Lamarckian lizards: novel integration of telomere epigenetics, free radicals and innate antioxidants in condition-dependant sexual signal evolution. In 2009, the Nobel Prize in physiology was awarded Drs. Blackburn, Greider and Szostak for discoveries on telomeres. This project will investigate how telomeres not only cap chromosomes from destruction by free radicals, but also have a key role in life itself, in their influence on ageing, longevity, ornaments and lifetime reproductive success.
Global differentiation of the conifer flora. Conifers are among the most widely recognised and well-loved group of plants. This project will place a global perspective on the evolutionary significance of the southern conifers. Furthermore conifers such as the Wollemi Pine, bunyas, kauris and huon pine are of considerable ecotourism value, and this project will provide a basis for interpretation of these important plants.
Reconstructing the evolution of climatic tolerances in conifers. This project aims to trace the evolution of climate tolerance in conifers by combining evidence from fossils, phylogenies, physiology and mathematics. The project plans to use innovative methods to overcome the biases in methods currently used to trace evolutionary change. The project plans to integrate data from three sources: the global fossil record, new models of current climatic tolerances of conifers, and mathematical simulat ....Reconstructing the evolution of climatic tolerances in conifers. This project aims to trace the evolution of climate tolerance in conifers by combining evidence from fossils, phylogenies, physiology and mathematics. The project plans to use innovative methods to overcome the biases in methods currently used to trace evolutionary change. The project plans to integrate data from three sources: the global fossil record, new models of current climatic tolerances of conifers, and mathematical simulations of how and when methods of reconstructing ancestral ecology fail. The combined results should show how this important group of organisms has responded to past climate change and how they will respond in the future. It should also provide improved estimates of past terrestrial climates.Read moreRead less
Understanding climate and harvest induced changes in fish life histories. This project aims to quantify the cumulative impacts of harvest and climate change across marine fishes and ecosystems. The project expects to generate new knowledge in this area by coupling the rich biological information archived in fish ear bones, with targeted multi-generation experiments and predictive modelling. Expected outcomes include fundamental insights into how human-induced environmental change affects fish gr ....Understanding climate and harvest induced changes in fish life histories. This project aims to quantify the cumulative impacts of harvest and climate change across marine fishes and ecosystems. The project expects to generate new knowledge in this area by coupling the rich biological information archived in fish ear bones, with targeted multi-generation experiments and predictive modelling. Expected outcomes include fundamental insights into how human-induced environmental change affects fish growth and maturation, and a subsequent critical evaluation of the sensitivity of fisheries models to trends in these life-history traits. This should provide significant benefits to fisheries and ecosystem management, ensuring they remain productive and resilient in a time of rapid environmental change.Read moreRead less
Evolutionary, macroecological and phylogenetic patterns in Australasian freshwater crayfish. This project connects Australian systematists to a worldwide project that involves all of the world's living experts on freshwater crayfish evolution in a coordinated effort to answer some very important evolutionary questions. It involves a group of invertebrate animals that are not only readily recognisable, but which in Australia includes the world's largest and the world's most terrestrial crayfish s ....Evolutionary, macroecological and phylogenetic patterns in Australasian freshwater crayfish. This project connects Australian systematists to a worldwide project that involves all of the world's living experts on freshwater crayfish evolution in a coordinated effort to answer some very important evolutionary questions. It involves a group of invertebrate animals that are not only readily recognisable, but which in Australia includes the world's largest and the world's most terrestrial crayfish species. Information gained from the project will contribute to the management of crayfish biodiversity, identification of threatened species and tools to identify these prominent and important members of Australian freshwater ecosystems.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
Mobility, stasis or extinction? The response of plants to long-term environmental change. This study of Australian plants will improve our ability to predict how plants and vegetation will respond to climate change by investigating the ability of plants to survive climate change. In particular, this project is designed to generate simple principles that can be used in management of species and vegetation at risk from climate change.
Developing best-practice approaches for restoring forest ecosystems that are resilient to climate change. Existing restoration practices for forests tend to rely on ad hoc rules of thumb that lack a firm scientific basis and risk failure due to climate change. The project will model biodiversity, genetic and growth performance data to develop best-practice restoration guidelines for forest ecosystems to enable them to become resilient to climate change and maximise biodiversity and carbon captur ....Developing best-practice approaches for restoring forest ecosystems that are resilient to climate change. Existing restoration practices for forests tend to rely on ad hoc rules of thumb that lack a firm scientific basis and risk failure due to climate change. The project will model biodiversity, genetic and growth performance data to develop best-practice restoration guidelines for forest ecosystems to enable them to become resilient to climate change and maximise biodiversity and carbon capture outcomes.Read moreRead less
Fire, air, water and earth: Using fossils to discover the evolution of Australia’s open vegetation. How Australia came to be dominated by open, tough-leaved vegetation is an old but still highly controversial question, especially with recent developments in molecular biology that challenge paradigms established from the fossil record. The project will test this new molecular paradigm with innovative use of characteristics of fossil leaves to identify the timing and drivers of the evolution of Au ....Fire, air, water and earth: Using fossils to discover the evolution of Australia’s open vegetation. How Australia came to be dominated by open, tough-leaved vegetation is an old but still highly controversial question, especially with recent developments in molecular biology that challenge paradigms established from the fossil record. The project will test this new molecular paradigm with innovative use of characteristics of fossil leaves to identify the timing and drivers of the evolution of Australia’s open vegetation. The integration of new and rigorous evidence derived from living and fossil plants will provide the clearest evidence yet for the origins of Australian environments. This has ramifications for understanding plant responses to past and future climate changes.Read moreRead less
Community and ecosystem consequences of adaptive evolution in Eucalyptus. There is emerging evidence across plant systems that genes in one species influence biodiversity and the services ecosystems provide, including soil fertility, carbon storage, and pollination. These results suggest that adaptive evolution in plants can lead to change in biodiversity and ecosystem function. If this finding proves to be true, results from this proposal might be critical to future decisions on the ecosystem ....Community and ecosystem consequences of adaptive evolution in Eucalyptus. There is emerging evidence across plant systems that genes in one species influence biodiversity and the services ecosystems provide, including soil fertility, carbon storage, and pollination. These results suggest that adaptive evolution in plants can lead to change in biodiversity and ecosystem function. If this finding proves to be true, results from this proposal might be critical to future decisions on the ecosystem consequences of landscape level selective events. There may be major implications for the rapidly expanding environmental and forestry plantings across Australia and temperate regions of the world where choice of seed source may have far reaching consequences.Read moreRead less