Maintenance of high plant diversity in phosphorus-impoverished ecosystems. This project aims to determine the role of soil-inhabiting pathogens and symbiotic fungi in the maintenance of plant diversity in Australia’s hyperdiverse shrublands. These are among the world’s most species-rich systems, yet occur on extremely poor soils. This project tests the hypothesis that plants that are best adapted to acquire phosphorus in these extremely infertile soils are most susceptible to soil pathogens. Thi ....Maintenance of high plant diversity in phosphorus-impoverished ecosystems. This project aims to determine the role of soil-inhabiting pathogens and symbiotic fungi in the maintenance of plant diversity in Australia’s hyperdiverse shrublands. These are among the world’s most species-rich systems, yet occur on extremely poor soils. This project tests the hypothesis that plants that are best adapted to acquire phosphorus in these extremely infertile soils are most susceptible to soil pathogens. This trade-off would equalise differences in competitive abilities among plant species and promote high plant diversity. The project will help elucidate how pathogens and symbiotic fungi together drive plant diversity in a globally significant biodiversity hotspot in Australia, with relevance to other biodiverse regions.Read moreRead less
Threshold traits: conditionality, instability and broken symmetry. This project will use experimental evolutionary ecology to understand biological switches that are tripped in response to environmental change. This will increase knowledge of how the environment affects organisms; exploring the limits to diversity on the one hand and the generation of novelty on the other.
Group dynamics, Allee effects and population regulation in cooperative breeders. Understanding population dynamics is crucial for effective conservation biology. In many cases breeding is limited by high density, but in social species the opposite is true, exposing small groups to high extinction risk. However, analyses of population dynamics in social species is rare, limiting our ability to effectively conserve such species.
Choosing to persist: sexual selection in the wild. This project aims to investigate the role of sexual selection in maintaining healthy wild populations. The prevailing story of sexual selection, in which the sexes either compete for or choose the other sex, has been of extravagant ornaments and displays that drive species to extinction. However, an opposing story has emerged, with elaborate ornaments reflecting a healthy genome and sexual selection instead sweeping away damaging genetic mater ....Choosing to persist: sexual selection in the wild. This project aims to investigate the role of sexual selection in maintaining healthy wild populations. The prevailing story of sexual selection, in which the sexes either compete for or choose the other sex, has been of extravagant ornaments and displays that drive species to extinction. However, an opposing story has emerged, with elaborate ornaments reflecting a healthy genome and sexual selection instead sweeping away damaging genetic material. This project expects to generate new knowledge on the potential for sexual selection to remove harmful mutations in the wild. Expected outcomes include determining if sexual selection can help prevent extinction in wild populations, with direct benefits for conservation programs.Read moreRead less
Dynamic assessment of threats to marine megafauna in face of global change. This project aims to develop a global approach to synthesise global tracking datasets and deliver near real-time diagnostics on risks for marine megafauna at a global scale pushing forward a new frontier in dynamic marine spatial management to improve conservation. This project expects to increase our understanding of how marine megafauna movements vary with environmental changes and how much they overlap with threatenin ....Dynamic assessment of threats to marine megafauna in face of global change. This project aims to develop a global approach to synthesise global tracking datasets and deliver near real-time diagnostics on risks for marine megafauna at a global scale pushing forward a new frontier in dynamic marine spatial management to improve conservation. This project expects to increase our understanding of how marine megafauna movements vary with environmental changes and how much they overlap with threatening global human activities. Expected outcomes will demonstrate how big data in marine telemetry can be synthesised and translated into ecologically significant behaviours. This should provide significant benefits to address global scientific and societal problems highlighted in the Australian science and research priorities.Read moreRead less
Does coevolution drive speciation? This project aims to connect micro-evolutionary processes with macro-evolutionary patterns to test the extent to which tightly coupled co-evolutionary interactions between species drive evolutionary diversification. The project will use techniques including the most recent phylogenetic modelling methods, field experiments and molecular genetics. Expected outcomes include advancing understanding of the mechanisms that generate biodiversity and developing new tec ....Does coevolution drive speciation? This project aims to connect micro-evolutionary processes with macro-evolutionary patterns to test the extent to which tightly coupled co-evolutionary interactions between species drive evolutionary diversification. The project will use techniques including the most recent phylogenetic modelling methods, field experiments and molecular genetics. Expected outcomes include advancing understanding of the mechanisms that generate biodiversity and developing new techniques for acquisition of DNA from museum specimens. The project is expected to provide significant benefits, such as insights into the processes that promote new species in nature.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100841
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Movement patterns of marine megafauna at unprecedented global scales. This project aims to apply analyses from big data approaches to reveal movement patterns at unprecedented scales. Environmental legislation dictates that industries (e.g. oil and gas) reduce their effect on marine megafauna such as sharks, whales, or turtles. However, the extent of their effect is unknown, due to limited understanding of these animals’ movements. With large satellite tracking datasets now available, the challe ....Movement patterns of marine megafauna at unprecedented global scales. This project aims to apply analyses from big data approaches to reveal movement patterns at unprecedented scales. Environmental legislation dictates that industries (e.g. oil and gas) reduce their effect on marine megafauna such as sharks, whales, or turtles. However, the extent of their effect is unknown, due to limited understanding of these animals’ movements. With large satellite tracking datasets now available, the challenge is to develop a synthetic analytical approach to identify scaling laws and to understand global drivers of marine megafauna movement. Findings are expected to improve the ability to sustainably exploit marine resources while conserving biodiversity.Read moreRead less
The origins of electroreception and nocturnality in the earliest known jawed vertebrates and their bearing on vertebrate diversification. This project aims to discover primary new data to pinpoint the timing, anatomical origins and phylogenetic significance when two key sensory systems first appeared in modern vertebrates: electroreception and specialised nocturnal vision. Such abilities today allow high diversity of vertebrates to co-exist within the same geographical range, for example on trop ....The origins of electroreception and nocturnality in the earliest known jawed vertebrates and their bearing on vertebrate diversification. This project aims to discover primary new data to pinpoint the timing, anatomical origins and phylogenetic significance when two key sensory systems first appeared in modern vertebrates: electroreception and specialised nocturnal vision. Such abilities today allow high diversity of vertebrates to co-exist within the same geographical range, for example on tropical reefs or rainforest communities, through careful temporal niche partitioning where reliance on other sensory systems takes over from vision and olfaction as the principal method of prey detection. This project aims to elucidate how the modern fish diversity was shaped by such significant early evolutionary events.Read moreRead less
The dynamics of sexual selection on gametes in a broadcast spawner. This project aims to develop integrated approaches for understanding sexual selection at the level of the gamete. It will use a new and highly versatile model system - the blue mussel - to seek insights into how multivariate selection targets ejaculates, the dynamic nature of selection, and the putative role that chemical communication between eggs and sperm plays in mediating these processes. A range of interdisciplinary approa ....The dynamics of sexual selection on gametes in a broadcast spawner. This project aims to develop integrated approaches for understanding sexual selection at the level of the gamete. It will use a new and highly versatile model system - the blue mussel - to seek insights into how multivariate selection targets ejaculates, the dynamic nature of selection, and the putative role that chemical communication between eggs and sperm plays in mediating these processes. A range of interdisciplinary approaches will be used to uncover these patterns, and the mechanisms underlying them. By focusing on a species exhibiting the ancestral reproductive strategy of broadcast spawning, the work will contribute to an understanding of major evolutionary transitions in reproductive biology.Read moreRead less
Testing new theoretical models of sperm allocation: does competition for mates compromise male fertility? In order to reproduce, males must invest resources into competing for females at a cost to their investment in fertility. The project will develop and test new evolutionary theory that explores how male reproductive biology evolves in the face of this unappreciated constraint, research that will provide general insight into male fertility and infertility.