Drying and dying in Australia: extraordinary creatures and climate change 15 million years ago. Australia's globally distinctive mammals were confronted 15 million years ago by a climate plunge from lush greenhouse to dry icehouse conditions. In northern Queensland, in the World Heritage-listed cave known as AL90, fossil-rich deposits span this interval of change. Entombed are dozens of extraordinarily well-preserved skulls and articulated skeletons including a growth series from pouch-young to ....Drying and dying in Australia: extraordinary creatures and climate change 15 million years ago. Australia's globally distinctive mammals were confronted 15 million years ago by a climate plunge from lush greenhouse to dry icehouse conditions. In northern Queensland, in the World Heritage-listed cave known as AL90, fossil-rich deposits span this interval of change. Entombed are dozens of extraordinarily well-preserved skulls and articulated skeletons including a growth series from pouch-young to adults of a rare, possibly sloth-like marsupial as well as more familiar kangaroos, thylacines and bats. Our fossil research will help align Australian records of biotic change with global palaeoclimatic events and provide a benchmark for measuring the nature and rate of environmental and biotic change that continues to transform our nation.Read moreRead less
Mesozoic Austral Biodiversity: Research and Regional Museum Applications. The impact of environmental alteration on Australia’s biodiversity has poorly understood long-term effects. This project examines the controversial biogeography and evolution of Australia’s biodiversity during the Age of Dinosaurs (mid-Cretaceous ~100 MYA) and their adaptational responses to climatic change. Fossils readily capture the public imagination and thus help promote complex scientific concepts in the global media ....Mesozoic Austral Biodiversity: Research and Regional Museum Applications. The impact of environmental alteration on Australia’s biodiversity has poorly understood long-term effects. This project examines the controversial biogeography and evolution of Australia’s biodiversity during the Age of Dinosaurs (mid-Cretaceous ~100 MYA) and their adaptational responses to climatic change. Fossils readily capture the public imagination and thus help promote complex scientific concepts in the global media. This project raises awareness about sustainable use of non-renewable fossil resources through public education and ecotourism fieldwork programs; these will help generate local interest and thus protection of sensitive fossil localities by highlighting them as lucrative tourism assets for regional communities.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190101423
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$370,000.00
Summary
Revealing the diets of dinosaurs through the complexity and shape of teeth. This project aims to reveal the role of diet in the spread and subsequent dominance of Mesozoic dinosaurs. Previous research has revealed much about dinosaur anatomy and diversity, but their diets remain broadly classified into two categories, herbivores and carnivores. This project will use 3D scans of dinosaur teeth to calculate anatomical indicators of diet, and interpret diet as a continuous variable which will permi ....Revealing the diets of dinosaurs through the complexity and shape of teeth. This project aims to reveal the role of diet in the spread and subsequent dominance of Mesozoic dinosaurs. Previous research has revealed much about dinosaur anatomy and diversity, but their diets remain broadly classified into two categories, herbivores and carnivores. This project will use 3D scans of dinosaur teeth to calculate anatomical indicators of diet, and interpret diet as a continuous variable which will permit unprecedented evolutionary analyses of dinosaur ecology. Anticipated outcomes include an innovative framework with which to reconstruct the ecological diversity of dinosaurs from Australia and around the world and understand the processes that led to their success for over 150 million years.Read moreRead less
The Cambrian Population Explosion of Arthropods in Australia: Ediacaran origins, evolution and biodiversity. This project addresses key questions on the origin and diversification of life, by investigating the evolution of the most important fossil group (arthropods) across arguably the most important event after the origin of life (the Cambrian explosion of macroscopic life). It will also excavate, promote and conserve two key geological resources of national importance, in the Flinders Ranges ....The Cambrian Population Explosion of Arthropods in Australia: Ediacaran origins, evolution and biodiversity. This project addresses key questions on the origin and diversification of life, by investigating the evolution of the most important fossil group (arthropods) across arguably the most important event after the origin of life (the Cambrian explosion of macroscopic life). It will also excavate, promote and conserve two key geological resources of national importance, in the Flinders Ranges and Kangaroo Island. Also, it will lead to increased knowledge of the palaeoecology and geology of the economically-important Adelaide geosyncline, and benefit rural SA communities through ecotourism, a rural schools education program, and public outreach.Read moreRead less
Australia's mammalian carnivore diversity in space and time. To more effectively address the current extinction crisis we need to understand past diversity. This research program will comprehensively investigate the diversity of mammalian carnivores on three continents over geological time. Results will provide insight into whether the evolution of Australia's mammal carnivores differs fundamentally from those of other continents, as has often been suggested but not quantitatively demonstrated. ....Australia's mammalian carnivore diversity in space and time. To more effectively address the current extinction crisis we need to understand past diversity. This research program will comprehensively investigate the diversity of mammalian carnivores on three continents over geological time. Results will provide insight into whether the evolution of Australia's mammal carnivores differs fundamentally from those of other continents, as has often been suggested but not quantitatively demonstrated. Studies focused in the present are important, but often miss critical factors that can only be clarified through analyses with deep time perspectives. The findings will translate into an improved understanding of what makes Australia unique and better-informed decisions regarding wildlife management.Read moreRead less
Size matters: evolution of body size of species in deep time. Global warming is predicted to form 'sick seas' and cause widespread stunted growth of taxa and ecosystem-wide dwarfism. Exactly how this works requires substantiation of both short-term empirical and experimental research as well as evidence from the deep-time fossil record. Using the high-resolution marine fossil record from the Permian-Triassic mass extinction ~252 million years ago, the most severe in the history of animals, this ....Size matters: evolution of body size of species in deep time. Global warming is predicted to form 'sick seas' and cause widespread stunted growth of taxa and ecosystem-wide dwarfism. Exactly how this works requires substantiation of both short-term empirical and experimental research as well as evidence from the deep-time fossil record. Using the high-resolution marine fossil record from the Permian-Triassic mass extinction ~252 million years ago, the most severe in the history of animals, this project will investigate how body size of marine species and communities evolved in response to the mass extinction and rapid global warming. It is expected that the project findings will help better understand the links between global warming, anoxia, hypercapnia, euxinia, ocean acidification, and species adaptation and evolution.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100467
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,823.00
Summary
Limbs and wings: reconstructing Australian environmental change through innovative analysis of ancient mammal skeletons. An animal's skeleton is the product of a complex relationship between its habits, habitat and evolutionary history. This project uses a vast resource of World Heritage fossil skeletons from Riversleigh to determine how behaviour and ecology of Australia's mammals have changed over the last 25 million years and will need to adapt in the future.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100017
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$404,950.00
Summary
A pictorial and geochemical history of Great Barrier Reef changes. This project aims to determine the timing and associated drivers behind dramatic changes in coral communities on reef flat environments since European settlement. It will use Uranium-Thorium dating, palaeoecological and geochemical techniques, as well as spatial elevation surveys to determine the timing and cause of ecological transition for inshore coral communities. This project will contribute baseline knowledge on the timing ....A pictorial and geochemical history of Great Barrier Reef changes. This project aims to determine the timing and associated drivers behind dramatic changes in coral communities on reef flat environments since European settlement. It will use Uranium-Thorium dating, palaeoecological and geochemical techniques, as well as spatial elevation surveys to determine the timing and cause of ecological transition for inshore coral communities. This project will contribute baseline knowledge on the timing and mechanisms associated with dramatic declines in coral cover on inshore reefs of the world heritage listed Great Barrier Reef, and provide a robust scientific foundation for effective monitoring.Read moreRead less
Island fauna evolution through deep time: the Flores experiment. This project aims to reveal the evolutionary patterns of insular fauna, including hominins, as exemplified by the island of Flores. Through multidisciplinary analyses of securely dated fossils, artefacts and environmental data spanning 1.4 million years, the project expects to provide a deep and broad reconstruction of faunal adaptations to insular conditions and environmental fluctuations through deep geological time. The signific ....Island fauna evolution through deep time: the Flores experiment. This project aims to reveal the evolutionary patterns of insular fauna, including hominins, as exemplified by the island of Flores. Through multidisciplinary analyses of securely dated fossils, artefacts and environmental data spanning 1.4 million years, the project expects to provide a deep and broad reconstruction of faunal adaptations to insular conditions and environmental fluctuations through deep geological time. The significance of this research includes the first comprehensive testing of hypotheses associated with island dwarfing (where megafauna, over time, become smaller), and providing the first palaeo-ecological context for the only known insular hominin, Homo floresiensis.Read moreRead less