Reconstructing the historical frequency and intensity of Australian droughts: A multi-species dendrochronological approach. Drought directly and indirectly impacts every Australian. Severe droughts devastate rural communities, lead to increased water restrictions and bushfire activity, slows the national economy and threatens diverse ecosystems. Our research will improve understanding of where, when, and how intensely droughts have occurred across eastern Australia in the past. The results will ....Reconstructing the historical frequency and intensity of Australian droughts: A multi-species dendrochronological approach. Drought directly and indirectly impacts every Australian. Severe droughts devastate rural communities, lead to increased water restrictions and bushfire activity, slows the national economy and threatens diverse ecosystems. Our research will improve understanding of where, when, and how intensely droughts have occurred across eastern Australia in the past. The results will provide unique insights into the processes that generate Australian droughts and how future droughts might be anticipated. The results will provide farmers, hydrologists, and policy-makers with better data on long-term variability in water supplies to improve local, regional, and national water planning initiatives and infrastructure development.Read moreRead less
Reserving nitrogen in soils through microbial nitrate reduction to ammonium. This project aims to identify those microbes able to transform nitrate to ammonium and thus increase soil nitrogen conservation. More than 50 per cent of the nitrogen in fertilisers applied to soils is lost into the environment, which is both a financial loss to farmers and a main anthropogenic source of nitrogen pollution. Some microbes can transform nitrate into ammonium through dissimilatory reduction (DNRA) and thus ....Reserving nitrogen in soils through microbial nitrate reduction to ammonium. This project aims to identify those microbes able to transform nitrate to ammonium and thus increase soil nitrogen conservation. More than 50 per cent of the nitrogen in fertilisers applied to soils is lost into the environment, which is both a financial loss to farmers and a main anthropogenic source of nitrogen pollution. Some microbes can transform nitrate into ammonium through dissimilatory reduction (DNRA) and thus increase soil nitrogen retention. However, the DNRA process and the responsible microbial groups remain largely unknown. This project plans to use isotope tracing and biomolecular approaches to identify those DNRA microbial groups and elucidate the DNRA reaction process. The findings may support the use of DNRA to improve soil nitrogen.Read moreRead less
Megafauna and mega-extinction: assessing palaeocommunity change using dental complexity and shape analyses. This research will address an important issue of national interest - the causes of the extinction of the Australian megafauna. By furthering research on the causes of this historic event, valuable insights will be gained into possible causes of current extinction events and the future impact of climate change. It will bring to Australia new technologies and methods developed overseas by an ....Megafauna and mega-extinction: assessing palaeocommunity change using dental complexity and shape analyses. This research will address an important issue of national interest - the causes of the extinction of the Australian megafauna. By furthering research on the causes of this historic event, valuable insights will be gained into possible causes of current extinction events and the future impact of climate change. It will bring to Australia new technologies and methods developed overseas by an Australian researcher, and put Australia at the forefront of several areas of research including 3D scanning and analysis. This project will form part of an international collaboration called the MorphoBrowser, an exciting advance in the study of biological diversity. This will help maintain Australia as a pre-eminent country for palaeontology research.Read moreRead less
The evolution of cooperative communication. This interdisciplinary project will provide a broad understanding of communication in a model ecological system involving ants, lycaenid butterflies, and host-plants. The project will reveal the nature of the chemical signals used to communicate, and their role in the origin, maintenance, and loss of mutualistic and parasitic associations.
Microcosm Experiments for Improved Species Distribution Models. This project aims to use a spatially-explicit experimental system based on protists (microscopic organisms) to evaluate the predictive performance of dynamic distribution models, which are a newly-emerging class of species distribution models. Species distribution models are a fundamental part of ecological science, and underpin a range of applications related to managing threatened and invasive species. The project is expected to p ....Microcosm Experiments for Improved Species Distribution Models. This project aims to use a spatially-explicit experimental system based on protists (microscopic organisms) to evaluate the predictive performance of dynamic distribution models, which are a newly-emerging class of species distribution models. Species distribution models are a fundamental part of ecological science, and underpin a range of applications related to managing threatened and invasive species. The project is expected to provide insights into when these models are likely to work better than more traditional correlative models in non-lab environments. The experiments will inform further development of dynamic distribution models, and help determine whether dynamic distribution models can be usefully applied to species management.Read moreRead less
Sexual signalling and parental care: A life-history perspective. I will use a fish, the Australian desert goby, to gain pivotal insights into male reproductive investment. Under-appreciated as potential study subjects, desert gobies are ideal because males must make important reproductive decisions regarding how much effort to spend on mate attraction and parental care but, importantly, they must do so within the constraints imposed by desert-living. The likely impact of my work in the field of ....Sexual signalling and parental care: A life-history perspective. I will use a fish, the Australian desert goby, to gain pivotal insights into male reproductive investment. Under-appreciated as potential study subjects, desert gobies are ideal because males must make important reproductive decisions regarding how much effort to spend on mate attraction and parental care but, importantly, they must do so within the constraints imposed by desert-living. The likely impact of my work in the field of behavioural ecology will improve Australia's research capacity and profile. By using an Australian study species, my research will also raise awareness and understanding of extraordinary fishes living in habitats vulnerable to human impact. Read moreRead less
Individual behaviour and collective order: the traffic dynamics of ants. We are investigating the properties of traffic flow in ant colonies. Ants seem to meet their transportation needs without traffic congestion or complex centralised control. By discovering how ants accomplish this, we increase our understanding of social behaviour in the natural world, and also provide the basic research on which applied solutions to human traffic problems can be based.
The role of mothers in the evolution of immunity. This project will take a fresh approach to studying disease by addressing the role that mothers play in immune system evolution. This project will make a significant contribution to our nation's research capacity and international scientific reputation, by delivering cutting-edge scientific results that resolve outstanding questions in evolutionary biology.
Endocrine disruption in wildlife: a sexual selection perspective . The Project aims to uncover how environmental pollution by hormone-mimicking chemicals affects wildlife behaviour, reproductive performance, and offspring viability. Through an integrative approach that combines multigenerational laboratory studies with an experimental evolution perspective, the Project expects to yield important insights into the pervasive influence of chemical contaminants on biological systems, and the capacit ....Endocrine disruption in wildlife: a sexual selection perspective . The Project aims to uncover how environmental pollution by hormone-mimicking chemicals affects wildlife behaviour, reproductive performance, and offspring viability. Through an integrative approach that combines multigenerational laboratory studies with an experimental evolution perspective, the Project expects to yield important insights into the pervasive influence of chemical contaminants on biological systems, and the capacity for animals to adapt to environments degraded by human activity. Findings will enable predictions of the ecological and evolutionary consequences of anthropogenic change, and contribute new knowledge relevant to the management of Australia’s biodiversity and the security of its sensitive freshwater resources.Read moreRead less
Gender bender': the impact of endocrine disrupting pollutants on sexual selection. Research into the impacts of pollution on animal reproductive behaviour is crucial if we are to understand species' capacity to adapt to rapidly changing environments, particularly to those that are subject to the impact of human activity. The outcomes of this study will be an important step in learning how to improve the management of biodiversity.