The evolution of parental care in leeches: costs and benefits in a clade of hermaphroditic, invertebrate ectotherms. Parental care is a basic element of reproduction in many species. Nearly everything we know about parental care comes from study of vertebrates, especially birds and mammals. Leech is synonymous with exploitation, but many of these annelid worms are devoted parents. Because they differ dramatically from most vertebrates, leeches present an excellent, but as yet unused, opportunity ....The evolution of parental care in leeches: costs and benefits in a clade of hermaphroditic, invertebrate ectotherms. Parental care is a basic element of reproduction in many species. Nearly everything we know about parental care comes from study of vertebrates, especially birds and mammals. Leech is synonymous with exploitation, but many of these annelid worms are devoted parents. Because they differ dramatically from most vertebrates, leeches present an excellent, but as yet unused, opportunity to test our theories and understanding of the evoluton of parental care. We will examine the evolution of degrees of care and sibling competition in leech families, and use molecular markers to better understand the genetic structure of populations of these invertebrates.Read moreRead less
Evolution of cooperative breeding in birds. The incidence of cooperative breeding in birds varies from 0 to 100% between families of birds, and from <1 to >25% among birds from different regions. However, there has been no theory that successfully predicts these differences. Recent comparative analysis shows the differences result largely from the early evolution of obligate cooperative breeding in some groups, and their subsequent slow rates of speciation. I will use model systems to investiga ....Evolution of cooperative breeding in birds. The incidence of cooperative breeding in birds varies from 0 to 100% between families of birds, and from <1 to >25% among birds from different regions. However, there has been no theory that successfully predicts these differences. Recent comparative analysis shows the differences result largely from the early evolution of obligate cooperative breeding in some groups, and their subsequent slow rates of speciation. I will use model systems to investigate how birds can become committed to cooperative breeding despite the inevitable conflicts, and how one group of birds have been freed from the general rules governing the evolution of sociality.Read moreRead less
Why do females mate with multiple partners? Tests of key hypotheses in the wild. Female animals commonly mate with several males at each reproductive cycle, but we do not know why. Six plausible, testable hypotheses have been proposed to explain how females could benefit directly, or by obtaining advantageous genes for their offspring. The few empirical investigations so far carried out have been in captivity and have not considered all alternative explanations. I propose to experimentally test ....Why do females mate with multiple partners? Tests of key hypotheses in the wild. Female animals commonly mate with several males at each reproductive cycle, but we do not know why. Six plausible, testable hypotheses have been proposed to explain how females could benefit directly, or by obtaining advantageous genes for their offspring. The few empirical investigations so far carried out have been in captivity and have not considered all alternative explanations. I propose to experimentally test the key hypotheses in the wild, using a small mammal uniquely-suited to this purpose because of its unusual, but well-known reproductive strategy. The results will improve our understanding of the role of female behaviour in evolutionary processes.Read moreRead less
Maternal effects and sex allocation: an integrated approach. This project will produce research of a high international standard combining a number of key fields in evolution and ecology. The team we have assembled provides a link between Australian-based researchers and leading overseas theoreticians facilitating integration between evolutionary theory and empirical research on the unique Australian fauna. Furthermore, while climate change is identified as a priority area for research, Australi ....Maternal effects and sex allocation: an integrated approach. This project will produce research of a high international standard combining a number of key fields in evolution and ecology. The team we have assembled provides a link between Australian-based researchers and leading overseas theoreticians facilitating integration between evolutionary theory and empirical research on the unique Australian fauna. Furthermore, while climate change is identified as a priority area for research, Australia typically lacks the history of long-term phenological monitoring that is required to understand climate change impacts. This project takes an important step towards addressing this shortcoming.Read moreRead less
Quantifying the costs and benefits of cooperative behaviour in birds: An experimental test of the group augmentation hypothesis. Cooperation is seen as a hallmark of human evolution, but is common throughout the animal kingdom. Indeed, our greatest appreciation of the factors associated with family living and cooperation comes from animal research. My project uses novel approaches to address questions about the role of kinship and energetic costs of cooperation in the evolution of cooperation an ....Quantifying the costs and benefits of cooperative behaviour in birds: An experimental test of the group augmentation hypothesis. Cooperation is seen as a hallmark of human evolution, but is common throughout the animal kingdom. Indeed, our greatest appreciation of the factors associated with family living and cooperation comes from animal research. My project uses novel approaches to address questions about the role of kinship and energetic costs of cooperation in the evolution of cooperation and family living. My study species is a highly charismatic, desert-living cooperative Australian bird, the chestnut-crowned babbler. This study will add significantly to our understanding of the evolution of social behaviour and the extended family. The results will be of international significance and make an impact in scientific journals and through the mediaRead moreRead less
Can Sexual Selection Generate Reproductive Isolation? Sexual selection has long been thought to be central to the process of speciation and numerous models have been proposed to explain its contribution. However, the ability of sexual selection to generate reproductive isolation has never been evaluated experimentally and there is limited direct evidence for its role in speciation in nature. Using Drosophila serrata, I intend to conduct a large scale experimental test of the role of sexual selec ....Can Sexual Selection Generate Reproductive Isolation? Sexual selection has long been thought to be central to the process of speciation and numerous models have been proposed to explain its contribution. However, the ability of sexual selection to generate reproductive isolation has never been evaluated experimentally and there is limited direct evidence for its role in speciation in nature. Using Drosophila serrata, I intend to conduct a large scale experimental test of the role of sexual selection in the origin of new species. I will manipulate mate choice by placing male pheromones under artificial selection and then tracking the evolution of reproductive isolation in the presence and absence of sexual selection.Read moreRead less
From developmental stability to organismic senility: Hox genes and telomere impact on life history evolution. Australia benefits from training researchers and technicians in new, break-through biotechnology and from applying this knowledge to relevant, cutting-edge questions in highly publicized research fields. This project contains both these ingredients. Our model species (a lizard) has a relatively high level of offspring malformations (ca 15%), which makes it much more likely to detect thei ....From developmental stability to organismic senility: Hox genes and telomere impact on life history evolution. Australia benefits from training researchers and technicians in new, break-through biotechnology and from applying this knowledge to relevant, cutting-edge questions in highly publicized research fields. This project contains both these ingredients. Our model species (a lizard) has a relatively high level of offspring malformations (ca 15%), which makes it much more likely to detect their underlying genetic mechanism. Furthermore, we can also assess how these animals survive and reproduce in relation to how quickly they age, which can be measured by assessing the shortening of telomeres per unit time. Thus, this collaboration provides an opportunity to train Australian researchers and in that process generate very high profile research.Read moreRead less
Evolution of maternal provisioning in echinoderms: characterisation of egg nutrients and their roles in development. In the complex life histories of marine invertebrates modification of maternal provisioning lies at the nexus between the evolution of development and speciation in the sea. This project investigates the relationship between egg nutritive profile and developmental mode in echinoderms. It uses the Patiriella sea stars, a powerful model to examine evolution of egg constituents in a ....Evolution of maternal provisioning in echinoderms: characterisation of egg nutrients and their roles in development. In the complex life histories of marine invertebrates modification of maternal provisioning lies at the nexus between the evolution of development and speciation in the sea. This project investigates the relationship between egg nutritive profile and developmental mode in echinoderms. It uses the Patiriella sea stars, a powerful model to examine evolution of egg constituents in ancestral-type developers with small eggs and derived developers exhibiting multiple parallel evolution of large eggs. This project provides insights into evolutionary fine-tuning of oogenesis and its influence on larval type and location of development, features that strongly influence the biogeography of marine invertebrate populations.Read moreRead less
Why aren't all species everywhere? The evolution of species' borders in tropical reef fishes. Virtually nothing is known about how geographic range limits evolve in the wild in the absence of barriers to dispersal and habitat discontinuities. This project will investigate the evolution of range limits of fishes on the Great Barrier Reef using combinations of mathematical modelling and field- and laboratory-based analyses of evolutionary patterns and processes. By advancing understanding of the ....Why aren't all species everywhere? The evolution of species' borders in tropical reef fishes. Virtually nothing is known about how geographic range limits evolve in the wild in the absence of barriers to dispersal and habitat discontinuities. This project will investigate the evolution of range limits of fishes on the Great Barrier Reef using combinations of mathematical modelling and field- and laboratory-based analyses of evolutionary patterns and processes. By advancing understanding of the fundamental causes of species' range limits, this research will provide new options for the management and conservation of this very valuable resource, and other complex biological systems, under increasing pressures of exploitation, habitat degradation and climate change.Read moreRead less
The evolutionary effect of the domestication process in a model organism. A significant proportion of research in the field of evolutionary biology, focuses on captive populations of laboratory-bred animals. Little is known about the impact of the domestication process on these species, raising questions about the relevance of such studies. The Australian zebra finch is the avian model species of choice in evolutionary biology laboratories in Europe and the USA and the focus of many high profile ....The evolutionary effect of the domestication process in a model organism. A significant proportion of research in the field of evolutionary biology, focuses on captive populations of laboratory-bred animals. Little is known about the impact of the domestication process on these species, raising questions about the relevance of such studies. The Australian zebra finch is the avian model species of choice in evolutionary biology laboratories in Europe and the USA and the focus of many high profile publications. Our investigation into the affect of domestication on the evolutionary biology of this key model species will have a high international impact, raising the profile of Australian research, in addition to providing fundamental knowledge across several areas of reproductive biology.Read moreRead less