Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240101022
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$457,000.00
Summary
Linking movement and animal vision to uncover functions of dynamic colours. This project aims to address a fundamental biological question: what drives the extraordinary diversity of colours in nature? Using cutting-edge, interdisciplinary techniques, this project expects to link visual properties, movement and animal vision to discover functions of animal colouration, generating significant new insights for the fields of visual ecology, animal behaviour and camouflage. The outcomes of this proj ....Linking movement and animal vision to uncover functions of dynamic colours. This project aims to address a fundamental biological question: what drives the extraordinary diversity of colours in nature? Using cutting-edge, interdisciplinary techniques, this project expects to link visual properties, movement and animal vision to discover functions of animal colouration, generating significant new insights for the fields of visual ecology, animal behaviour and camouflage. The outcomes of this project include enhanced national and international collaboration and new tools for animal behaviour, perception and camouflage research. This work will benefit our understanding of vision, colour and the relationship between the two, with significant scope for bio-inspired solutions to sensor and image processing problems.Read moreRead less
Using cane toads to eradicate cane toads. This project aims to develop effective ways to reduce the devastating ecological impact of cane toads, by exploiting the cannibalistic behaviour of tadpoles. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of invasion biology and amphibian development utilising recent discoveries about cannibalism. Expected outcomes of this project include a powerful new method to reduce or eliminate recruitment of juvenile toads from natural waterbodies. Bene ....Using cane toads to eradicate cane toads. This project aims to develop effective ways to reduce the devastating ecological impact of cane toads, by exploiting the cannibalistic behaviour of tadpoles. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of invasion biology and amphibian development utilising recent discoveries about cannibalism. Expected outcomes of this project include a powerful new method to reduce or eliminate recruitment of juvenile toads from natural waterbodies. Benefits of this project include conservation of native wildlife that are threatened by the cane toad invasion across much of tropical and subtropical Australia.Read moreRead less
Horizontal ecological networks for understanding biodiversity maintenance. The project aims to develop new ecological theory on local diversity maintenance based on an innovative interaction network model, tested on Western Australian wildflower communities. It is novel in its focus on the complexity of species interactions and their importance to diversity maintenance in nature. This project aims to explore links between plant interaction networks and coexistence theory to provide theoretical e ....Horizontal ecological networks for understanding biodiversity maintenance. The project aims to develop new ecological theory on local diversity maintenance based on an innovative interaction network model, tested on Western Australian wildflower communities. It is novel in its focus on the complexity of species interactions and their importance to diversity maintenance in nature. This project aims to explore links between plant interaction networks and coexistence theory to provide theoretical expectations for how changes to the environment are expected to alter natural plant communities. It aims to fill theory-gap about mechanisms of multi-species coexistence, advance community ecology, and provide the theoretical foundations necessary for translating ecological theory to restoration and conservation in practice.Read moreRead less
Pathways to semelparity versus early maturity in animals and plants. The project aims to resolve an important but unresolved question in life history evolution and ecology- which mechanisms and constraints lead to semelparity (breeding once, which is rare), and which lead to fast life history (breeding early, which is common) in animals and plants. Theory predicts that both may be adaptations to schedules of adult death. Understanding why males and females have either semelparous or fast life hi ....Pathways to semelparity versus early maturity in animals and plants. The project aims to resolve an important but unresolved question in life history evolution and ecology- which mechanisms and constraints lead to semelparity (breeding once, which is rare), and which lead to fast life history (breeding early, which is common) in animals and plants. Theory predicts that both may be adaptations to schedules of adult death. Understanding why males and females have either semelparous or fast life history strategies is crucial to predicting survival of harvested and threatened species under pressure from climate change, drought, predators, and diseases that kill adults. Expected project outcomes include improved ability to address agents of decline of threatened animals and plants including semelparous species.Read moreRead less
Quantifying the impact of phenotypic plasticity on population persistence. This project aims to understand how environmental sensitivity in growth, survival and reproduction of individuals in a population influence population dynamics using terrestrial ectotherms. It will provide significant new insights into whether phenotypic plasticity promotes population persistence in the face of environmental change. Expected outcomes include approaches for incorporating environmental effects in population ....Quantifying the impact of phenotypic plasticity on population persistence. This project aims to understand how environmental sensitivity in growth, survival and reproduction of individuals in a population influence population dynamics using terrestrial ectotherms. It will provide significant new insights into whether phenotypic plasticity promotes population persistence in the face of environmental change. Expected outcomes include approaches for incorporating environmental effects in population models for threatened species, open databases that can be used to estimate demographic information for species lacking data, and an assessment of what characteristics make some species more sensitive to the environment than others. Benefits include quantitative training and tools for managing Australia's rich biodiversity.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101226
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,000.00
Summary
Plant community responses to fire regime: the role of plant–soil feedbacks. We need to know how different prescribed burning regimes set the stage for long-term changes in plant community composition, diversity, and flammability. This project aims to reveal how plant community dynamics under different fire scenarios can be predicted based on contemporary interactions between plants and soil micro-organisms. This innovative approach to fire ecology integrates soil biology and plant ecophysiology ....Plant community responses to fire regime: the role of plant–soil feedbacks. We need to know how different prescribed burning regimes set the stage for long-term changes in plant community composition, diversity, and flammability. This project aims to reveal how plant community dynamics under different fire scenarios can be predicted based on contemporary interactions between plants and soil micro-organisms. This innovative approach to fire ecology integrates soil biology and plant ecophysiology with sophisticated experiments and novel modelling techniques. Expected outcomes include a much-needed mechanistic framework for early detection of major ecological changes under novel fire regimes, with direct benefits for land managers and the long-term conservation of Australia’s iconic vegetation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240101131
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$460,537.00
Summary
Animal cultures and anthropogenic change. This project aims to investigate the impacts of anthropogenic change on the elaborate song cultures of declining Australian songbirds. Culture is fundamental to the biology of social animals, and has profound implications for biodiversity conservation; however, the drivers of animal cultural change are unclear. This project will analyse how lyrebird song cultures respond to anthropogenic environmental change, including Australia’s 2019-20 megafires. Furt ....Animal cultures and anthropogenic change. This project aims to investigate the impacts of anthropogenic change on the elaborate song cultures of declining Australian songbirds. Culture is fundamental to the biology of social animals, and has profound implications for biodiversity conservation; however, the drivers of animal cultural change are unclear. This project will analyse how lyrebird song cultures respond to anthropogenic environmental change, including Australia’s 2019-20 megafires. Furthermore, it will assess the mechanisms linking environmental and cultural change, and examine the utility of vocal cultures as bioindicators of ecological health. This project will advance fundamental research in animal culture and enhance the conservation of cultural diversity in the wild.Read moreRead less
New metrics to measure and track fauna community condition in Australia. This project aims to improve how biodiversity is measured by developing a system to describe the condition of animal communities, analogous to those used for plant communities. It develops and tests the system for Australia’s birds, then extends the approach to other animal groups. The project expects to develop a data-driven typology of bird communities, accompanying community condition metrics that are scalable from site ....New metrics to measure and track fauna community condition in Australia. This project aims to improve how biodiversity is measured by developing a system to describe the condition of animal communities, analogous to those used for plant communities. It develops and tests the system for Australia’s birds, then extends the approach to other animal groups. The project expects to develop a data-driven typology of bird communities, accompanying community condition metrics that are scalable from site to national levels, and guidance for using these metrics in practice. These metrics will enable holistic and relevant measures of the biodiversity value of sites, improve evaluation of restoration actions, reveal trends in community condition, and inform monitoring and evaluation tools for emerging biodiversity markets.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101346
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$418,893.00
Summary
Cave microbial metabolism as a missing biogeochemical sink. The aim of this project is to unveil the microbial biodiversity, novel metabolic capabilities and chemosynthetic primary production of subsurface ecosystems, such as those found in caves. Leveraging a powerful blend of geospatial, molecular and biogeochemical approaches this project expects to identify the microbial basis of subsurface biogeochemical processes driving the earth’s major elementary cycles. Expected outcomes include a pred ....Cave microbial metabolism as a missing biogeochemical sink. The aim of this project is to unveil the microbial biodiversity, novel metabolic capabilities and chemosynthetic primary production of subsurface ecosystems, such as those found in caves. Leveraging a powerful blend of geospatial, molecular and biogeochemical approaches this project expects to identify the microbial basis of subsurface biogeochemical processes driving the earth’s major elementary cycles. Expected outcomes include a predictive framework to assess and upscale the impact of these microbial communities on the environment. Benefits include predicting and responding to climate risks, such as the desertification of agricultural soils, by uncovering how microorganisms respond to nutrient and carbon depletion.Read moreRead less
The mobilome of the anaerobic methanotrophic archaea Methanoperedenaceae. Microorganisms play a critical role in regulating Earth’s climate, but how they are affected by our rapidly changing environment is not well understood. This Discovery project will study a group of microorganisms found in freshwater sediment that can consume the potent greenhouse gas methane before it is released into the atmosphere. We have developed new methods to investigate how genetic material is exchanged between mic ....The mobilome of the anaerobic methanotrophic archaea Methanoperedenaceae. Microorganisms play a critical role in regulating Earth’s climate, but how they are affected by our rapidly changing environment is not well understood. This Discovery project will study a group of microorganisms found in freshwater sediment that can consume the potent greenhouse gas methane before it is released into the atmosphere. We have developed new methods to investigate how genetic material is exchanged between microorganisms, and how this helps them adapt to environmental changes. Together, this will ultimately help us develop better climate change prediction models and contribute to our understanding of microbial communities that are crucial for environmental health.Read moreRead less