Honeybee Navigation: Low-level and Cognitive Mechanisms. Anyone watching a honeybee find its way back home effortlessly after flying several kilometres in search of nectar would know that these insects are excellent navigators, despite their diminutive brains and relatively simple nervous systems. The aim of this proposal is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms by which bees navigate repeatedly to an attractive food source, and recruit their nestmates to visit it. The findings should ....Honeybee Navigation: Low-level and Cognitive Mechanisms. Anyone watching a honeybee find its way back home effortlessly after flying several kilometres in search of nectar would know that these insects are excellent navigators, despite their diminutive brains and relatively simple nervous systems. The aim of this proposal is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms by which bees navigate repeatedly to an attractive food source, and recruit their nestmates to visit it. The findings should illuminate important principles of animal navigation, as well as suggest novel strategies for robot navigation.Read moreRead less
How do bees orchestrate smooth landings? The results should pave the way for the development of novel, biologically inspired strategies for the control of landing in unmanned aerial vehicles. Endowing aircraft with the capability of autonomous flight and landing has been a major challenge in engineering technology. There is now considerable interest, nationally and world wide, in the development of small, intelligent, autonomous airborne vehicles for application in a number of areas of defense, ....How do bees orchestrate smooth landings? The results should pave the way for the development of novel, biologically inspired strategies for the control of landing in unmanned aerial vehicles. Endowing aircraft with the capability of autonomous flight and landing has been a major challenge in engineering technology. There is now considerable interest, nationally and world wide, in the development of small, intelligent, autonomous airborne vehicles for application in a number of areas of defense, surveillance and space exploration. The proposed research will help Australia maintain a leading edge in uncovering important biological principles of flight control that can be translated into useful technological applications.Read moreRead less
Honeybee Vision and navigation, and applications to robotics. Anyone observing a honeybee find its way home effortlessly after collecting nectar would know that these insects are excellent navigators, despite their diminutive brains and relatively simple nervous systems. One aim of this proposal is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms underling honeybee navigation. Another aim is to apply some of these findings to the development of novel, biologically inspired naviagtion systems for ....Honeybee Vision and navigation, and applications to robotics. Anyone observing a honeybee find its way home effortlessly after collecting nectar would know that these insects are excellent navigators, despite their diminutive brains and relatively simple nervous systems. One aim of this proposal is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms underling honeybee navigation. Another aim is to apply some of these findings to the development of novel, biologically inspired naviagtion systems for aircraft. The findings should illuminate important principles of animal navigation. They should also advance Australia's technology in the area of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which will have important applications in national defence and security.Read moreRead less
Learning and memory in the honeybee: Task-dependent brain development. We wish to explore whether the development of specific brain regions in young bees depends upon the nature of the learning task in which they are engaged. We will examine tasks that involve two sensory modalities: olfaction and vision, both of which are important to successful foraging. The relative ease with which bees can be trained, and their nervous systems accessed, make them a very attractive subject in which to study f ....Learning and memory in the honeybee: Task-dependent brain development. We wish to explore whether the development of specific brain regions in young bees depends upon the nature of the learning task in which they are engaged. We will examine tasks that involve two sensory modalities: olfaction and vision, both of which are important to successful foraging. The relative ease with which bees can be trained, and their nervous systems accessed, make them a very attractive subject in which to study fundamental principles of learning and memory that may span a variety of organisms.Read moreRead less
Higher cognitive functions emerging from a small brain. The honeybee is becoming one of the most attractive model systems in which to study processes of learning, memory and cognition, given its rich and flexible behaviour, its relatively simple nervous system, and a genome that is on the verge of being sequenced. We intend to examine how bees learn rules, associations, concepts and categories, and to uncover some of the underlying neuronal substrates. The results should illuminate fundamental p ....Higher cognitive functions emerging from a small brain. The honeybee is becoming one of the most attractive model systems in which to study processes of learning, memory and cognition, given its rich and flexible behaviour, its relatively simple nervous system, and a genome that is on the verge of being sequenced. We intend to examine how bees learn rules, associations, concepts and categories, and to uncover some of the underlying neuronal substrates. The results should illuminate fundamental principles of cognitive function across a variety of animal species, and suggest novel approaches to artificial intelligence.Read moreRead less
Conserving our native carnivores: the application of molecular genetics to the conservation management of quolls. Quolls, the largest native mammalian predators on mainland Australia, occupy a pivotal ecological niche. All species are declining and are threatened by a variety of interacting environmental processes. This program brings together seven wildlife agencies in a nationwide partnership for understanding and protecting quolls. We will provide new genetic data to test current populatio ....Conserving our native carnivores: the application of molecular genetics to the conservation management of quolls. Quolls, the largest native mammalian predators on mainland Australia, occupy a pivotal ecological niche. All species are declining and are threatened by a variety of interacting environmental processes. This program brings together seven wildlife agencies in a nationwide partnership for understanding and protecting quolls. We will provide new genetic data to test current population and conservation theories using four species of quolls as model taxa to inform us about past histories of populations and to measure parameters of importance to on-ground managers. Results of these projects will help guide management practices for both short- and long-term conservation of these species.Read moreRead less
Inbreeding and Amphibian Decline: from an Individual to a Global Perspective. Amphibian decline is not a phenomenon unique to overseas continents and countries. In the long line of research papers addressing this issue in the best science journals (e.g., Nature and Science), Australian frog decline has even been singled out for specific coverage. This project targets the interplay between habitat fragmentation, loss of genetic variation (inbreeding), and its effects on UV and pathogen resistance ....Inbreeding and Amphibian Decline: from an Individual to a Global Perspective. Amphibian decline is not a phenomenon unique to overseas continents and countries. In the long line of research papers addressing this issue in the best science journals (e.g., Nature and Science), Australian frog decline has even been singled out for specific coverage. This project targets the interplay between habitat fragmentation, loss of genetic variation (inbreeding), and its effects on UV and pathogen resistance in a laboratory model system. It integrates three disciplines (immunobiology, evolutionary genetics, and conservation biology) to resolve fundamental aspects of the drastic, ongoing disappearance of the most significant ecological indicator taxa known today (amphibians). Read moreRead less
Diversity out of a hybrid zone: the interplay of reinforcement and sexual selection in the formation of new species. How are there so many different species? Understanding how new species arise is a fundamental question because it explains current biodiversity and reveals the processes that will continue to give rise to new species in the future. An integral part of any animal species is who they choose to mate with, but how mate choice evolves to create new species remains poorly understood. He ....Diversity out of a hybrid zone: the interplay of reinforcement and sexual selection in the formation of new species. How are there so many different species? Understanding how new species arise is a fundamental question because it explains current biodiversity and reveals the processes that will continue to give rise to new species in the future. An integral part of any animal species is who they choose to mate with, but how mate choice evolves to create new species remains poorly understood. Here I will be studying the processes that affect the evolution of mate choice in an Australian rainforest frog hybrid zone. This system is uniquely suitable for providing internationally important insights into the evolutionary processes that form new species.Read moreRead less
The roles of relatedness and reproductive success in complex social systems of dolphins. Theories of the role of genetic relatedness and reproductive success in mammalian social behaviour have mostly been restricted to primates and carnivores. Coexisting alternative strategies within one population of bottlenose dolphins (Shark Bay WA) offer unprecedented opportunities for such investigations. The male alliances? complexity is unparalleled outside humans, and may require new theory. Some femal ....The roles of relatedness and reproductive success in complex social systems of dolphins. Theories of the role of genetic relatedness and reproductive success in mammalian social behaviour have mostly been restricted to primates and carnivores. Coexisting alternative strategies within one population of bottlenose dolphins (Shark Bay WA) offer unprecedented opportunities for such investigations. The male alliances? complexity is unparalleled outside humans, and may require new theory. Some female lineages show tool-use - rare outside humans, and virtually unknown in marine species. Our behavioural and genetic database has exceptional size, detail and duration for marine mammals, and is most valuable if continued while known individuals' offspring reach a stage where they can be sampled.Read moreRead less
Elucidating the mechanisms by which Scribble, Discs Large and Lethal Giant Larvae regulate epithelial polarity. Discs Large (Dlg) and Scribble are proteins that regulate cell shape by concentrating at particular regions within the cell and recruiting other proteins to that region. It is thought that the two proteins interact with each other, and with other proteins involved in protein trafficking and cell architecture, but it is not known how these events coordinate to produce a net outcome on ....Elucidating the mechanisms by which Scribble, Discs Large and Lethal Giant Larvae regulate epithelial polarity. Discs Large (Dlg) and Scribble are proteins that regulate cell shape by concentrating at particular regions within the cell and recruiting other proteins to that region. It is thought that the two proteins interact with each other, and with other proteins involved in protein trafficking and cell architecture, but it is not known how these events coordinate to produce a net outcome on cell shape. To answer these questions, the dynamic events involved in localization of Dlg, Scribble, and associated proteins will be determined, in mammalian cells and in whole organs of the vinegar fly.Read moreRead less