Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101625
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$385,536.00
Summary
The evolutionary significance of ejaculate-female interactions. The way that ejaculates interact with the female reproductive tract is thought to have profound evolutionary implications in internal fertilizers. Yet we currently lack clear insights into these processes in most taxa, precisely because such ejaculate-female interactions are hidden from view inside the female's reproductive tract. In this project an integrated series of experiments on a model vertebrate (the guppy) will overcome the ....The evolutionary significance of ejaculate-female interactions. The way that ejaculates interact with the female reproductive tract is thought to have profound evolutionary implications in internal fertilizers. Yet we currently lack clear insights into these processes in most taxa, precisely because such ejaculate-female interactions are hidden from view inside the female's reproductive tract. In this project an integrated series of experiments on a model vertebrate (the guppy) will overcome the inherent challenges in studying ejaculate-female interactions. The project aims to shed new light on the role that ejaculate-female interactions play in sperm competition, and will explore the consequences of these interactions at different evolutionary levels and across varying social environments.Read moreRead less
Testing evolutionary predictions about multiple unrelated traits under changed environmental conditions using visual ecology. An understanding of evolution is vital in managing the effects of environmental change. Senses determine success in survival/reproduction and environmental change affects what is sensed. This project will make and test explicit predictions about evolution under changed conditions using visual physiology, environmental parameters and evolution experiments.
Towards a balanced veiw of parental effects: gaps, biases and opportunities. This project aims to identify and address knowledge gaps in research on parental effects by employing different methodologies (bibliometrics, systematic mapping) and developing novel methods of meta-analysis. This project expects to generate a more holistic and complete view of parental effects on offspring traits than currently appreciated, by elucidating the role of fathers and offspring in addition to mothers. Expect ....Towards a balanced veiw of parental effects: gaps, biases and opportunities. This project aims to identify and address knowledge gaps in research on parental effects by employing different methodologies (bibliometrics, systematic mapping) and developing novel methods of meta-analysis. This project expects to generate a more holistic and complete view of parental effects on offspring traits than currently appreciated, by elucidating the role of fathers and offspring in addition to mothers. Expected outcomes of the project include advancing the field of parental effects and creating new and powerful meta-analytic methods, opening up new avenues for research synthesis. This should provide significant benefits by directing future research in related fields and inspiring new kinds of meta-analyses across disciplines.Read moreRead less
Paternal effects: Non-genetic inheritance via seminal fluid? This project seeks to improve understanding of the mechanisms of non-genetic inheritance and its ability to promote adaptation. Although offspring are known to resemble their parents through the action of genes, there is now a growing awareness of non-genetic mechanisms by which parents can affect the growth and health of their offspring. This project aims to quantify the putative role of seminal fluid in so-called non-genetic inherita ....Paternal effects: Non-genetic inheritance via seminal fluid? This project seeks to improve understanding of the mechanisms of non-genetic inheritance and its ability to promote adaptation. Although offspring are known to resemble their parents through the action of genes, there is now a growing awareness of non-genetic mechanisms by which parents can affect the growth and health of their offspring. This project aims to quantify the putative role of seminal fluid in so-called non-genetic inheritance. Using an insect model, the project aims to identify proteins in the seminal fluid that promote early embryo development, explore how males allocate these proteins to their mates, and how females adjust their own reproduction in response to seminal fluid proteins. Improving knowledge of these mechanisms may enable the development of interventions to control the unwanted evolution of harmful organisms.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170101193
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Testing models for sex evolution and maintenance. This project aims to study the evolution of sex. The short-term costs of sexual reproduction seem to outweigh its benefits, making its widespread success an evolutionary conundrum. The project will test high-profile models which predict higher rates of sex in individuals poorly adapted to their environment than in well adapted individuals. This process allows sex genes to escape from unfavourable genetic backgrounds and hastens local adaptation o ....Testing models for sex evolution and maintenance. This project aims to study the evolution of sex. The short-term costs of sexual reproduction seem to outweigh its benefits, making its widespread success an evolutionary conundrum. The project will test high-profile models which predict higher rates of sex in individuals poorly adapted to their environment than in well adapted individuals. This process allows sex genes to escape from unfavourable genetic backgrounds and hastens local adaptation of populations to their environment. This work is expected to discover the link between reproductive mode and adaptation, strengthen research into consequences of environmental change, and solve a long-standing puzzle of evolutionary biology.Read moreRead less
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.
Female fluids in post-copulatory sexual selection. This project aims to test the causes, consequences and mechanisms of female reproductive fluids in modulating fertilisation bias in a model vertebrate species, the zebrafish. Female reproductive fluids (the fluid surrounding eggs) may moderate sperm selection by females, thus facilitating mate choice at the gamete level. This project will study interactions involving sperm and female reproductive fluid in an evolutionary framework. The intended ....Female fluids in post-copulatory sexual selection. This project aims to test the causes, consequences and mechanisms of female reproductive fluids in modulating fertilisation bias in a model vertebrate species, the zebrafish. Female reproductive fluids (the fluid surrounding eggs) may moderate sperm selection by females, thus facilitating mate choice at the gamete level. This project will study interactions involving sperm and female reproductive fluid in an evolutionary framework. The intended outcome is increased knowledge of these processes, and better understanding of how non-gamete factors affect fertility, which could benefit fields as diverse as human fertility and aquaculture.Read moreRead less
Experimental evolution of trait interactions under changed environments. This project aims to use altered light in laboratory and wild guppy populations to test directly the following questions: which traits evolve quickly or slowly and how does this depend upon their functional interactions, and how often do different solutions to the same environmental challenges evolve? The evolutionary effects of environmental change on gene regulation and functional interactions among traits are virtually u ....Experimental evolution of trait interactions under changed environments. This project aims to use altered light in laboratory and wild guppy populations to test directly the following questions: which traits evolve quickly or slowly and how does this depend upon their functional interactions, and how often do different solutions to the same environmental challenges evolve? The evolutionary effects of environmental change on gene regulation and functional interactions among traits are virtually unknown. Using evolution experiments, this project aims to explore traits with known functional links: opsin gene regulation patterns (for colour vision), colouration, and colour-based choice. It is expected that vegetation changes cause immediate environment changes, directly affecting animals’ abilities to choose mates, forage, and avoid predation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101126
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
More than meets the egg: environmental effects on sperm quality, sperm competitive success, and offspring fitness. Can a male's environment affect his sperm quality and the health of his offspring? By experimentally testing how the paternal environment affects sperm quality, this project will help us understand (1) why sperm vary so much, and (2) what consequences variability in sperm quality has for paternity success and offspring fitness.
How males alter their mates' ageing rates and lifespans. The proposed project investigates how males affect the lifespan, ageing and subsequent reproduction of their mates. It seeks to draw on and adapt tools and approaches used in molecular genetics and physiology to test predictions from evolutionary theories of sexual conflict, life-histories and ageing in an organism of biomedical and ecological significance, the house mouse. It is expected that this approach will allow the study, in unsurpa ....How males alter their mates' ageing rates and lifespans. The proposed project investigates how males affect the lifespan, ageing and subsequent reproduction of their mates. It seeks to draw on and adapt tools and approaches used in molecular genetics and physiology to test predictions from evolutionary theories of sexual conflict, life-histories and ageing in an organism of biomedical and ecological significance, the house mouse. It is expected that this approach will allow the study, in unsurpassed detail, of the costs males impose on females via mating, insemination, territoriality and via conflict over how many offspring to have and how to invest in their care.Read moreRead less