Revisiting the ontogeny of vocal learning in birds: from neuron to fitness. This project aims to test the hypothesis that acoustic exposure prior to hatching directly affects gene expression, neural development, behaviour and consequently fitness, in wild populations of songbirds. Recent research suggests that animals are receptive to acoustic parental signals long before birth and may use such previously unrecognised signals to make adaptive developmental decisions. This project will quantify t ....Revisiting the ontogeny of vocal learning in birds: from neuron to fitness. This project aims to test the hypothesis that acoustic exposure prior to hatching directly affects gene expression, neural development, behaviour and consequently fitness, in wild populations of songbirds. Recent research suggests that animals are receptive to acoustic parental signals long before birth and may use such previously unrecognised signals to make adaptive developmental decisions. This project will quantify the effect on neural development and vocal learning in embryonic birds, employing a model songbird species. The outcomes of this study will transform our understanding of the adaptive potential of prenatal vocal learning, which will have significant benefits for human speech and language development.Read moreRead less
Size matters: elephantoid dispersal, evolution, paleoecology and extinction in Asia. This project will investigate the natural history of the once widespread elephant lineages in Asia by studying their fossils and unlocking chemical archives from their teeth. It will provide new insights into their adaptive responses to climate change and life on islands, interactions with humans and the factors that eventually led to their demise.
Integrating fossils and genomes to resolve the early evolution of snakes. This project aims to address a high-profile evolutionary controversy – the origin of snakes – by reconciling the anatomical and fossil evidence with the burgeoning genomic data. New genomic data surprisingly links snakes with the un-snakelike iguana, prompting claims that the genetic and the fossil/anatomical data are irreconcilable. The project aims to evaluate these key fossils, and reptile anatomy in general, in light o ....Integrating fossils and genomes to resolve the early evolution of snakes. This project aims to address a high-profile evolutionary controversy – the origin of snakes – by reconciling the anatomical and fossil evidence with the burgeoning genomic data. New genomic data surprisingly links snakes with the un-snakelike iguana, prompting claims that the genetic and the fossil/anatomical data are irreconcilable. The project aims to evaluate these key fossils, and reptile anatomy in general, in light of the new genomic tree. This has potential to greatly elucidate major evolutionary changes across the lizard-snake transition (for example, extensive mobility in the snake skull). The project also plans to assess the long-term evolutionary consequences of ‘snakiness’, such as the hypothesised irreversibility of limb loss, and increased resilience to mass extinction.Read moreRead less
Modelling collective behaviour to protect social insect ecosystem services. This project aims to use mathematical models and computer simulations and biological experiments to investigate how social insects adapt to environmental stress, for example due to climate change and pollution. Fundamental to the adaptability of social insects are the complex mechanisms that allow colonies to maintain a carefully balanced division of labour (DOL). This project builds on evolutionary game theory to develo ....Modelling collective behaviour to protect social insect ecosystem services. This project aims to use mathematical models and computer simulations and biological experiments to investigate how social insects adapt to environmental stress, for example due to climate change and pollution. Fundamental to the adaptability of social insects are the complex mechanisms that allow colonies to maintain a carefully balanced division of labour (DOL). This project builds on evolutionary game theory to develop a new approach for analysing how environmental factors impact on DOL and thus colony viability. The project will deliver new methods to assess and predict the impact of environmental stress This will ultimately help to protect these keystones of biodiversity and the significant ecosystem services they provide as pest-control agents, through pollination, seed dispersal, and soil conditioning.Read moreRead less
Does physiological plasticity of individuals render populations resilient to climate change? Abrupt environmental changes can put natural populations at risk of extinction. The project will show to what extent individuals can compensate for temperature changes and thereby render populations resilient to climate change. This research will make theoretical advances and improve the power to predict impacts of future climate change.
Limits to the resilience of Australian forests and woodlands to drought. Water availability is a primary determinant of plant growth and the distribution of plant species and communities throughout the world. In Australia, climate change is predicted to result in increasing temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns, leading to more intense droughts in some areas. This project will examine the resilience of Australian forests and woodlands to drought under both current and future climate s ....Limits to the resilience of Australian forests and woodlands to drought. Water availability is a primary determinant of plant growth and the distribution of plant species and communities throughout the world. In Australia, climate change is predicted to result in increasing temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns, leading to more intense droughts in some areas. This project will examine the resilience of Australian forests and woodlands to drought under both current and future climate scenarios. The results of this work will feed into the new generation of dynamic global vegetation models, allowing for robust prediction of changes in the structure and productivity of Australian vegetation communities in the face of rapid climate change.Read moreRead less
Coping with temperature extremes: morphological constraints on leaf function in a warmer, drier climate. This project will determine how hydraulic properties of temperate, evergreen leaves affect their capacity to cope with seasonal variation in temperature extremes. The results will enhance mechanistic understanding of temperature tolerance, and inform prediction of vegetation change in response to climate warming and increasing CO2 concentrations.
Fiddling while home burns: climate change and fiddler crabs. Climate change is already affecting many Australian animals, including fiddler crabs. This project will use extensive knowledge of fiddler crab biology to determine whether they can behaviourally compensate for the rapid changes that are occurring by using experiments and observations conducted under natural conditions in the mangroves of Darwin harbour.
A new chronological framework to access regional variability in mid-Pleistocene archaeological, palaeoecological and palaeoclimatic data from Africa. This project will enable us to understand, for the first time, the contribution of South Africa to human origins between 1.8 and 0.6 million years ago. It will help us understand how major changes in climate have influenced our evolutionary history, the animals around us and how our behaviour and tools have changed to adapt to such changes.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE170100177
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$290,000.00
Summary
A regional optical dating facility in Australia. This project aims to establish an open access, end-user friendly optical dating facility in Australia. This will address shortcomings in the capacity and geographical coverage of the existing national geochronology infrastructure and enable Australian researchers to reconstruct past records of climate change, human evolution, ecological vulnerabilities, natural and man-made hazards and environmental disturbance over historical to near-million-year ....A regional optical dating facility in Australia. This project aims to establish an open access, end-user friendly optical dating facility in Australia. This will address shortcomings in the capacity and geographical coverage of the existing national geochronology infrastructure and enable Australian researchers to reconstruct past records of climate change, human evolution, ecological vulnerabilities, natural and man-made hazards and environmental disturbance over historical to near-million-year timeframes. This project is expected to increase commercial demand for geoscience services and lead to better understanding of Australia’s natural heritage and its long-term vulnerabilities.Read moreRead less