Mid-Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IM230100371
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,043,792.00
Summary
The plight of the bogong moth: a model for conservation in Australia. This project aims to direct conservation actions for the bogong moth, an endangered species of profound cultural, ecological, and economic importance to Australians. Although iconic and famous for their epic migration to the Australian Alps, the bogong moth's distribution and flyways are unknown making conservation actions impossible. This project expects to forge the key partnerships and harness public enthusiasm to generate ....The plight of the bogong moth: a model for conservation in Australia. This project aims to direct conservation actions for the bogong moth, an endangered species of profound cultural, ecological, and economic importance to Australians. Although iconic and famous for their epic migration to the Australian Alps, the bogong moth's distribution and flyways are unknown making conservation actions impossible. This project expects to forge the key partnerships and harness public enthusiasm to generate the data needed for conservation actions via a National Bogong Moth Observatory. The expected outcomes of this project are enhanced capacity to identify and mitigate threats to bogong moths. This should provide significant benefits such as a highly transferable model for continent-wide conservation in Australia.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240101022
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$457,000.00
Summary
Linking movement and animal vision to uncover functions of dynamic colours. This project aims to address a fundamental biological question: what drives the extraordinary diversity of colours in nature? Using cutting-edge, interdisciplinary techniques, this project expects to link visual properties, movement and animal vision to discover functions of animal colouration, generating significant new insights for the fields of visual ecology, animal behaviour and camouflage. The outcomes of this proj ....Linking movement and animal vision to uncover functions of dynamic colours. This project aims to address a fundamental biological question: what drives the extraordinary diversity of colours in nature? Using cutting-edge, interdisciplinary techniques, this project expects to link visual properties, movement and animal vision to discover functions of animal colouration, generating significant new insights for the fields of visual ecology, animal behaviour and camouflage. The outcomes of this project include enhanced national and international collaboration and new tools for animal behaviour, perception and camouflage research. This work will benefit our understanding of vision, colour and the relationship between the two, with significant scope for bio-inspired solutions to sensor and image processing problems.Read moreRead less
Early-life climate sensitivity: direct and indirect mechanisms. This project aims to investigate how climate change threatens animal populations by determining the mechanisms causing DNA damage (short telomeres) in nestling birds growing up in hot conditions. Telomeres are biomarkers of individual life expectancy, and short telomeres in young birds predict a decline in future population viability. Our project aims to determine the importance for heat-induced telomere shortening of: (1) nestling ....Early-life climate sensitivity: direct and indirect mechanisms. This project aims to investigate how climate change threatens animal populations by determining the mechanisms causing DNA damage (short telomeres) in nestling birds growing up in hot conditions. Telomeres are biomarkers of individual life expectancy, and short telomeres in young birds predict a decline in future population viability. Our project aims to determine the importance for heat-induced telomere shortening of: (1) nestling heat stress responses; (2) inheritance of heat-shortened sperm telomeres; and (3) parental buffering of heat effects. Expected benefits include enhanced reliability of climate change predictions and improved ability to identify climate change mitigation strategies before population declines are evident.Read moreRead less
Improving the effectiveness of marine habitat restoration. Habitat restoration is a global priority to halt and reverse declines in biodiversity, but many of these efforts fail to achieve these goals. This project aims to improve the outcomes of marine habitat restoration through greater consideration of animal behaviour. Insights into how animals evaluate restored habitats and which components of habitats are most important to animals are essential but missing ingredients in modern restoration ....Improving the effectiveness of marine habitat restoration. Habitat restoration is a global priority to halt and reverse declines in biodiversity, but many of these efforts fail to achieve these goals. This project aims to improve the outcomes of marine habitat restoration through greater consideration of animal behaviour. Insights into how animals evaluate restored habitats and which components of habitats are most important to animals are essential but missing ingredients in modern restoration methodology. By applying novel experimental and modelling approaches to current marine habitat restoration programs, this project will generate new knowledge to underpin a fundamental change in how natural resource managers restore marine habitats, with significantly improved outcomes for biodiversity.Read moreRead less
Chemoreception in fishes: Anthropogenic impacts on brain and behaviour. This project aims to assess the impacts on fishes of increasing numbers of chemical pollutants entering Australia's waterways. Critical contaminants effect the chemosensory capabilities of endemic fishes that are commonly found in Australia and play an important role in fisheries and coastal biodiversity. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the study will interrogate the fundamental impacts of chemical pollutants on the dete ....Chemoreception in fishes: Anthropogenic impacts on brain and behaviour. This project aims to assess the impacts on fishes of increasing numbers of chemical pollutants entering Australia's waterways. Critical contaminants effect the chemosensory capabilities of endemic fishes that are commonly found in Australia and play an important role in fisheries and coastal biodiversity. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the study will interrogate the fundamental impacts of chemical pollutants on the detection, perception and behavioural reactions to a herbicide, a pesticide and a metal, and their impacts on finding food, avoiding predation and finding mates. Significant benefits include the timely intervention and implementation of improved environmental management strategies and policies.Read moreRead less