Transgenerational Consequences of Different Environmental Experiences. The project aims to deliver an integrative overview of behavioural, evolutionary and environmental epigenetics. In particular, by studying why stress-related experiences of organisms (e.g. exposure to toxins) can be passed onto the future generations regardless of its seemingly fitness-reducing impacts. It also aims to test if the seemingly beneficial effect of non-stress related experiences (e.g. environmental enrichment) ca ....Transgenerational Consequences of Different Environmental Experiences. The project aims to deliver an integrative overview of behavioural, evolutionary and environmental epigenetics. In particular, by studying why stress-related experiences of organisms (e.g. exposure to toxins) can be passed onto the future generations regardless of its seemingly fitness-reducing impacts. It also aims to test if the seemingly beneficial effect of non-stress related experiences (e.g. environmental enrichment) can be inherited transgenerationally. This project involves both research synthesis (e.g. meta-analysis) and experiments on zebrafish employing cutting-edge statistical, computational and molecular methods along with behavioural assays. Also, the outcomes of the synthesis are expected to guide future work in the field. Read moreRead less
Social and environmental selection on female ornaments and armaments. Darwin's theory of sexual selection is remarkably successful in explaining how elaborate signals evolved in male animals, but it is unclear whether similar processes drive the evolution of female signals. This project aims to conduct empirical and comparative tests of hypotheses for female trait elaboration, capitalising on inter- and intra-specific variation in female signal form, social organisation and signalling environmen ....Social and environmental selection on female ornaments and armaments. Darwin's theory of sexual selection is remarkably successful in explaining how elaborate signals evolved in male animals, but it is unclear whether similar processes drive the evolution of female signals. This project aims to conduct empirical and comparative tests of hypotheses for female trait elaboration, capitalising on inter- and intra-specific variation in female signal form, social organisation and signalling environments. The project could generate new insight into the processes that promote and constrain phenotypic diversity in nature.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101774
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Early environmental effects on phenotypic development and evolution. Early developmental environments can profoundly influence the survival and reproductive success of organisms, including humans. The project aims to use an exceptional model lizard system to test a new theory about how personality and learning are influenced through the manipulation of offspring environment and how this affects lifetime fitness. Understanding these effects is important for predicting the responses to selection i ....Early environmental effects on phenotypic development and evolution. Early developmental environments can profoundly influence the survival and reproductive success of organisms, including humans. The project aims to use an exceptional model lizard system to test a new theory about how personality and learning are influenced through the manipulation of offspring environment and how this affects lifetime fitness. Understanding these effects is important for predicting the responses to selection imposed by changing environments, the success of re-introduction programs for threatened species, and for understanding the long-term viability of populations. This project aims to merge theoretical developments in life history theory and evolutionary biology and contribute important empirical advances to a new research field.Read moreRead less