Community efficiency: testing MacArthur’s minimisation principle for competitive communities. Robert MacArthur, one of the 20th century’s greatest ecologists, developed theory that had profound impacts on our understanding of island biogeography, species coexistence, and competition, yet one of his most powerful theoretical predictions, that competitive communities should become more efficient over time, has never been tested. A greater understanding of the dynamics of community efficiency will ....Community efficiency: testing MacArthur’s minimisation principle for competitive communities. Robert MacArthur, one of the 20th century’s greatest ecologists, developed theory that had profound impacts on our understanding of island biogeography, species coexistence, and competition, yet one of his most powerful theoretical predictions, that competitive communities should become more efficient over time, has never been tested. A greater understanding of the dynamics of community efficiency will provide profound insights into the role of that community in the broader ecosystem, as well as strong predictions about the invasibility and stability of that community. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101439
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$445,009.00
Summary
Towards reliable and explainable models for anticipating ecological change. This project aims to develop a quantitative framework for multivariate ecological prediction. This will allow us to better anticipate how ecosystems respond to environmental change. Recent modelling advances now make it possible to use the complexity of community ecology data to deliver better predictions. The project intends to use long-term ecological datasets to build and test novel multivariate prediction models, usi ....Towards reliable and explainable models for anticipating ecological change. This project aims to develop a quantitative framework for multivariate ecological prediction. This will allow us to better anticipate how ecosystems respond to environmental change. Recent modelling advances now make it possible to use the complexity of community ecology data to deliver better predictions. The project intends to use long-term ecological datasets to build and test novel multivariate prediction models, using tick paralysis rates in Australian dogs as a case study. Expected outcomes are better tools for studying ecosystem change and new hypotheses about how ecological communities are shaped. Application of these models should provide significant benefits, such as prediction of paralysis tick burdens to improve risk mitigation.Read moreRead less
Backyard Bandicoots: Engaging community in urban bushland conservation. Backyard bandicoots: Engaging community in urban bushland conservation. This project aims to develop a model for urban ecosystem function and restoration, by identifying resources used by urban bandicoots (quenda). Digging mammal species turn over substantial volumes of soil as they forage for invertebrates, subterranean fungi, and plant material. These ecosystem engineers contribute to water infiltration, nutrient cycling, ....Backyard Bandicoots: Engaging community in urban bushland conservation. Backyard bandicoots: Engaging community in urban bushland conservation. This project aims to develop a model for urban ecosystem function and restoration, by identifying resources used by urban bandicoots (quenda). Digging mammal species turn over substantial volumes of soil as they forage for invertebrates, subterranean fungi, and plant material. These ecosystem engineers contribute to water infiltration, nutrient cycling, increased soil microorganism function, and seedling recruitment. They spread hypogeous mycorrhizal fungi that contribute to plant nutrition, crucial in Australia's nutrient-poor soils. This research is expected to improve targeted plantings in bushland reserves, and identify and mitigate threats to bandicoots in cities.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100710
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$422,492.00
Summary
Beyond Hendra: the significance of viral communities in bat virus spillover. This project aims to address the emerging global health threat posed by zoonotic bat-borne viruses, by determining why bats shed multiple viruses in synchronised pulses. The project expects to identify universal drivers of multi-viral shedding pulses, using Hendra virus as a model system for other bat viruses in Australia and globally. Expected outcomes include insights into the interactions between environmental change ....Beyond Hendra: the significance of viral communities in bat virus spillover. This project aims to address the emerging global health threat posed by zoonotic bat-borne viruses, by determining why bats shed multiple viruses in synchronised pulses. The project expects to identify universal drivers of multi-viral shedding pulses, using Hendra virus as a model system for other bat viruses in Australia and globally. Expected outcomes include insights into the interactions between environmental change, bat ecology, viral dynamics and spillover, prediction of when and where bat viral shedding will most likely occur, and development of new ecological interventions to prevent bat virus spillover in Australia and globally. This will provide significant benefits by pre-empting spillover and global pandemics before they occur.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100709
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Assessing pollination services of honey bees in native ecosystems and threats posed by parasites. The European honeybee is our most abundant pollinator but we know little about its role in native Australian ecosystems or how its many diseases may affect its ability to pollinate. This project will determine whether honeybees are important pollinators of native plants and how a common parasite affects their pollination ability.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100833
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
The nutritional regulation of food chain length in terrestrial arthropod communities. Little is known about how the behaviour of individual animals affects the structure and function of ecological communities. By quantifying the diet requirements of predators and comparing them to the nutrients in prey at different trophic levels, this project will test if nutrient-based foraging by predators regulates food chain length in arthropod communities.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100479
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$453,582.00
Summary
Delivering defences: using fungi to enhance plant resistance to herbivory. This project will identify how the diversity of beneficial fungi in the soil is affected by agricultural management, and will reveal how these fungi govern the ability of plants to defend themselves from insect herbivores. Through innovative field surveys and experimentation, this project will generate new knowledge in the key areas of soil ecology and plant defence. This will allow us to exploit these soil fungi to enhan ....Delivering defences: using fungi to enhance plant resistance to herbivory. This project will identify how the diversity of beneficial fungi in the soil is affected by agricultural management, and will reveal how these fungi govern the ability of plants to defend themselves from insect herbivores. Through innovative field surveys and experimentation, this project will generate new knowledge in the key areas of soil ecology and plant defence. This will allow us to exploit these soil fungi to enhance crop protection while simultaneously conserving soil ecosystems. Effectively boosting plant defence in this way will reduce reliance on ecologically damaging pesticides, promote soil biodiversity, and ensure the sustainability of crop production into the future. Read moreRead less
Exotic and native plant coexistence in novel communities. The development of novel communities has become an inevitable outcome of global change. Despite this, we have a poor understanding of the mechanisms driving their assembly. Here, experimental and modelling approaches will be used to identify how competition among native and exotic plant species change across key environmental gradients, leading to: resilient native communities; stable novel communities - mixes of native and exotic species ....Exotic and native plant coexistence in novel communities. The development of novel communities has become an inevitable outcome of global change. Despite this, we have a poor understanding of the mechanisms driving their assembly. Here, experimental and modelling approaches will be used to identify how competition among native and exotic plant species change across key environmental gradients, leading to: resilient native communities; stable novel communities - mixes of native and exotic species; or, degraded communities dominated by exotic species. The annual plant communities of Western Australia's (WA) York Gum woodlands will be used as a model system. Outcomes will improve management of WA wildflower communities and provide a framework for predicting novel community formation worldwide.Read moreRead less
How complex species interactions mediate plant community diversity. This project aims to manage and protect biodiversity under global change by adding biological realism to mechanistic diversity models. Species interactions are central to understanding biodiversity at local to regional scales. Most diversity models assume that direct competition captures all salient details of species interactions, while more complex species interactions are unimportant. This unsupported, pervasive assumption ha ....How complex species interactions mediate plant community diversity. This project aims to manage and protect biodiversity under global change by adding biological realism to mechanistic diversity models. Species interactions are central to understanding biodiversity at local to regional scales. Most diversity models assume that direct competition captures all salient details of species interactions, while more complex species interactions are unimportant. This unsupported, pervasive assumption has major consequences for how diversity is predicted and explained. This study will combine field experiments on plant species’ responses to climate and land use changes with a modelling framework. Expected outcomes include improving the ability to manage invasive species and to protect biodiversity under conditions of global environmental change.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102221
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Investigating the susceptibility of native vegetation edges to alien plant invasion: a quantitative study to help prevent and control invasive species. Alien plant invasion is a major threat to biodiversity in national parks and nature reserves. Determining the relative influence of plant characteristics, number of alien plant seeds and availability of light, water and nutrients on weed invasion will indicate what prevention and control strategies should be used to combat invasive plants.