Placental nutrient transport shows how complex traits evolve. This project aims to use amino acid transport in the vertebrate placenta as a model to demonstrate how genes are recruited and modified to produce a major organ. Using an innovative combination of a new technology, selected reaction monitoring, and transcriptomic and molecular approaches, plus carefully selected Australian species pairs, this project will study the evolution of a complex trait (placental amino acid transport). The pr ....Placental nutrient transport shows how complex traits evolve. This project aims to use amino acid transport in the vertebrate placenta as a model to demonstrate how genes are recruited and modified to produce a major organ. Using an innovative combination of a new technology, selected reaction monitoring, and transcriptomic and molecular approaches, plus carefully selected Australian species pairs, this project will study the evolution of a complex trait (placental amino acid transport). The project will provide fundamental advances in our knowledge of the nutrient transport during pregnancy that is required to produce a healthy baby.Read moreRead less
Active Ice-Shelf Rift Systems on the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. Our work will inform the public on how the Antarctic might contribute to global sea level rise, e.g., are current iceberg production rates accelerating and causing inland ice to flow into the sea more rapidly? Furthermore, a greater understanding of the important Earth systems, including the ocean-ice-atmosphere system, is important to a society contemplating the responsibilities of stewardship of the planet as we move into t ....Active Ice-Shelf Rift Systems on the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. Our work will inform the public on how the Antarctic might contribute to global sea level rise, e.g., are current iceberg production rates accelerating and causing inland ice to flow into the sea more rapidly? Furthermore, a greater understanding of the important Earth systems, including the ocean-ice-atmosphere system, is important to a society contemplating the responsibilities of stewardship of the planet as we move into the era of potentially profound effects from global climate change.Read moreRead less
A Midas touch for electrophiles in new reaction development. This project aims to address the lack of knowledge about how high-value organic molecules are formed in gold-catalysed reactions by advancing a novel mode of catalysis. This project expects to generate new knowledge about these gold-catalysed reactions using an innovative, interdisciplinary approach incorporating computational and synthetic techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include the optimisation and development of import ....A Midas touch for electrophiles in new reaction development. This project aims to address the lack of knowledge about how high-value organic molecules are formed in gold-catalysed reactions by advancing a novel mode of catalysis. This project expects to generate new knowledge about these gold-catalysed reactions using an innovative, interdisciplinary approach incorporating computational and synthetic techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include the optimisation and development of important organic reactions and enhancing collaboration nationally and internationally between computational and synthetic chemists. This should provide significant benefits in the form of improved chemical reactions for chemists to prepare new pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials.Read moreRead less
Lags and legacies: antecedent effects on grassland biomass response to carbon dioxide. This project aims to assess how past conditions influence grassland responses to the rising atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. High CO2 concentrations should stimulate productivity but in grasslands this is rarely realised because other, mostly unknown, factors constrain the response. By synthesising data from past experiments, this project aims to determine exactly why grasslands fail to realise the ....Lags and legacies: antecedent effects on grassland biomass response to carbon dioxide. This project aims to assess how past conditions influence grassland responses to the rising atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. High CO2 concentrations should stimulate productivity but in grasslands this is rarely realised because other, mostly unknown, factors constrain the response. By synthesising data from past experiments, this project aims to determine exactly why grasslands fail to realise the full productivity benefits of increased CO2 and when this will happen. This should improve predictions of carbon exchange and indicating the best direction for climate change adaptation measures.Read moreRead less
Species redundancy in response to multiple disturbances. This project aims to elucidate how the context within which disturbances occur affects food web linkages and how these map to responses in ecosystem function. There is a critical need to test the common assumption in environmental management that high biodiversity makes ecosystems resilient to disturbances. Studies that merely observe biodiversity change after disturbance cannot identify ecological processes connecting high diversity and e ....Species redundancy in response to multiple disturbances. This project aims to elucidate how the context within which disturbances occur affects food web linkages and how these map to responses in ecosystem function. There is a critical need to test the common assumption in environmental management that high biodiversity makes ecosystems resilient to disturbances. Studies that merely observe biodiversity change after disturbance cannot identify ecological processes connecting high diversity and ecosystem function, making experiments that manipulate identical disturbances in ecosystems with different biodiversity essential. This project will use field experiments that manipulate disturbances in streams replicated in low and high biodiversity regions and across gradients of chronic background stress to show how biodiversity sustains functional ecosystems, and how much diversity can be lost before ecosystems collapse.Read moreRead less
Masers: high resolution probes of star formation. The largest stars in the Galaxy play a vital role in the formation of
the atoms which make life on Earth possible. The birth of these stars
is shrouded in gas and dust through which only radiowaves penetrate.
In this project we will make observations of interstellar masers from
the hydroxyl and methanol molecules and through mathematical modelling
of molecular excitation and radiative transfer probe the physical,
chemical and evolution ....Masers: high resolution probes of star formation. The largest stars in the Galaxy play a vital role in the formation of
the atoms which make life on Earth possible. The birth of these stars
is shrouded in gas and dust through which only radiowaves penetrate.
In this project we will make observations of interstellar masers from
the hydroxyl and methanol molecules and through mathematical modelling
of molecular excitation and radiative transfer probe the physical,
chemical and evolutionary status of the high-mass stars associated
with the masers.Read moreRead less
The Dark-side of the Milky Way. Astronomers have long sought to determine the 3-dimensional structure of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, with limited success owing to its immense size and obscuration by dust at optical wavelengths. We know more about structure of tens of thousands of other galaxies than we do about the structure of the Milky Way on the far-side of the Galactic Centre. This program will use Australian infrastructure to make the most accurate distance measurements to date of the far-si ....The Dark-side of the Milky Way. Astronomers have long sought to determine the 3-dimensional structure of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, with limited success owing to its immense size and obscuration by dust at optical wavelengths. We know more about structure of tens of thousands of other galaxies than we do about the structure of the Milky Way on the far-side of the Galactic Centre. This program will use Australian infrastructure to make the most accurate distance measurements to date of the far-side of the Milky Way visible from the Southern hemisphere, completing the 3-dimensional picture of our Galaxy. These results will be leveraged to yield accurate distances, providing fundamental information on the stellar masses, luminosities, and ages.Read moreRead less
Unraveling ocean mixing and air-sea forcing along the Indo-Pacific exchange. This project aims to collect unprecedented observations and develop high resolution model simulations to examine changes in the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) north of Australia. This project expects to develop new knowledge of ocean-atmosphere interactions along the path of the ITF from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, which are the powerhouse that drives changes in winds and rainfall around Australia and the entire Indo ....Unraveling ocean mixing and air-sea forcing along the Indo-Pacific exchange. This project aims to collect unprecedented observations and develop high resolution model simulations to examine changes in the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) north of Australia. This project expects to develop new knowledge of ocean-atmosphere interactions along the path of the ITF from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, which are the powerhouse that drives changes in winds and rainfall around Australia and the entire Indo-Pacific region. Expected outcomes include a 1000-fold increase in the observations of mixing in the Indonesian seas and new understanding of the ocean-atmosphere processes that control water property change along the ITF. This should lead to strong improvement in the skill of climate forecast models in the Australian region.Read moreRead less
Radio Interferometer Studies of Compact Astronomical Sources. The giant black holes in the centres of distant galaxies that are the topic of this study are used to set the reference frame for geodesy on the earth. Remote and exotic as they are, they have real-world applications such as improving the positions available from GPS receivers and measuring continental drift. The signal processing equipment being developed for this new telescope is based on FPGA (field programmable gate array) chips ....Radio Interferometer Studies of Compact Astronomical Sources. The giant black holes in the centres of distant galaxies that are the topic of this study are used to set the reference frame for geodesy on the earth. Remote and exotic as they are, they have real-world applications such as improving the positions available from GPS receivers and measuring continental drift. The signal processing equipment being developed for this new telescope is based on FPGA (field programmable gate array) chips, that promise to revolutionize the data processing industry, from radar to cellular telephones to computer networks. The young scientists who are working on this project will go on to lead the commercial and industrial applications of this new technology.Read moreRead less
The scale and structure of the Milky Way. This project aims to use new Australian infrastructure to make the most accurate distance measurements to date in the southern Milky Way, completing the three-dimensional picture of our Galaxy. Australia's international standing in astronomy has led to it being one of the host countries for the square kilometre array project, which will bring significant economic and technological benefits to the country. This project builds upon Australia's astronomical ....The scale and structure of the Milky Way. This project aims to use new Australian infrastructure to make the most accurate distance measurements to date in the southern Milky Way, completing the three-dimensional picture of our Galaxy. Australia's international standing in astronomy has led to it being one of the host countries for the square kilometre array project, which will bring significant economic and technological benefits to the country. This project builds upon Australia's astronomical expertise and will provide the most accurate picture to date of the Milky Way. Astronomy provides unique opportunities for engaging the community in discussions of science and society and inspires students to study STEM subjects.Read moreRead less