Antarctic freshwater lake fauna: Palaeobiogeography, palaeoecology and applications to climate change studies. The origins of the Antarctic freshwater fauna are poorly known: Are the species currently extant long-term endemics descended from species present before the formation of the Antarctic ice-cap, or are they recent invaders from more temperate zones? By studying the distribution of faunal remains in the sediments of freshwater lakes, a picture of the development of the fauna in space and ....Antarctic freshwater lake fauna: Palaeobiogeography, palaeoecology and applications to climate change studies. The origins of the Antarctic freshwater fauna are poorly known: Are the species currently extant long-term endemics descended from species present before the formation of the Antarctic ice-cap, or are they recent invaders from more temperate zones? By studying the distribution of faunal remains in the sediments of freshwater lakes, a picture of the development of the fauna in space and time ('palaeobiogeography') will be formed that will allow the Antarctic fauna to be placed in a wider biogeographic context. Changes in the faunal distribution will also be interpreted in terms of lake palaeoecology and climate change.Read moreRead less
Community and ecosystem consequences of adaptive evolution in Eucalyptus. There is emerging evidence across plant systems that genes in one species influence biodiversity and the services ecosystems provide, including soil fertility, carbon storage, and pollination. These results suggest that adaptive evolution in plants can lead to change in biodiversity and ecosystem function. If this finding proves to be true, results from this proposal might be critical to future decisions on the ecosystem ....Community and ecosystem consequences of adaptive evolution in Eucalyptus. There is emerging evidence across plant systems that genes in one species influence biodiversity and the services ecosystems provide, including soil fertility, carbon storage, and pollination. These results suggest that adaptive evolution in plants can lead to change in biodiversity and ecosystem function. If this finding proves to be true, results from this proposal might be critical to future decisions on the ecosystem consequences of landscape level selective events. There may be major implications for the rapidly expanding environmental and forestry plantings across Australia and temperate regions of the world where choice of seed source may have far reaching consequences.Read moreRead less
Impacts of Eucalypt genetics at the community and ecosystem levels. The genetics of a dominant tree species has recently been shown to have far reaching effects on associated biodiversity and ecosystem processes. If this finding proves to be general and is shown to be the case for Australia's iconic eucalypts then understanding their genetics will provide significant insights into the drivers of biological organisation and ecological processes in Australia's native forests and woodlands. This w ....Impacts of Eucalypt genetics at the community and ecosystem levels. The genetics of a dominant tree species has recently been shown to have far reaching effects on associated biodiversity and ecosystem processes. If this finding proves to be general and is shown to be the case for Australia's iconic eucalypts then understanding their genetics will provide significant insights into the drivers of biological organisation and ecological processes in Australia's native forests and woodlands. This will also have major implications for the rapidly expanding environmental and forestry plantings across Australia where choice of seed source may have far reaching consequences.Read moreRead less
Molecular aggression: variation and heritability of the levels of reactive oxygen species, and their effects on the evolution of life histories in the wild. Three areas of biology have intrigued every generation since Aristotle (c. 300 BC)- sex, embryology, and ageing. This proposal targets all three of these areas with a special focus on aspects of ageing. In particular, we assess how 'free radicals', so often identified in our food and wine for good and bad, exert selection on living organisms ....Molecular aggression: variation and heritability of the levels of reactive oxygen species, and their effects on the evolution of life histories in the wild. Three areas of biology have intrigued every generation since Aristotle (c. 300 BC)- sex, embryology, and ageing. This proposal targets all three of these areas with a special focus on aspects of ageing. In particular, we assess how 'free radicals', so often identified in our food and wine for good and bad, exert selection on living organisms and whether resistance (and defense) towards free radicals may drive evolution of ageing in the wild, its trade offs with fertility and fecundity, and how it is influenced by sexual or non-sexual reproduction. In spite of excellent work in the laboratory, this is the first attempt to do this in 'the real world' and will extend Australia's excellent reputation in evolutionary biology.Read moreRead less
From developmental stability to organismic senility: Hox genes and telomere impact on life history evolution. Australia benefits from training researchers and technicians in new, break-through biotechnology and from applying this knowledge to relevant, cutting-edge questions in highly publicized research fields. This project contains both these ingredients. Our model species (a lizard) has a relatively high level of offspring malformations (ca 15%), which makes it much more likely to detect thei ....From developmental stability to organismic senility: Hox genes and telomere impact on life history evolution. Australia benefits from training researchers and technicians in new, break-through biotechnology and from applying this knowledge to relevant, cutting-edge questions in highly publicized research fields. This project contains both these ingredients. Our model species (a lizard) has a relatively high level of offspring malformations (ca 15%), which makes it much more likely to detect their underlying genetic mechanism. Furthermore, we can also assess how these animals survive and reproduce in relation to how quickly they age, which can be measured by assessing the shortening of telomeres per unit time. Thus, this collaboration provides an opportunity to train Australian researchers and in that process generate very high profile research.Read moreRead less