Drought and death: past, present and future survival limits in the Australian vegetation landscape. Science cannot predict the point at which water stress becomes lethal for plants. This research into plant water transport aims to find a new way to understand whether plant species will die or adapt to a future drier climate.
Predicting adaptive responses to climate change in Australian native bees. This project aims to understand how insects will adapt to climate change by examining a largely overlooked but economically important group of species: Australian native bees. Native bees are important pollinators of both crops and native plants, but their sensitivity to changes in climate are unknown. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of the resilience of native bees to climate change, and new effective tools for p ....Predicting adaptive responses to climate change in Australian native bees. This project aims to understand how insects will adapt to climate change by examining a largely overlooked but economically important group of species: Australian native bees. Native bees are important pollinators of both crops and native plants, but their sensitivity to changes in climate are unknown. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of the resilience of native bees to climate change, and new effective tools for predicting climate change resilience that can be applied to many species. The intended benefits include increasing our understanding of the potential for native bees to act as future pollinators in Australia’s natural and agro-ecosystems, and guide policy and management decisions to better protect and conserve our bee fauna.Read moreRead less
Demographic consequences of environmental change for wild bird populations. The project intends to improve our understanding of how climate drives shifts in body size and shape in wildlife populations, and the implications of such responses for population viability. Populations of plants and animals are showing a range of responses to recent, rapid shifts in the Earth’s climate. The ecological and evolutionary significance of these responses and the mechanisms that drive them remain largely unkn ....Demographic consequences of environmental change for wild bird populations. The project intends to improve our understanding of how climate drives shifts in body size and shape in wildlife populations, and the implications of such responses for population viability. Populations of plants and animals are showing a range of responses to recent, rapid shifts in the Earth’s climate. The ecological and evolutionary significance of these responses and the mechanisms that drive them remain largely unknown. Focusing on Australian birds, the project plans to integrate long-term records from citizen science, museum collections and field studies to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the pattern and process of morphological change. Understanding the processes driving change may help in developing strategies to manage our biodiversity as climate changes. Read moreRead less
Getting smaller as temperatures rise? Body size responses of Australian birds to climate change. Many animals appear to be declining in size as climate change occurs, but why this is so is unclear. Using historical records and museum specimens we will determine the factors underlying body size reductions in Australian birds, and especially the role of changing temperature and ecosystem productivity.
Where currents collide: tracking the biological impacts of climate change. This project will track the effects of climate change on Australia's unique marine biodiversity. Understanding the impacts of changing ocean currents on our coastal communities underpins the conservation and management of our valuable coastal resources.
Can evolution rescue marine populations from environmental change? This project aims to test whether rapid evolutionary responses can buffer marine species against the environmental changes impacting Australia’s coastal ecosystems now and in coming years. This project plans to use an innovative experimental evolution framework to test the newly-advanced theory of evolutionary rescue, its goal is to understand whether populations can adapt to new environments fast enough to outpace extinction, an ....Can evolution rescue marine populations from environmental change? This project aims to test whether rapid evolutionary responses can buffer marine species against the environmental changes impacting Australia’s coastal ecosystems now and in coming years. This project plans to use an innovative experimental evolution framework to test the newly-advanced theory of evolutionary rescue, its goal is to understand whether populations can adapt to new environments fast enough to outpace extinction, and how phenotypic plasticity, fluctuating natural selection and biotic interactions influence extinction risk. The intended outcome is to deliver key insights into the intrinsic capacity of our marine biota to withstand the current and near-future challenges that they face, and to inform predictions about population persistence. In doing so, this project should deliver vital information on extinction risk to managers, policy-makers and other stakeholders, and contribute innovative, cutting-edge research in an area of national priority.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100629
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,058.00
Summary
Evolutionary impacts of climate change in Australia’s fossil record. This project aims to identify evolutionary responses to climate change in Australia's fossil record by comparing variation in lizard and frog communities across geological time. Using X-ray techniques on museum specimens, this project will generate a large-scale database for tracking evolutionary shifts in relation to historical climatic events. Expected outcomes include the first anatomical descriptions for many species, filli ....Evolutionary impacts of climate change in Australia’s fossil record. This project aims to identify evolutionary responses to climate change in Australia's fossil record by comparing variation in lizard and frog communities across geological time. Using X-ray techniques on museum specimens, this project will generate a large-scale database for tracking evolutionary shifts in relation to historical climatic events. Expected outcomes include the first anatomical descriptions for many species, filling major gaps in our ability to place fossils in a contemporary framework. This research will demonstrate the value of our national collections for addressing important environmental issues, such as biodiversity, extinction, and future habitat change.Read moreRead less
How do Microbes Grow in High Salt at Very Cold Temperatures. The proposed research aims to define mechanisms of survival and speciation that underpin the capacity of a novel group of Antarctic microorganisms to evolve dominance in their very cold (-20 degrees Celsius) and very salty environment. Most (~85 per cent) of the Earth's biosphere is cold (<5 degrees Celsius), and yet contains a rich diversity of microorganisms of which we know little. The uniqueness and sensitivity of Antarctica partic ....How do Microbes Grow in High Salt at Very Cold Temperatures. The proposed research aims to define mechanisms of survival and speciation that underpin the capacity of a novel group of Antarctic microorganisms to evolve dominance in their very cold (-20 degrees Celsius) and very salty environment. Most (~85 per cent) of the Earth's biosphere is cold (<5 degrees Celsius), and yet contains a rich diversity of microorganisms of which we know little. The uniqueness and sensitivity of Antarctica particularly demands that we rapidly improve our understanding of its biology. The discoveries made could provide fundamental insight about speciation - processes controlling which life forms that colonise the planet.Read moreRead less
A molecular/morphological view of animal evolution based on marsupials. This project aims to provide high-accuracy methods of evolutionary inference extendable to nearly all other organisms. It aims to research the evolution of animal diversity and calibrate evolutionary timescales on a case study of marsupial mammals, and differentiate between internal and external factors that govern animals’ ability to adapt and diversify. The project will collate a large, open-source three-dimensional catalo ....A molecular/morphological view of animal evolution based on marsupials. This project aims to provide high-accuracy methods of evolutionary inference extendable to nearly all other organisms. It aims to research the evolution of animal diversity and calibrate evolutionary timescales on a case study of marsupial mammals, and differentiate between internal and external factors that govern animals’ ability to adapt and diversify. The project will collate a large, open-source three-dimensional catalogue of the evolving marsupial skeleton, which could provide a detailed and publicly accessible narrative of the evolutionary past and future adaptability of Australian marsupials. The proposed development of methods to quantify the effect of past and present biodiversity crises (e.g. environmental change) is expected to inform longer-term conservation planning.Read moreRead less
Testing the links between ecological processes and evolutionary radiations. This project aims to apply recent analytical advances to massive databases of the phylogeny and spatial distributions of mammals, birds and plants, to explore the role of small-scale ecological processes in generating large-scale macroevolutionary patterns. The processes involved in generating large-scale patterns of biodiversity are still not fully understood, but large new biodiversity databases and recent advances in ....Testing the links between ecological processes and evolutionary radiations. This project aims to apply recent analytical advances to massive databases of the phylogeny and spatial distributions of mammals, birds and plants, to explore the role of small-scale ecological processes in generating large-scale macroevolutionary patterns. The processes involved in generating large-scale patterns of biodiversity are still not fully understood, but large new biodiversity databases and recent advances in analytical methods put us in a good position to make significant progress. By integrating two separate research fields, community ecology and macroevolution, this project aims to make a significant contribution to biodiversity theory, and help to develop a more robust scientific foundation for long-range, process-based conservation planning.Read moreRead less