Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100629
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,058.00
Summary
Evolutionary impacts of climate change in Australia’s fossil record. This project aims to identify evolutionary responses to climate change in Australia's fossil record by comparing variation in lizard and frog communities across geological time. Using X-ray techniques on museum specimens, this project will generate a large-scale database for tracking evolutionary shifts in relation to historical climatic events. Expected outcomes include the first anatomical descriptions for many species, filli ....Evolutionary impacts of climate change in Australia’s fossil record. This project aims to identify evolutionary responses to climate change in Australia's fossil record by comparing variation in lizard and frog communities across geological time. Using X-ray techniques on museum specimens, this project will generate a large-scale database for tracking evolutionary shifts in relation to historical climatic events. Expected outcomes include the first anatomical descriptions for many species, filling major gaps in our ability to place fossils in a contemporary framework. This research will demonstrate the value of our national collections for addressing important environmental issues, such as biodiversity, extinction, and future habitat change.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE150100083
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$540,000.00
Summary
A high throughput phenomics facility for pace of life traits in animals. A high throughput phenomics facility for pace of life traits in animals: This project seeks to create the first high-throughput phenomic facility for animals in Australia. The molecular revolution has brought unprecedented capacity to understand genetic variation. Genetic variation is now better understood and more easily and cheaply characterised than the physical traits that organisms exhibit. Linking phenotypic variation ....A high throughput phenomics facility for pace of life traits in animals. A high throughput phenomics facility for pace of life traits in animals: This project seeks to create the first high-throughput phenomic facility for animals in Australia. The molecular revolution has brought unprecedented capacity to understand genetic variation. Genetic variation is now better understood and more easily and cheaply characterised than the physical traits that organisms exhibit. Linking phenotypic variation to genetic variation represents the major challenge in harnessing the power of the biomolecular age. This facility will accommodate animals from marine, freshwater and terrestrial systems across a diverse array of phyla. It will allow Australian researchers to leverage advances in high throughput genomic technologies to address a major bottleneck in biology.Read moreRead less
Keeping pace with a changing climate: can Australian plants count on rapid evolution? Integrating field and common-garden experiments with cutting-edge genomic technology, this project will answer the critical question of whether Australia's flora can count on evolution to keep pace with a rapidly changing climate. The project outcomes will inform science-based policies integrating social-economic development and biodiversity conservation.
Multi-trait plasticity in response to a changing climate. This project aims to understand the effect of climate change on natural populations. Phenotypic plasticity (the ability to change phenotype with environment) determines natural populations’ immediate response to environmental change. However, studies of plasticity frequently rely on simplifying assumptions, and understanding the genomic and epigenomic mechanisms underlying plasticity is only just emerging. This project will combine a fine ....Multi-trait plasticity in response to a changing climate. This project aims to understand the effect of climate change on natural populations. Phenotypic plasticity (the ability to change phenotype with environment) determines natural populations’ immediate response to environmental change. However, studies of plasticity frequently rely on simplifying assumptions, and understanding the genomic and epigenomic mechanisms underlying plasticity is only just emerging. This project will combine a fine-scale temperature-manipulation experiment with genomic and multivariate statistical analyses of a native Australian alpine plant. The intended outcome is a comprehensive analysis of whether multi-trait phenotypic plasticity is adaptive; whether it can evolve; and the epigenomic mechanisms that drive it. The project will predict the likely effect of temperature change on alpine plants, and so generate information internationally relevant to the management of populations adapting to climate change and locally relevant to the conservation of Australian montane flora.Read moreRead less
Predicting adaptive responses to climate change in Australian native bees. This project aims to understand how insects will adapt to climate change by examining a largely overlooked but economically important group of species: Australian native bees. Native bees are important pollinators of both crops and native plants, but their sensitivity to changes in climate are unknown. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of the resilience of native bees to climate change, and new effective tools for p ....Predicting adaptive responses to climate change in Australian native bees. This project aims to understand how insects will adapt to climate change by examining a largely overlooked but economically important group of species: Australian native bees. Native bees are important pollinators of both crops and native plants, but their sensitivity to changes in climate are unknown. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of the resilience of native bees to climate change, and new effective tools for predicting climate change resilience that can be applied to many species. The intended benefits include increasing our understanding of the potential for native bees to act as future pollinators in Australia’s natural and agro-ecosystems, and guide policy and management decisions to better protect and conserve our bee fauna.Read moreRead less
Evolution in a changing environment. Climate change is having dramatic effects on wild animal populations. This project will investigate how and why these effects occur, and whether populations will be able to evolve to adapt to a changing environment.
The dark side of light: species and community impacts of night lighting. The presence of artificial light at night (LAN) is one of the most profound recent changes in urban ecosystems. Correlated with increases in LAN are declines in the survival and fitness of species living in urban environments. This project aims to use a multi-disciplinary approach to explore the effect of LAN on survival, reproduction and physiology. It integrates field surveys with laboratory and field experiments and aims ....The dark side of light: species and community impacts of night lighting. The presence of artificial light at night (LAN) is one of the most profound recent changes in urban ecosystems. Correlated with increases in LAN are declines in the survival and fitness of species living in urban environments. This project aims to use a multi-disciplinary approach to explore the effect of LAN on survival, reproduction and physiology. It integrates field surveys with laboratory and field experiments and aims to utilise sophisticated physiological assays to identify the links between LAN, melatonin, immunity, survival and reproduction. The intended outcome of this research is to provide fundamental insights into the biological consequences of LAN at the species and community levels.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101266
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$358,536.00
Summary
Evolutionary and environmental basis of CO2 tolerance in coral reef fishes. This project aims to examine the effects of ocean acidification on coral reef fishes due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Physiological performance of fish vary under elevated CO2, but behaviour is consistently, negatively impacted. This project aims to investigate evolutionary trade-offs between behaviour and performance, physiological mechanisms key to compromising, maintaining, or enhancing metabolic pe ....Evolutionary and environmental basis of CO2 tolerance in coral reef fishes. This project aims to examine the effects of ocean acidification on coral reef fishes due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Physiological performance of fish vary under elevated CO2, but behaviour is consistently, negatively impacted. This project aims to investigate evolutionary trade-offs between behaviour and performance, physiological mechanisms key to compromising, maintaining, or enhancing metabolic performance under elevated CO2, and the importance of habitat in how fish respond to elevated CO2. As fish play critical roles in marine ecosystems by structuring food webs and driving ecological processes, this information will be critical for predicting the effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems and biodiversity.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100107
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Eggshells: genetic and biochemical information encapsulated. Tough, waterproof and impervious to decay, extraordinary eggshell can do more than just project baby birds: DNA from eggshells helps wildlife officers to bust wildlife criminals, scientists to investigate the role of humans and climate change in bird extinctions, and conservationists to save our endangered birds.
Cuckoo - host coevolution: a model system for investigating the impact of climate change on interspecific interactions and biodiversity. Climate change is causing alterations to the timing of breeding and migration in Australian birds, resulting in mismatches in timing between closely interacting species. This project will assess the impact of climate change on interactions between parasitic cuckoos, hosts and prey and formulate predictions about the long-term viability of these species.