Predicting adaptive responses to climate change in Australian native bees. This project aims to understand how insects will adapt to climate change by examining a largely overlooked but economically important group of species: Australian native bees. Native bees are important pollinators of both crops and native plants, but their sensitivity to changes in climate are unknown. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of the resilience of native bees to climate change, and new effective tools for p ....Predicting adaptive responses to climate change in Australian native bees. This project aims to understand how insects will adapt to climate change by examining a largely overlooked but economically important group of species: Australian native bees. Native bees are important pollinators of both crops and native plants, but their sensitivity to changes in climate are unknown. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of the resilience of native bees to climate change, and new effective tools for predicting climate change resilience that can be applied to many species. The intended benefits include increasing our understanding of the potential for native bees to act as future pollinators in Australia’s natural and agro-ecosystems, and guide policy and management decisions to better protect and conserve our bee fauna.Read moreRead less
Maternal effects and sex allocation: an integrated approach. This project will produce research of a high international standard combining a number of key fields in evolution and ecology. The team we have assembled provides a link between Australian-based researchers and leading overseas theoreticians facilitating integration between evolutionary theory and empirical research on the unique Australian fauna. Furthermore, while climate change is identified as a priority area for research, Australi ....Maternal effects and sex allocation: an integrated approach. This project will produce research of a high international standard combining a number of key fields in evolution and ecology. The team we have assembled provides a link between Australian-based researchers and leading overseas theoreticians facilitating integration between evolutionary theory and empirical research on the unique Australian fauna. Furthermore, while climate change is identified as a priority area for research, Australia typically lacks the history of long-term phenological monitoring that is required to understand climate change impacts. This project takes an important step towards addressing this shortcoming.Read moreRead less
Antarctic freshwater lake fauna: Palaeobiogeography, palaeoecology and applications to climate change studies. The origins of the Antarctic freshwater fauna are poorly known: Are the species currently extant long-term endemics descended from species present before the formation of the Antarctic ice-cap, or are they recent invaders from more temperate zones? By studying the distribution of faunal remains in the sediments of freshwater lakes, a picture of the development of the fauna in space and ....Antarctic freshwater lake fauna: Palaeobiogeography, palaeoecology and applications to climate change studies. The origins of the Antarctic freshwater fauna are poorly known: Are the species currently extant long-term endemics descended from species present before the formation of the Antarctic ice-cap, or are they recent invaders from more temperate zones? By studying the distribution of faunal remains in the sediments of freshwater lakes, a picture of the development of the fauna in space and time ('palaeobiogeography') will be formed that will allow the Antarctic fauna to be placed in a wider biogeographic context. Changes in the faunal distribution will also be interpreted in terms of lake palaeoecology and climate change.Read moreRead less
Drought and death: past, present and future survival limits in the Australian vegetation landscape. Science cannot predict the point at which water stress becomes lethal for plants. This research into plant water transport aims to find a new way to understand whether plant species will die or adapt to a future drier climate.
Can evolution rescue marine populations from environmental change? This project aims to test whether rapid evolutionary responses can buffer marine species against the environmental changes impacting Australia’s coastal ecosystems now and in coming years. This project plans to use an innovative experimental evolution framework to test the newly-advanced theory of evolutionary rescue, its goal is to understand whether populations can adapt to new environments fast enough to outpace extinction, an ....Can evolution rescue marine populations from environmental change? This project aims to test whether rapid evolutionary responses can buffer marine species against the environmental changes impacting Australia’s coastal ecosystems now and in coming years. This project plans to use an innovative experimental evolution framework to test the newly-advanced theory of evolutionary rescue, its goal is to understand whether populations can adapt to new environments fast enough to outpace extinction, and how phenotypic plasticity, fluctuating natural selection and biotic interactions influence extinction risk. The intended outcome is to deliver key insights into the intrinsic capacity of our marine biota to withstand the current and near-future challenges that they face, and to inform predictions about population persistence. In doing so, this project should deliver vital information on extinction risk to managers, policy-makers and other stakeholders, and contribute innovative, cutting-edge research in an area of national priority.Read moreRead less
Keeping pace with a changing climate: can Australian plants count on rapid evolution? Integrating field and common-garden experiments with cutting-edge genomic technology, this project will answer the critical question of whether Australia's flora can count on evolution to keep pace with a rapidly changing climate. The project outcomes will inform science-based policies integrating social-economic development and biodiversity conservation.
Multi-trait plasticity in response to a changing climate. This project aims to understand the effect of climate change on natural populations. Phenotypic plasticity (the ability to change phenotype with environment) determines natural populations’ immediate response to environmental change. However, studies of plasticity frequently rely on simplifying assumptions, and understanding the genomic and epigenomic mechanisms underlying plasticity is only just emerging. This project will combine a fine ....Multi-trait plasticity in response to a changing climate. This project aims to understand the effect of climate change on natural populations. Phenotypic plasticity (the ability to change phenotype with environment) determines natural populations’ immediate response to environmental change. However, studies of plasticity frequently rely on simplifying assumptions, and understanding the genomic and epigenomic mechanisms underlying plasticity is only just emerging. This project will combine a fine-scale temperature-manipulation experiment with genomic and multivariate statistical analyses of a native Australian alpine plant. The intended outcome is a comprehensive analysis of whether multi-trait phenotypic plasticity is adaptive; whether it can evolve; and the epigenomic mechanisms that drive it. The project will predict the likely effect of temperature change on alpine plants, and so generate information internationally relevant to the management of populations adapting to climate change and locally relevant to the conservation of Australian montane flora.Read moreRead less
Demographic consequences of environmental change for wild bird populations. The project intends to improve our understanding of how climate drives shifts in body size and shape in wildlife populations, and the implications of such responses for population viability. Populations of plants and animals are showing a range of responses to recent, rapid shifts in the Earth’s climate. The ecological and evolutionary significance of these responses and the mechanisms that drive them remain largely unkn ....Demographic consequences of environmental change for wild bird populations. The project intends to improve our understanding of how climate drives shifts in body size and shape in wildlife populations, and the implications of such responses for population viability. Populations of plants and animals are showing a range of responses to recent, rapid shifts in the Earth’s climate. The ecological and evolutionary significance of these responses and the mechanisms that drive them remain largely unknown. Focusing on Australian birds, the project plans to integrate long-term records from citizen science, museum collections and field studies to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the pattern and process of morphological change. Understanding the processes driving change may help in developing strategies to manage our biodiversity as climate changes. Read moreRead less
Getting smaller as temperatures rise? Body size responses of Australian birds to climate change. Many animals appear to be declining in size as climate change occurs, but why this is so is unclear. Using historical records and museum specimens we will determine the factors underlying body size reductions in Australian birds, and especially the role of changing temperature and ecosystem productivity.
Reconstructing the impact of climate change on Australian native species. This project will explore the impact of past climate change on Australian native animals to identify species and ecosystems at greatest potential risk, and to help predict and minimise the effects of future change.