Agriculture and the Late Bronze Age collapse of the Hittite Empire. National benefit will be accrued through the major scholarly contribution the project makes to a key debate in world archaeology, namely the extent to which environmental change affected ancient complex societies, especially climate change. As such it fosters an awareness of world cultures and the interrelation between political stability and environmental change. The project also will encourage international collaboration betwe ....Agriculture and the Late Bronze Age collapse of the Hittite Empire. National benefit will be accrued through the major scholarly contribution the project makes to a key debate in world archaeology, namely the extent to which environmental change affected ancient complex societies, especially climate change. As such it fosters an awareness of world cultures and the interrelation between political stability and environmental change. The project also will encourage international collaboration between Australian, Turkish and Japanese scholars and will provide training for several research scholars in an area of archaeology in which Australia has a recognised major deficit, namely archaeobotany.Read moreRead less
Precisely Dating the Evolution of Complex Societies in Polynesia: The Hawaiian Example. It is of enormous national benefit to develop intellectual innovations that set Australia apart from its neighbours and establish its position as a regional leader in science. Because the Australasian region relies heavily on primary resource exploitation, intellectual developments are crucial for sustainable economic growth. Understanding how societies meet the challenges of resource depletion, landscape de ....Precisely Dating the Evolution of Complex Societies in Polynesia: The Hawaiian Example. It is of enormous national benefit to develop intellectual innovations that set Australia apart from its neighbours and establish its position as a regional leader in science. Because the Australasian region relies heavily on primary resource exploitation, intellectual developments are crucial for sustainable economic growth. Understanding how societies meet the challenges of resource depletion, landscape degradation, drought and population increase can be monitored with archaeological data over hundreds of years. Our research seeks to use an innovative technique for precisely dating major changes in Oceanic societies over the past 500 years, which will provide insights into how modern communities can cope with these problems today. Read moreRead less
Voyaging, Trade and the Development of Ancient Complex Societies in East Polynesia: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Developing a knowledge-based economy has long-term benefits to Australia and is independent of fluctuations in the resource sector on which our nation heavily relies. Intellectual innovations are crucial for sustainable growth and help establish Australia as a regional and world leader in science. We use innovative methods to 'fingerprint' prehistoric stone tools and raw material so ....Voyaging, Trade and the Development of Ancient Complex Societies in East Polynesia: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Developing a knowledge-based economy has long-term benefits to Australia and is independent of fluctuations in the resource sector on which our nation heavily relies. Intellectual innovations are crucial for sustainable growth and help establish Australia as a regional and world leader in science. We use innovative methods to 'fingerprint' prehistoric stone tools and raw material sources for determining the geographic extent of travel between island groups and ascertaining how inter-connected Pacific island communities were about 800 to 200 years ago. Documenting this long-term prehistory will provide insights into our modern neighbours and promote regional understanding, and enhance international collaboration and research training.Read moreRead less
History in their bones: A diachronic, bioarchaeological study of diet, mobility and social organisation from Cambodian skeletal assemblages. Australia will further enhance its role as an innovator in the archaeology of SE Asia through this cross-disciplinary, international collaboration on the mobility, health, age and diet in ancient Cambodia. Local collaborations will be expanded and academic and cultural relations with Cambodia will be reinforced and strengthened. This research will expand ....History in their bones: A diachronic, bioarchaeological study of diet, mobility and social organisation from Cambodian skeletal assemblages. Australia will further enhance its role as an innovator in the archaeology of SE Asia through this cross-disciplinary, international collaboration on the mobility, health, age and diet in ancient Cambodia. Local collaborations will be expanded and academic and cultural relations with Cambodia will be reinforced and strengthened. This research will expand understanding of Cambodian history and underscore its pivotal role in mainland SE Asian archaeology. Australia's advancement of knowledge about Cambodia's rich cultural antiquity will be recognized worldwide by a global community acutely mindful of the losses to culture and heritage endured by Cambodia in the recent past.Read moreRead less
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
Unravelling the drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in estuaries. The aim of this project is to understand and quantify the factors controlling the emission of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide from estuaries. Coastal systems play a disproportionately large role in the global emissions of greenhouse gases, but this is poorly quantified. The project plans to use a combination of continuous concentration and stable isotope measurements, process measurements and advanced numerical modelling ....Unravelling the drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in estuaries. The aim of this project is to understand and quantify the factors controlling the emission of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide from estuaries. Coastal systems play a disproportionately large role in the global emissions of greenhouse gases, but this is poorly quantified. The project plans to use a combination of continuous concentration and stable isotope measurements, process measurements and advanced numerical modelling across a range of undisturbed to disturbed systems. It is intended that this project will provide information for conceptualising, calibrating and verifying models, including green-house gas production. Good models, and the data that support them, such as that provided by this study, are critical for the efficient allocation of management resources in Australian coastal systems, including by our partners. The findings from this project will have direct implications to the management, rehabilitation and protection of waterways (including biodiversity) in Australia.Read moreRead less
Functional magnetic resonance imaging: Decoding the palimpsest. This project aims to model the dynamics of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to image new physiology and attain higher resolution. This will enable new aspects of brain dynamics to be imaged, achieving higher resolution and improving interpretation. This project is expected to improve the use and power of fMRI, unlock new avenues for probing brain function and save experimental costs. This will have many uses in neuroscie ....Functional magnetic resonance imaging: Decoding the palimpsest. This project aims to model the dynamics of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to image new physiology and attain higher resolution. This will enable new aspects of brain dynamics to be imaged, achieving higher resolution and improving interpretation. This project is expected to improve the use and power of fMRI, unlock new avenues for probing brain function and save experimental costs. This will have many uses in neuroscience, brain imaging technology and fMRI analysis software.Read moreRead less
Precision ecology: the modern era of designed experiments in plant ecology. This project aims to develop the field of precision ecology, forging a new era of designed experiments where sampling is informed by research questions and what is known about the ecological process being studied. Through the development of novel statistical methods, new experiments globally will be designed to answer important ecological questions including what influence abiotic and biotic factors have on plant commun ....Precision ecology: the modern era of designed experiments in plant ecology. This project aims to develop the field of precision ecology, forging a new era of designed experiments where sampling is informed by research questions and what is known about the ecological process being studied. Through the development of novel statistical methods, new experiments globally will be designed to answer important ecological questions including what influence abiotic and biotic factors have on plant communities over time and different spatial scales. Expected outcomes include new methods and tools that will modernise how future experiments will be conducted in plant ecology. This will provide significant transdisciplinary benefits including new statistical methods that target scientific discovery in ecological studies.Read moreRead less
Predicting the movement speeds of animals. The project seeks to reveal how marsupials modify their movement patterns and speeds as they navigate risky environments, and show how movement contributes to vulnerability and resilience. Movement is central to animal behaviour and the survival of species, because it underlies feeding, mating and the ability to escape from predators. However, we lack a framework for predicting how fast animals should move through their habitats given their needs to con ....Predicting the movement speeds of animals. The project seeks to reveal how marsupials modify their movement patterns and speeds as they navigate risky environments, and show how movement contributes to vulnerability and resilience. Movement is central to animal behaviour and the survival of species, because it underlies feeding, mating and the ability to escape from predators. However, we lack a framework for predicting how fast animals should move through their habitats given their needs to conserve energy, avoid detection by predators and minimise risks of injury or death. This project aims to develop mathematical models to predict how fast animals should move and then test these predictions using native species of conservation concern. This is expected to extend the field of performance ecology as well as inform management strategies for vulnerable marsupials.Read moreRead less