Using genetic Allee effects to manage invasive populations. An invasion can be started with only a small number of individuals, and it is very difficult to reliably detect these individuals. This project aims to develop new genetic technology that can send small founder populations extinct without affecting large populations. This technology removes the problem of having to detect small populations; these small populations will go extinct on their own, without the need for management interventio ....Using genetic Allee effects to manage invasive populations. An invasion can be started with only a small number of individuals, and it is very difficult to reliably detect these individuals. This project aims to develop new genetic technology that can send small founder populations extinct without affecting large populations. This technology removes the problem of having to detect small populations; these small populations will go extinct on their own, without the need for management intervention. This technology could be used to prevent establishment and spread of invasive species and agricultural pests. Through a combination of experimentation and modelling, the project develops this technology and assesses its use in applied problems ranging across environment, agriculture, and health.Read moreRead less
Contact Networks, Immunity, and Evolution in Competing Cancer Epidemics. The project aims to evaluate evolutionary interactions between two transmissible cancer epidemics affecting Tasmanian devils and quantify their feedback on infection risk and epidemic behaviour. Using contact tracing and a phylogenetic framework we aim to quantify how tumour lineages evolve with each generation of infection and their effects on susceptibility to infection and disease progression. We expect to reveal the hos ....Contact Networks, Immunity, and Evolution in Competing Cancer Epidemics. The project aims to evaluate evolutionary interactions between two transmissible cancer epidemics affecting Tasmanian devils and quantify their feedback on infection risk and epidemic behaviour. Using contact tracing and a phylogenetic framework we aim to quantify how tumour lineages evolve with each generation of infection and their effects on susceptibility to infection and disease progression. We expect to reveal the host immuno-genetic basis underpinning cancer suppression and the adaptive capacity of populations in response to infectious diseases. This should significantly improve our ability to understand and manage this and other epidemic outbreaks in wildlife, as well as advancing our knowledge in cancer ecology and evolution.Read moreRead less
Some like it hot: the genetics of rapid adaptation to climate change. This project investigates the genetics of rapid evolutionary adaptation by utilising genomes sampled over unparalleled temporal and spatial scales in a highly invasive and agriculturally significant weed. This project expects to generate new knowledge about the genetic mechanisms that facilitate adaptation to climate change by developing new theory and genomic predictions, and then testing them under realistic field conditions ....Some like it hot: the genetics of rapid adaptation to climate change. This project investigates the genetics of rapid evolutionary adaptation by utilising genomes sampled over unparalleled temporal and spatial scales in a highly invasive and agriculturally significant weed. This project expects to generate new knowledge about the genetic mechanisms that facilitate adaptation to climate change by developing new theory and genomic predictions, and then testing them under realistic field conditions. Expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of the genetic basis of adaptation, and a powerful framework to predict the evolutionary consequences of climate change. This should provide significant benefits, including improved capacity to anticipate the effects of climate change on noxious and threatened species.Read moreRead less