Fire, air, water and earth: Using fossils to discover the evolution of Australia’s open vegetation. How Australia came to be dominated by open, tough-leaved vegetation is an old but still highly controversial question, especially with recent developments in molecular biology that challenge paradigms established from the fossil record. The project will test this new molecular paradigm with innovative use of characteristics of fossil leaves to identify the timing and drivers of the evolution of Au ....Fire, air, water and earth: Using fossils to discover the evolution of Australia’s open vegetation. How Australia came to be dominated by open, tough-leaved vegetation is an old but still highly controversial question, especially with recent developments in molecular biology that challenge paradigms established from the fossil record. The project will test this new molecular paradigm with innovative use of characteristics of fossil leaves to identify the timing and drivers of the evolution of Australia’s open vegetation. The integration of new and rigorous evidence derived from living and fossil plants will provide the clearest evidence yet for the origins of Australian environments. This has ramifications for understanding plant responses to past and future climate changes.Read moreRead less
Protecting Australia’s food future: shared responsibility for biosecurity. This project aims to investigate whether Australia’s ‘shared responsibility’ approach to biosecurity is capable of facing the growing threat from exotic pests and diseases. Through the analysis of policy documents and the use of semi-structured interviews, this project intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of the inter- and intra-organisational characteristics that influence implementation of biosecurity. Expect ....Protecting Australia’s food future: shared responsibility for biosecurity. This project aims to investigate whether Australia’s ‘shared responsibility’ approach to biosecurity is capable of facing the growing threat from exotic pests and diseases. Through the analysis of policy documents and the use of semi-structured interviews, this project intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of the inter- and intra-organisational characteristics that influence implementation of biosecurity. Expected outcomes include crucial insights into the capacity of a shared responsibility approach to protect agri-food production against biological threats, and the forms of institutional change that may be needed to enhance responsiveness to those threats. This in turn will benefit Australia's biosecurity system.Read moreRead less