Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102614
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Monitoring coral reef health from space: how herbivore behaviour alters reef structure. This research seeks to understand how both fishing and marine reserves can shape coral reef landscapes by changing the way herbivores behave while foraging for food. It will use an innovative approach combining ecological theory with satellite imagery, resulting in a predictive tool for resource managers both in Australia and globally.
How different is different: highly contrasting colours in animal patterns. Red apples in green trees and blue berries on the ground create very different visual signals to animals. Furthermore, elaborate animal colour patterns have evolved to render them conspicuous or camouflaged against their background. Despite the ecological and evolutionary importance of animal colour patterns, little is known about how larger colour contrasts and complex patterns are perceived by animals. This project aim ....How different is different: highly contrasting colours in animal patterns. Red apples in green trees and blue berries on the ground create very different visual signals to animals. Furthermore, elaborate animal colour patterns have evolved to render them conspicuous or camouflaged against their background. Despite the ecological and evolutionary importance of animal colour patterns, little is known about how larger colour contrasts and complex patterns are perceived by animals. This project aims to fill this knowledge gap specifically it endeavours: to provide useful tools for behavioural ecologists and visual neuroscientists, and to understand for the first time the full gamut of colour signalling in both terrestrial and aquatic environments.Read moreRead less
Genetic Rescue of Australia's Arid Zone Plants. Many Australian arid zone plant species have been severely damaged by grazing, loss of pollinators and other impacts and cannot survive without urgent intervention. Some exist as small fragmented populations with too little genetic variation to reproduce or adapt to further environmental change. We propose to combine surveys of genetic (DNA) diversity and the reproductive status of populations in order to identify species that could be saved by a ....Genetic Rescue of Australia's Arid Zone Plants. Many Australian arid zone plant species have been severely damaged by grazing, loss of pollinators and other impacts and cannot survive without urgent intervention. Some exist as small fragmented populations with too little genetic variation to reproduce or adapt to further environmental change. We propose to combine surveys of genetic (DNA) diversity and the reproductive status of populations in order to identify species that could be saved by a process of ‘genetic rescue’. Genetic rescue will involve experimental pollinations to produce highly fit seedlings and later transplanting of these seedlings to augment genetically deficient populations.
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Changing water availability and the conservation of wide-ranging species. Changing water availability and the conservation of wide-ranging species. This project aims to examine the factors that influence conservation in multiple-use zones, using a functional habitat approach to study hollow-dependent black-cockatoos and parrots in the jarrah forest of south-western Australia as a model system. It will focus on how water availability influences landscape use, and its potential as a management too ....Changing water availability and the conservation of wide-ranging species. Changing water availability and the conservation of wide-ranging species. This project aims to examine the factors that influence conservation in multiple-use zones, using a functional habitat approach to study hollow-dependent black-cockatoos and parrots in the jarrah forest of south-western Australia as a model system. It will focus on how water availability influences landscape use, and its potential as a management tool, and use this information to effectively conserve wide-ranging species in multiple-use landscapes in a changing climate. The project is anticipated to reduce the negative effects of competing land uses on biodiversity and improve the efficiency of conservation and landscape management.Read moreRead less
Effects of fire on the reproductive ecology of terrestrial orchids and on their pollinators in fragmented landscapes of southern Australia. This project will combine traditional plant and insect ecology with advanced molecular techniques to ascertain the effects of fire management on terrestrial orchids and their pollinators in fragmented landscapes. This will improve our understanding of the Australian biota and improve management and conservation of terrestrial orchids.
Sensory strategies for protecting endangered sawfishes. The Gulf of Carpentaria is the last habitat worldwide containing sustainable populations of sawfish. Easily entangled in nets, the saw has reduced population numbers dramatically in Australia with all species now protected under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This study will provide basic biological information on feeding ....Sensory strategies for protecting endangered sawfishes. The Gulf of Carpentaria is the last habitat worldwide containing sustainable populations of sawfish. Easily entangled in nets, the saw has reduced population numbers dramatically in Australia with all species now protected under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This study will provide basic biological information on feeding, prey manipulation and the role of critical senses in the only captive population of sawfishes in Australia. Such knowledge will underpin the development and use of visual, chemical and/or magnetic repellents by fisherman that are still responsible for the loss of large numbers of sawfish as by-catch.Read moreRead less
The evolution of cooperative communication. This interdisciplinary project will provide a broad understanding of communication in a model ecological system involving ants, lycaenid butterflies, and host-plants. The project will reveal the nature of the chemical signals used to communicate, and their role in the origin, maintenance, and loss of mutualistic and parasitic associations.
The origins of gender. This project intends to address how the evolutionary phenomena of intra-sexual competition and inter-sexual conflict interact with economic circumstances to shape gendered behaviour and attitudes. These phenomena are important in evolution, economics, psychology and sociology, with implications for the economy and for the welfare of women and men. The project predicts that gender-related culture arises, partially, out of mating market dynamics. The research crosses traditi ....The origins of gender. This project intends to address how the evolutionary phenomena of intra-sexual competition and inter-sexual conflict interact with economic circumstances to shape gendered behaviour and attitudes. These phenomena are important in evolution, economics, psychology and sociology, with implications for the economy and for the welfare of women and men. The project predicts that gender-related culture arises, partially, out of mating market dynamics. The research crosses traditional boundaries between biology and economics to investigate the forces giving rise to gendered behaviour and resulting patterns of marriages, violence, political preferences and occupational choices. The project may provide new insights into the links between gender and violence, within-family conflicts, and gender roles in the home and workplace.Read moreRead less
Understanding the crowd - improving accuracy in collective motion theory. This project intends to develop more accurate methods for predicting the motions of large groups. The amazing coordinated movements seen in large groups of animals are governed by simple interactions between individuals, termed rules of motion. In 2011, techniques were developed to estimate individual rules of motion from video tracking data. The project plans to build on these breakthroughs by using advanced tracking, mod ....Understanding the crowd - improving accuracy in collective motion theory. This project intends to develop more accurate methods for predicting the motions of large groups. The amazing coordinated movements seen in large groups of animals are governed by simple interactions between individuals, termed rules of motion. In 2011, techniques were developed to estimate individual rules of motion from video tracking data. The project plans to build on these breakthroughs by using advanced tracking, modelling and analysis to systematically determine the influence that different movement parameters have on rules of motion and how rules of motion are affected by group size. It aims to develop a framework for analysis and modelling built on the visual perception of individuals.Read moreRead less
Leadership matters: the emergence of informed leaders and their influence on group movement. This project will discover the effect of leadership and social structure on collective motion in schools of damselfish, swarms of honey bees and human pedestrians using videoed experiments and computer simulations. These findings will be important in preventing crowd stampedes, understanding risky road crossing behaviour and designing 'swarms' of robots.