On the move: the study of self-organised movement of animal groups with and without leadership. This project will uncover the common principles that control the movement of large groups of organisms. We will focus on swarming honey bees, hopping bands of billions of locusts and millions of crickets marching in unison. The outcomes of our research will be broadly applicable to other collective phenomena, even to traffic and crowd control in humans.
Social insects as model systems in complexity science. Many optimisation algorithms are based on the behaviour of social insects. These algorithms function well under static conditions, when there is only one optimal solution. This project will determine how individual insect behaviour affects collective behaviour. Outcomes will allow the development of better algorithms.
Vulnerability to cocaine use: discovering common mechanisms conserved across animal phyla. Drug abuse costs Australia an estimated $ 20 billion each year, and research is urgently needed to understand how drugs cause long-term behavioural dysfunction. Our research will identify the basal cellular mechanisms underlying drug abuse and addiction, which are likely to be the best targets for therapies to prevent and cure addiction. Our findings are also relevant to other neuropsychiatric disorders r ....Vulnerability to cocaine use: discovering common mechanisms conserved across animal phyla. Drug abuse costs Australia an estimated $ 20 billion each year, and research is urgently needed to understand how drugs cause long-term behavioural dysfunction. Our research will identify the basal cellular mechanisms underlying drug abuse and addiction, which are likely to be the best targets for therapies to prevent and cure addiction. Our findings are also relevant to other neuropsychiatric disorders related to drug abuse (e.g. depression, anxiety) that are on the increase in Australia. Our work will enhance Australia's reputation for neuroscience research, and will provide training for students in neuropharmacology and molecular neurobiology.Read moreRead less
Higher cognition and hemispheric specialization in an avian species: referential and intentional communication. We will discover whether alarm calls of Australian magpies, noted for their outstanding range of vocalisations, are referential (signalling predator type and location) and intentional (vocalised in specific contexts). Such complex communication , once thought to be unique to humans, has been found in some mammals and just one avian species, the domestic chick. This project will be the ....Higher cognition and hemispheric specialization in an avian species: referential and intentional communication. We will discover whether alarm calls of Australian magpies, noted for their outstanding range of vocalisations, are referential (signalling predator type and location) and intentional (vocalised in specific contexts). Such complex communication , once thought to be unique to humans, has been found in some mammals and just one avian species, the domestic chick. This project will be the first such investigation of an avian species in its natural habitat. This is important also because bird and mammalian brains are organised differently and birds offer a unique opportunity to discover whether one hemisphere is specialised for this purpose.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.
Becoming expert navigators with tiny brains: Learning in desert ants. Desert ants with tiny brains learn to use their surrounding visual landscape to navigate. This project investigates in detail how they do that in a few carefully orchestrated trips around their nest called learning walks. Desert ants are known now to use magnetic cues to orient during their learning walks. The project also probes the role that magnetic cues play in the ants’ learning, as well as the sensory basis of the percep ....Becoming expert navigators with tiny brains: Learning in desert ants. Desert ants with tiny brains learn to use their surrounding visual landscape to navigate. This project investigates in detail how they do that in a few carefully orchestrated trips around their nest called learning walks. Desert ants are known now to use magnetic cues to orient during their learning walks. The project also probes the role that magnetic cues play in the ants’ learning, as well as the sensory basis of the perception of magnetic cues. Geomagnetic cues in the area of the nest will be artificially manipulated to test how ants use this cue. Probing the use of magnetic cues has potential benefits for projects of artificial autonomous navigation in situations when visual cues are unavailable, such as exploring a deep mine.
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The evolution of insect genitalia: phallic reversal in Australian praying mantids. This project will enhance our knowledge of the evolutionary processes that drive biodiversity within species and speciation itself. These issues are fundamental to evolutionary biology, and are of great interest for the general public. We have been extraordinarily successful in communicating our research to the public via natural history articles and films. We will continue to generate high impact publications fro ....The evolution of insect genitalia: phallic reversal in Australian praying mantids. This project will enhance our knowledge of the evolutionary processes that drive biodiversity within species and speciation itself. These issues are fundamental to evolutionary biology, and are of great interest for the general public. We have been extraordinarily successful in communicating our research to the public via natural history articles and films. We will continue to generate high impact publications from this research that will increase the international research profile of Australia in the scientific community. This project will establish international collaborations between Australia and the University of Exeter in Cornwall (UK) and provide employment and high quality training to a research associate and a research assistant. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100352
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$388,487.00
Summary
Reconstructing evolutionary history of termite collective nest construction. This project aims to ask and answer fundamental questions about how complex animal collective behaviour has evolved in the history of life. It combines the quantification of termite building behaviour and nest structures using a state-of-the-art video tracking technique with the latest molecular phylogenetics. This project expects to provide the first comprehensive information on termite collective building in a phyloge ....Reconstructing evolutionary history of termite collective nest construction. This project aims to ask and answer fundamental questions about how complex animal collective behaviour has evolved in the history of life. It combines the quantification of termite building behaviour and nest structures using a state-of-the-art video tracking technique with the latest molecular phylogenetics. This project expects to provide the first comprehensive information on termite collective building in a phylogenetic framework, which will be a showcase study of future studies on the evolution of complex phenotypes and resolve a debate over termite social evolution. Furthermore, it provides new knowledge of Australian native termite fauna as economically destructive pest insects.Read moreRead less
The Role of Torpor in the Life of Arid Zone Mammals. Global warming is predicted to significantly affect our climate. The study will provide critical information about the thermal and energetic capabilities and requirements of native Australian mammals. As little is known about the functional adaptations of arid zone mammals in the wild, these results will be a significant advancement in knowledge about the biology of native Australian species. The data will allow us to predict whether and how p ....The Role of Torpor in the Life of Arid Zone Mammals. Global warming is predicted to significantly affect our climate. The study will provide critical information about the thermal and energetic capabilities and requirements of native Australian mammals. As little is known about the functional adaptations of arid zone mammals in the wild, these results will be a significant advancement in knowledge about the biology of native Australian species. The data will allow us to predict whether and how populations may be affected in the future and provide wildlife managers with an additional tool for making appropriate and sound decisions for the conservation of wildlife. Moreover, the project will enhance the scientific standing of Australia, improve international collaboration, and train students.Read moreRead less
Evolution, learning, and the use of multiple cues in desert ant navigation. This research on desert ants benefits Australia by fostering an international collaboration with one of the best European scientists, training students, and increasing knowledge about Australia's unique fauna, helping us to appreciate and better manage our fragile desert environments. With this international link, students working on this and related projects benefit intellectually from mingling with an international com ....Evolution, learning, and the use of multiple cues in desert ant navigation. This research on desert ants benefits Australia by fostering an international collaboration with one of the best European scientists, training students, and increasing knowledge about Australia's unique fauna, helping us to appreciate and better manage our fragile desert environments. With this international link, students working on this and related projects benefit intellectually from mingling with an international community of scientists.Understanding insect behaviour also has benefits for robotics. Work on desert ants has already resulted in robotic applications, and our outcomes concerning the optimal integration of multiple spatial cues are especially relevant.Read moreRead less