Facility. Our ability to make informed decisions regarding conservation and management of unique Australian ecosytems depends greatly on our understanding of the organisms inhabiting them. Researchers at the University of Wollongong are addressing this need through a wide range of studies including the: effects of climate change on plants, biology of invasive species, possible causes for declining frog populations, role of the immune system in aging and natural selection, effects of maternal hormones on offspring, effects of pesticides on native vertebrates, and impacts of bushfires on ecosystems. The infrastructure requested will enable research in these and other important areas.Read moreRead less
From individuals to mass organisation: aggregation, synchronisation and collective movement in locusts. By combining field biology, robotics and mathematics, this project will determine how animals flock or swarm and, in particular, how locust nymphs control their collective movement over their lifetime. The mathematical models derived during the project will be directly applied to controlling outbreaks of locusts in Australia, South and North Africa.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100833
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
The nutritional regulation of food chain length in terrestrial arthropod communities. Little is known about how the behaviour of individual animals affects the structure and function of ecological communities. By quantifying the diet requirements of predators and comparing them to the nutrients in prey at different trophic levels, this project will test if nutrient-based foraging by predators regulates food chain length in arthropod communities.
Understanding animals through their movement. This project aims to develop a suite of analytical methods to understand animals' behaviour through their movement patterns. Animal movement patterns encode detailed information about their behavioural state. Collecting and analysing animal movement trajectories can provide us with completely new insights to behaviour. Recent developments in bio-logging technologies have provided an incredible amount of rich data on free-ranging animals. This project ....Understanding animals through their movement. This project aims to develop a suite of analytical methods to understand animals' behaviour through their movement patterns. Animal movement patterns encode detailed information about their behavioural state. Collecting and analysing animal movement trajectories can provide us with completely new insights to behaviour. Recent developments in bio-logging technologies have provided an incredible amount of rich data on free-ranging animals. This project will develop a suite of analytical techniques to interrogate this data through a combination of approaches, from fine scale experiments in the laboratory to tracking animal trajectories from the International Space Station. The findings will deliver major benefits to the broader community by transforming our ability to manage and conserve animal stocks.Read moreRead less
Sexual conflict and the evolution of nuptial gifts. This project aims to understand how sexual conflict drives the evolution of “manipulative” nuptial gifts in male arthropods and how females respond to ingesting these gifts. Nuptial food gifts comprise materials (other than sperm) that are offered by males to females to consume at mating, and are an integral feature of the mating systems of a wide variety of arthropods. The project will study the decorated cricket, a species where males produce ....Sexual conflict and the evolution of nuptial gifts. This project aims to understand how sexual conflict drives the evolution of “manipulative” nuptial gifts in male arthropods and how females respond to ingesting these gifts. Nuptial food gifts comprise materials (other than sperm) that are offered by males to females to consume at mating, and are an integral feature of the mating systems of a wide variety of arthropods. The project will study the decorated cricket, a species where males produce a nuptial food gift that contains a cocktail of chemicals known to influence female reproduction when eaten. The project is expected to strengthen Australia’s international standing in evolutionary research and help train the next generation of evolutionary biologists.Read moreRead less
Comparative studies of invasive plants: a leaf carbon strategy approach. Invasion of communities by exotic plants is a significant threat to biodiversity globally. This proposal is to strengthen collaborative links between the Plant Invasion Research Laboratories of Leishman in Australia and Richardson in South Africa. Their current research seeks to understand strategies of invasive plants in novel environments using the framework of leaf carbon strategies. Australian plants invasive in South A ....Comparative studies of invasive plants: a leaf carbon strategy approach. Invasion of communities by exotic plants is a significant threat to biodiversity globally. This proposal is to strengthen collaborative links between the Plant Invasion Research Laboratories of Leishman in Australia and Richardson in South Africa. Their current research seeks to understand strategies of invasive plants in novel environments using the framework of leaf carbon strategies. Australian plants invasive in South Africa and South African plants invasive in Australia provide an ideal model system. This collaborative research will enable better prediction of potential invaders, as well as providing important input for models of plant, ecosystem and biosphere responses to global change incorporating invasion dynamics.Read moreRead less