Vocal mimicry in songbirds. Many of the world’s largest clade of birds - the songbirds - incorporate vocal mimicry in their songs, but while scientific interest in vocal mimicry dates from Aristotle, limited progress has been made. With our unique research program we aim to provide an empirically based, theoretically informed understanding of avian vocal mimicry. In an important advance, we will examine both sexes to test long-held male-centric assumptions about evolutionary origins and maintena ....Vocal mimicry in songbirds. Many of the world’s largest clade of birds - the songbirds - incorporate vocal mimicry in their songs, but while scientific interest in vocal mimicry dates from Aristotle, limited progress has been made. With our unique research program we aim to provide an empirically based, theoretically informed understanding of avian vocal mimicry. In an important advance, we will examine both sexes to test long-held male-centric assumptions about evolutionary origins and maintenance of this trait. Crucially, we focus on lineages found only in Australia and PNG, where songbirds originated, to develop a robust scientific understanding of vocal mimicry across the entire songbird clade, and so provide an important new perspective on why and how song began.Read moreRead less
Why are warning colours in animals so rare? Toxic insects display warning colours as protection from predators who learn to associate them with an unpleasant taste. Theoretically, there is no limit to the number of species that could show warning colours but only about 5% are estimated to have them. This presents a fundamental and unresolved biological problem - what limits warning colours? This project aims to address this significant biological question by testing three hypotheses predicting w ....Why are warning colours in animals so rare? Toxic insects display warning colours as protection from predators who learn to associate them with an unpleasant taste. Theoretically, there is no limit to the number of species that could show warning colours but only about 5% are estimated to have them. This presents a fundamental and unresolved biological problem - what limits warning colours? This project aims to address this significant biological question by testing three hypotheses predicting warning signal limitations. Projected outcomes are an improved understanding of the ecological niche of these colourful insects, which may inform conservation and biodiversity management and raise awareness of these flamboyant creatures.Read moreRead less
Integrating pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection. This project combines life-history theory, behaviour, physiology and quantitative genetics to gain a broader understanding of the mechanisms linking pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection. The work will boost Australia’s profile in evolutionary ecology and build new collaborative links with researchers overseas.
Tracking warning signals across a variable landscape. This project aims to investigate how local environmental factors and predator communities affect warning colour expression across the Australian landscape. Warning colours protect toxic prey from predators who learn to associate the colours with an unpleasant taste. Theoretically, warning colours should not vary, but in nature we find appreciable and unexplained variation. This project will utilise Australia's excellent environmental and biod ....Tracking warning signals across a variable landscape. This project aims to investigate how local environmental factors and predator communities affect warning colour expression across the Australian landscape. Warning colours protect toxic prey from predators who learn to associate the colours with an unpleasant taste. Theoretically, warning colours should not vary, but in nature we find appreciable and unexplained variation. This project will utilise Australia's excellent environmental and biodiversity informatics infrastructure to inform the public and decision makers about the adaptability of animals to environmental change such as predator loss.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100097
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
The costs of pheromone production. This project seeks to answer fundamental questions in sexual selection theory. Chemical communication plays a fundamental role in mate choice in most taxa, yet it is critically under-researched. Traditionally, the costs of pheromone production have been assumed to be low. How these ‘low-cost’ signals remain ‘honest’ remains a central question in evolutionary biology. This project intends to quantify the costs of pheromone production in two insect model systems ....The costs of pheromone production. This project seeks to answer fundamental questions in sexual selection theory. Chemical communication plays a fundamental role in mate choice in most taxa, yet it is critically under-researched. Traditionally, the costs of pheromone production have been assumed to be low. How these ‘low-cost’ signals remain ‘honest’ remains a central question in evolutionary biology. This project intends to quantify the costs of pheromone production in two insect model systems with different modes of chemical communication, and to reveal the underlying physiological mechanisms that ensure signal honesty. This project expects to advance knowledge in the fields of chemical communication and insect immunology which may provide information useful to pest management.Read moreRead less
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100174
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Family matters: kin selection and competition in cooperative breeders. In the absence of dispersal of one or both sexes kin competition and inbreeding are expected to increase. This project will study group living fairy-wrens, which vary in whether or not one sex disperses. The results will shed new light on how species overcome the negative aspects of this behaviour and inform us about the consequences for populations and habitat management.
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
The danger within: assessing the threats to an endangered finch from genetic incompatibility, limited dispersal and effective population size. The Gouldian finch has declined dramatically over the past half century and remains one of Australia's most threatened birds. This project will use some cutting edge genetic techniques to understand some of the processes that undermine the species' recovery and our ability to monitor current populations.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100476
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$393,000.00
Summary
Under female control: egg defence, adaptive sex allocation, and sperm selection. Sexual conflict is prevalent at the gametic level, and females may respond to sperm competition via fertilisation barriers that mediate sperm entry. Surprisingly, the extent of female control over fertilisation is unknown, and the specific mechanisms that females utilise to manipulate fertilisation events are poorly understood. This project will combine innovative investigations that utilise whole organisms and in v ....Under female control: egg defence, adaptive sex allocation, and sperm selection. Sexual conflict is prevalent at the gametic level, and females may respond to sperm competition via fertilisation barriers that mediate sperm entry. Surprisingly, the extent of female control over fertilisation is unknown, and the specific mechanisms that females utilise to manipulate fertilisation events are poorly understood. This project will combine innovative investigations that utilise whole organisms and in vitro fertilisation technology to study their gametes in isolation. The project offers pioneering work on gametic interactions that have not previously been characterised. It will extend knowledge on the mechanisms that underpin successful mammalian fertilisation and provide critical insight into the etiology of infertility.Read moreRead less