Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP160103915

Funded Activity Summary

Evolution at extremes: Macroevolutionary responses to harsh environments. The project seeks to investigate the capacity of iconic Australian plant groups (Eucalyptus, Acacia, Banksia, Grevillea, Hakea) to adapt to increases in extreme conditions. Australia presents many extreme conditions for plant survival, such as drought, heat, or salt-affected soils. Are some lineages better able to adapt and diversify in these conditions? This project aims to develop new methods to identify lineages most tolerant of extreme environments, detect enabling traits that contribute to stress resistance, and test whether plant assemblages in extreme environments are formed from colonisation by specialist tolerators, or by local species adapting. These methods may allow the prediction of species or communities best able to adapt to conditions expected under global environmental change.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 04-01-2016

End Date: 18-12-2019

Funding Scheme: Discovery Projects

Funding Amount: $378,700.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Evolutionary Impacts of Climate Change | Phylogeny and Comparative Analysis | Community Ecology | Evolutionary Biology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales |

Other Keywords

Community Ecology | Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change | Evolutionary Biology | Evolutionary Impacts of Climate Change | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales | Phylogeny and Comparative Analysis

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