Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100501
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$423,232.00
Summary
Serpent sensory innovation in the evolutionary transition from land to sea. This project aims to investigate the mechanisms underlying sensory adaptation, which underpins the behavioural capacity of animals to adapt to environmental change. This research will harness innovative phenotypic imaging and genomic sequencing, to study the coordinated changes among sensory systems in a range of ecologically diverse snakes. Expected outcomes include a large database of 3D digital anatomical models from ....Serpent sensory innovation in the evolutionary transition from land to sea. This project aims to investigate the mechanisms underlying sensory adaptation, which underpins the behavioural capacity of animals to adapt to environmental change. This research will harness innovative phenotypic imaging and genomic sequencing, to study the coordinated changes among sensory systems in a range of ecologically diverse snakes. Expected outcomes include a large database of 3D digital anatomical models from Australian and international museum collections, and new knowledge on the genetic processes influencing sensory receptor evolution in vertebrates. The should provide significant benefits for conservation by using sensory adaptability as a framework for estimating potential extinction risk for vulnerable species.Read moreRead less
A Universal Power Law for Growth and Diversity of Dinosaur and Bird Beaks. Universal rules that govern how animals grow have tremendous power to explain the highly complex processes of growth and development. The project investigators have recently discovered a new rule of growth that controls how teeth, horns, claws and beaks are generated in animals. This project aims to use this new rule to examine the evolution and diversity of beaks in birds and dinosaurs. By combining 3D modelling, biomech ....A Universal Power Law for Growth and Diversity of Dinosaur and Bird Beaks. Universal rules that govern how animals grow have tremendous power to explain the highly complex processes of growth and development. The project investigators have recently discovered a new rule of growth that controls how teeth, horns, claws and beaks are generated in animals. This project aims to use this new rule to examine the evolution and diversity of beaks in birds and dinosaurs. By combining 3D modelling, biomechanics and genetic analysis of bird beak development with the study of dinosaur fossils, this project expects to reveal the underlying processes controlling the growth and evolution of beaks. The anticipated goal of this project is to show the power of new theoretical models to explain the diversity of life.Read moreRead less
The developmental and evolutionary origins of vertebrate fins and limbs. This project aims to investigate the origin of paired appendages, a major event in early vertebrate history that changed ecological opportunity and fuelled the radiation of jawed vertebrates. This project expects to generate new knowledge on the mechanism that drove this innovation, which despite over a century of debate, remains one
of the great unknowns of comparative vertebrate evolution. Expected outcomes of this projec ....The developmental and evolutionary origins of vertebrate fins and limbs. This project aims to investigate the origin of paired appendages, a major event in early vertebrate history that changed ecological opportunity and fuelled the radiation of jawed vertebrates. This project expects to generate new knowledge on the mechanism that drove this innovation, which despite over a century of debate, remains one
of the great unknowns of comparative vertebrate evolution. Expected outcomes of this project include uncovering the anatomical changes underpinning the origin of the vertebrate appendicular system. This should provide significant benefits as it will inform our own natural history and provide a paradigm for studying gene network
conservation, phylogenetic modifications, and the acquisition of novel structures.Read moreRead less