A predictive framework for invaded communities. Australian native and agricultural landscapes are under threat from introduced plant species. Over $1.5 billion per year is spent on subsequent land management. However it is not clear that this is money is well spent. This project aims to determine the importance of the two major factors (dispersal and habitat) that drive the invasion of Australian native plant communities by surveying native Australian plant communities with different levels of d ....A predictive framework for invaded communities. Australian native and agricultural landscapes are under threat from introduced plant species. Over $1.5 billion per year is spent on subsequent land management. However it is not clear that this is money is well spent. This project aims to determine the importance of the two major factors (dispersal and habitat) that drive the invasion of Australian native plant communities by surveying native Australian plant communities with different levels of disturbance and numbers of introduced species. The results could enable the building and testing of an innovative model for predicting the establishment and spread of invasive species. This critical research could help target money towards better management of invasive species in native environments.Read moreRead less
Answering longstanding plant ecology questions with new technology: the effects of changes in leaf proteins with age. Total leaf nitrogen is important for major processes in ecosystems. It is used as a predictor for carbon fixation because photosynthesis proteins are a large fraction of leaf nitrogen. Yet leaf nitrogen may also be allocated to stress-response and defense-related proteins at the expense of photosynthesis proteins. Our working hypothesis might explain two important ecological patt ....Answering longstanding plant ecology questions with new technology: the effects of changes in leaf proteins with age. Total leaf nitrogen is important for major processes in ecosystems. It is used as a predictor for carbon fixation because photosynthesis proteins are a large fraction of leaf nitrogen. Yet leaf nitrogen may also be allocated to stress-response and defense-related proteins at the expense of photosynthesis proteins. Our working hypothesis might explain two important ecological patterns: the decline of photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency with leaf age; and, low and variable nitrogen recovery levels from senescent leaves across species and habitats. New quantitative proteomics methods together with protein functional categorisation can answer these questions across dozens of Australian native plant species.Read moreRead less
Transformation of vegetation by big herbivores, from the Pleistocene to now. The project aims to provide a coherent understanding of the effects of extinct and extant large herbivores on ecosystems over space and time. The structure and distribution of vegetation types is determined not only by climate and soils, but also by the impacts of herbivores and fire as consumers of plant biomass. Recent research has shown how fire shapes the large-scale distribution of vegetation types, but we do not h ....Transformation of vegetation by big herbivores, from the Pleistocene to now. The project aims to provide a coherent understanding of the effects of extinct and extant large herbivores on ecosystems over space and time. The structure and distribution of vegetation types is determined not only by climate and soils, but also by the impacts of herbivores and fire as consumers of plant biomass. Recent research has shown how fire shapes the large-scale distribution of vegetation types, but we do not have an equivalent understanding of the effects of large ground-dwelling herbivores. The project plans to test the effects of such animals on vegetation structure in the Pleistocene, when mega-herbivores were common, and today, and thus to compare the impacts of fire and herbivores on the distribution of vegetation types.Read moreRead less
Spatially explicit solutions for managing fire and biodiversity. This project aims to develop a framework for predicting the impact of future fire regimes on the distribution and abundance of plant and animal species. Inappropriate fire regimes are one of the most significant threats to biodiversity in Australia. There is an urgent need to better understand how species respond to fire and to develop effective fire management strategies that achieve conservation goals. This project intends to int ....Spatially explicit solutions for managing fire and biodiversity. This project aims to develop a framework for predicting the impact of future fire regimes on the distribution and abundance of plant and animal species. Inappropriate fire regimes are one of the most significant threats to biodiversity in Australia. There is an urgent need to better understand how species respond to fire and to develop effective fire management strategies that achieve conservation goals. This project intends to integrate ecological models, fire behaviour simulation and formal decision-making approaches to evaluate alternative fire scenarios in real landscapes. The major output is anticipated to be linked ecological models and decision tools that help managers to better protect biodiversity in flammable landscapes.Read moreRead less
Understanding when biocontrol and enemy release affect plant populations. This project aims to determine when introduced species escape from their natural enemies, and when biocontrol efforts succeed. Enemy release and biocontrol are key to our understanding and management of invasions. However there has never been a broad quantitative assessment of the circumstances under which biocontrol and enemy release affect introduced populations. This project will use a combination of meta-analyses and i ....Understanding when biocontrol and enemy release affect plant populations. This project aims to determine when introduced species escape from their natural enemies, and when biocontrol efforts succeed. Enemy release and biocontrol are key to our understanding and management of invasions. However there has never been a broad quantitative assessment of the circumstances under which biocontrol and enemy release affect introduced populations. This project will use a combination of meta-analyses and international field studies to address this knowledge gap. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of the factors that facilitate biological invasions, and improved success of biocontrol agents.Read moreRead less
The role of common species in biodiversity turnover and function . This project aims to understand how common species change across regions and how this affects the functions that biodiversity provides across natural and built landscapes. Using a novel, information-rich approach and metric, the project aims to combine simulation experiments, and empirical data using organisms with low (plants) and high mobility (birds). Expected outcomes include new theory and improved biodiversity models, polic ....The role of common species in biodiversity turnover and function . This project aims to understand how common species change across regions and how this affects the functions that biodiversity provides across natural and built landscapes. Using a novel, information-rich approach and metric, the project aims to combine simulation experiments, and empirical data using organisms with low (plants) and high mobility (birds). Expected outcomes include new theory and improved biodiversity models, policy and management-relevant insights, new institutional collaborations, and student training. The research aims to provide significant benefits for understanding and monitoring the dynamics of common species, including problem species and common native species in rapid decline.Read moreRead less
Forty million Australians: the future of our biodiversity. Many countries have experienced rapid increases in human numbers and natural-resource use. The project will use measured effects on biodiversity from such countries, combined with models of potential changes in Australia's population and climate, to forecast how our biodiversity may be affected up to 2050, and then to plan how to minimize negative impacts.
Cane toads in southern Australia: invasion dynamics and options for control. This project aims to investigate the spread of cane toads through southern Australia, an invasion front that has attracted far less research than the same species’ expansion through tropical regions, even though toads severely impact native wildlife in both areas. This project expects to generate new knowledge to determine why the rate of toad invasion is so much slower in New South Wales than in the tropics, and how be ....Cane toads in southern Australia: invasion dynamics and options for control. This project aims to investigate the spread of cane toads through southern Australia, an invasion front that has attracted far less research than the same species’ expansion through tropical regions, even though toads severely impact native wildlife in both areas. This project expects to generate new knowledge to determine why the rate of toad invasion is so much slower in New South Wales than in the tropics, and how best to modify newly-developed approaches to toad control to the conditions in southern Australia. Expected outcomes include predicting future trajectories of expansion, and identifying optimal approaches to toad control and impact mitigation. This should provide significant benefits for biodiversity conservation.Read moreRead less
Ecology, impact and control of cane toads on the southern invasion front. The invasion of cane toads has killed many native animals in tropical Australia, but the toads’ southern (NSW) invasion front remains unstudied. This project will build on recent research to understand how toads affect southern biodiversity, and will develop new ways to reduce that impact.
The role of behavioural interactions in shaping invasion dynamics: A global synthesis using the common myna as a model system. Invasive species have detrimental effects on human health, the economy and native biodiversity. This study will address a major gap in our scientific understanding of invasions by undertaking the first large-scale examination of the role of interactions between species in determining the dynamics and outcomes of biological invasions. The project will integrate data, acro ....The role of behavioural interactions in shaping invasion dynamics: A global synthesis using the common myna as a model system. Invasive species have detrimental effects on human health, the economy and native biodiversity. This study will address a major gap in our scientific understanding of invasions by undertaking the first large-scale examination of the role of interactions between species in determining the dynamics and outcomes of biological invasions. The project will integrate data, across four continents, on dispersal, demography, breeding and behavioural interactions into one framework to create a cutting-edge model of invasion dynamics, using the highly invasive common myna as a model system. This novel approach will significantly advance theoretical developments in invasion biology and will inform pest management and threat mitigation efforts globally.Read moreRead less