Targeted gene flow for conservation. This project aims to develop targeted gene flow as a broad conservation strategy, exploiting natural geographic variation to achieve conservation outcomes. Geographic variation and local adaptation are ubiquitous within species, but conservation managers do not use this heritable variation. The project will develop decision tools to address when to time a targeted gene flow action, and where to source appropriate genetic variation. As case studies, the projec ....Targeted gene flow for conservation. This project aims to develop targeted gene flow as a broad conservation strategy, exploiting natural geographic variation to achieve conservation outcomes. Geographic variation and local adaptation are ubiquitous within species, but conservation managers do not use this heritable variation. The project will develop decision tools to address when to time a targeted gene flow action, and where to source appropriate genetic variation. As case studies, the project will try to use targeted gene flow to halt the invasion of the cane toad in northern Australia and reverse the decline of northern quolls.Read moreRead less
Peripheral isolates as hotbeds of adaptive diversity. This project uses cutting edge molecular technology and spatial analyses to predict the location of diversity relevant to managing the impact of climate change. Knowledge generated in this project will open the door to the informed use of genetic translocation in efforts to kerb expected biodiversity losses.
The evolution of host-parasite interactions during a biological invasion. This project aims to elucidate how host organisms and their parasites adapt to each other, exploiting the fact that a biological invasion imposes novel evolutionary challenges. This project expects to generate new knowledge about how the interaction between host and parasite species is affected when the system is exposed to powerful new selective forces. Expected outcomes of this project include development of theory, trai ....The evolution of host-parasite interactions during a biological invasion. This project aims to elucidate how host organisms and their parasites adapt to each other, exploiting the fact that a biological invasion imposes novel evolutionary challenges. This project expects to generate new knowledge about how the interaction between host and parasite species is affected when the system is exposed to powerful new selective forces. Expected outcomes of this project include development of theory, training of students in an emerging field, and a nuanced understanding of this important topic. This should provide significant benefits, such as an enhanced ability for wildlife managers to predict the impact of parasites on species of wildlife that are extending their geographic ranges.Read moreRead less
Species and gene turnover across environmental gradients - a landscape-level approach to quantify biodiversity and resilience for climate adaptation. Biodiversity corridor planning in Australia desperately needs to progress beyond the simple linking up of remnant vegetation, based on aerial maps and start incorporating ecosystem features which will promote climate adaptation. This project will develop a new genomics method to assess ecosystem resilience for use in national biodiversity corridor ....Species and gene turnover across environmental gradients - a landscape-level approach to quantify biodiversity and resilience for climate adaptation. Biodiversity corridor planning in Australia desperately needs to progress beyond the simple linking up of remnant vegetation, based on aerial maps and start incorporating ecosystem features which will promote climate adaptation. This project will develop a new genomics method to assess ecosystem resilience for use in national biodiversity corridor planning.Read moreRead less
Integrating ecoimmunology and population ecology to understand how tropical reptiles deal with novel challenges. Using tropical reptiles as a study system, the project will investigate the extent to which human-induced stressors, such as climate change and invasive species, affect stress levels and immunocompetence of wild animals.
The physiology of biome shifts and macroevolutionary change: how did Australian skinks colonise the arid zone so successfully? This project will examine two of Australia's most diverse lizard lineages, Lerista and Ctenotus, and will identify the physiological and morphological traits that enabled them to adaptively radiate within the arid zone. It will highlight those traits likely to be adaptive for environments predicted to become widespread under climate change.
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL100100183
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,168,370.00
Summary
Biological adaptation under natural and anthropogenic conditions. This project covers all four national priority areas. Nature abounds with conflicts between what is good for the individual or a larger entity (a population, a society, or a species). Researching them will explain why populations adapt or fail to adapt to novel conditions (e.g., climate change) and predict when interventions are beneficial. Similar rules govern the spread of invasive species. Even health problems, e.g., new virule ....Biological adaptation under natural and anthropogenic conditions. This project covers all four national priority areas. Nature abounds with conflicts between what is good for the individual or a larger entity (a population, a society, or a species). Researching them will explain why populations adapt or fail to adapt to novel conditions (e.g., climate change) and predict when interventions are beneficial. Similar rules govern the spread of invasive species. Even health problems, e.g., new virulent strains of human, animal or plant diseases, require such evolutionary thinking. Cutting-edge mathematical tools also prepare Australians for an era in the near future where genomic data are so cheap to acquire that training in complex mathematical and logical analysis becomes a factor limiting scientific progress.Read moreRead less
Australian and global plant diversity from first principles. This project aims to explain the composition of vegetation in Australia and worldwide using ecological and evolutionary first principles. Researchers have studied how climate shapes vegetation for centuries, but still lack a basic quantitative theory predicting what types of plants should be found where and why. Combining first principles models, statistics and large Australian data synthesis, this project will determine whether vegeta ....Australian and global plant diversity from first principles. This project aims to explain the composition of vegetation in Australia and worldwide using ecological and evolutionary first principles. Researchers have studied how climate shapes vegetation for centuries, but still lack a basic quantitative theory predicting what types of plants should be found where and why. Combining first principles models, statistics and large Australian data synthesis, this project will determine whether vegetation structure and diversity is predictable and thus improve predictive models. Predicting the long term effects of evolutionary adaptation and humans on ecosystems could enable the management of terrestrial carbon and underpin effective ecosystem management and restoration.Read moreRead less
Escalating the arms race: Understanding when and how trees get really tall. Australia's giant Eucalypt trees are an amazing phenomenon and resource; underpinning unique ecosystems, rich in timber, stored carbon, and animal habitat. While tree height generally arises via an evolutionary arms race for light, the race has escalated dramatically in some locations and species. Using a computational framework that simulates adaptation driven by size-structured competition, this project will quantify h ....Escalating the arms race: Understanding when and how trees get really tall. Australia's giant Eucalypt trees are an amazing phenomenon and resource; underpinning unique ecosystems, rich in timber, stored carbon, and animal habitat. While tree height generally arises via an evolutionary arms race for light, the race has escalated dramatically in some locations and species. Using a computational framework that simulates adaptation driven by size-structured competition, this project will quantify how distinct factors-including climate, recruitment, and disturbance-enhance the race for light and can thereby explain the origins of Australia's giant Eucalypt. With calibrated models of species evolution, coupled with targeted fieldwork and big data, this project clarifies key forces shaping present and future vegetation.Read moreRead less
Resolving how five million years of dramatic climatic changes shaped Australia's unique fauna. Australia’s biota is a product of its unique heritage, tectonic history and most especially its climate. Over the past five million years it has been beset by a series of intense climatic shifts driven by a combination of global and regional factors. This project will be the first to track faunal responses to environmental changes across this critical interval. It will establish the dynamics of the ori ....Resolving how five million years of dramatic climatic changes shaped Australia's unique fauna. Australia’s biota is a product of its unique heritage, tectonic history and most especially its climate. Over the past five million years it has been beset by a series of intense climatic shifts driven by a combination of global and regional factors. This project will be the first to track faunal responses to environmental changes across this critical interval. It will establish the dynamics of the origin of the modern southern vertebrate fauna, analysing changes in diversity, diet and community structure. By exploring associations between phases of faunal turnover and key climatic transitions, it will bring a Southern Hemisphere perspective to evolutionary models of Cenozoic faunal change largely generated to date from Northern Hemisphere data.Read moreRead less