Evolving rates: foundations for the next generation of molecular clocks. This project aims to investigate the causes and consequences of variation in rate of DNA sequence evolution across three kingdoms of life. Dates estimated from DNA sequences have a wide range of applications, including evolutionary biology, conservation prioritisation and epidemiology. These methods rely on accurate rate estimates, but current models lack information about the biological drivers of rates of genomic change. ....Evolving rates: foundations for the next generation of molecular clocks. This project aims to investigate the causes and consequences of variation in rate of DNA sequence evolution across three kingdoms of life. Dates estimated from DNA sequences have a wide range of applications, including evolutionary biology, conservation prioritisation and epidemiology. These methods rely on accurate rate estimates, but current models lack information about the biological drivers of rates of genomic change. This project will test reliability of current methods, identify potentially misleading estimates of disease origin or conservation priorities, and develop new approaches with empirically-informed models of rate change.Read moreRead less
Fossils, rocks and early Cambrian clocks: calibrating body plan assembly and lineage splits in ancestral animals from Gondwana. The precise timing of when animal body plans evolved and rapidly diversified during the Cambrian Explosion remains mysterious. This project will investigate vast collections of exquisitely preserved early-middle Cambrian fossils from Australia to determine the precise order of evolutionary events at the root of the animal tree of life.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102034
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
How did mammals evolve large brains? A multidisciplinary view from the pouch. This project applies novel data collection techniques to explain how the large brain sizes of today's mammals (including humans) are possible. The focus will be on brain structure, development, and evolution in the mostly Australian marsupials, whose ancestral mode of brain development makes them an ideal group for studies of brain size evolution.
Geomolecular dating with biologically relaxed clocks, and mammal evolution. This project aims to use DNA, fossils and biological cues to synergistically model evolutionary rate changes. Molecular dates allow direct comparison of evolutionary and ecological patterns and processes across the tree of life. However, current models struggle to identify the location and magnitude of molecular clock rate changes on phylogenies, often resulting in wildly inaccurate dates. Expected outcomes include impro ....Geomolecular dating with biologically relaxed clocks, and mammal evolution. This project aims to use DNA, fossils and biological cues to synergistically model evolutionary rate changes. Molecular dates allow direct comparison of evolutionary and ecological patterns and processes across the tree of life. However, current models struggle to identify the location and magnitude of molecular clock rate changes on phylogenies, often resulting in wildly inaccurate dates. Expected outcomes include improved dating accuracy, and a novel statistical framework for morphological data, which allows fossils to be more accurately merged into the tree of life. In turn, the project aims to resolve intense debate on the origins of marsupial and placental mammals, and to trace the responses of these two groups to past environmental changes.Read moreRead less
New approaches to understanding the forces driving convergent evolution. This project aims to address the evolutionary biology question of what drives convergent evolution of morphological phenotypes. Leveraging previous research on the phylogenetics of Australian reptiles and amphibians, the project will apply new methodological and analytical tools for quantifying and evaluating morphological diversity in a phylogenetic context. The project expects to test the influence of climate, habitat and ....New approaches to understanding the forces driving convergent evolution. This project aims to address the evolutionary biology question of what drives convergent evolution of morphological phenotypes. Leveraging previous research on the phylogenetics of Australian reptiles and amphibians, the project will apply new methodological and analytical tools for quantifying and evaluating morphological diversity in a phylogenetic context. The project expects to test the influence of climate, habitat and evolutionary history on driving convergent morphological evolution across multiple independent animal groups. The project will address fundamental theories on convergent evolution and will improve public awareness of Australia’s unique animals and their history.Read moreRead less
Phenotypic diversity dynamics at a continental scale. This project aims to build on previous research on the phylogenetics of Australian vertebrate animals to apply sophisticated new methodological and analytical tools for modelling species diversification. Australia is famous for the great diversity and uniqueness of its plants and animals, due in part to 40 million years of relative isolation. The project plans to test the influence of historical climate and habitat shifts on morphological evo ....Phenotypic diversity dynamics at a continental scale. This project aims to build on previous research on the phylogenetics of Australian vertebrate animals to apply sophisticated new methodological and analytical tools for modelling species diversification. Australia is famous for the great diversity and uniqueness of its plants and animals, due in part to 40 million years of relative isolation. The project plans to test the influence of historical climate and habitat shifts on morphological evolution and assembly of the Australian biota. This project could showcase Australia as the best place in the World to rigorously test hypotheses concerning rates of biological diversification at a continental scale.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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100544
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$344,682.00
Summary
The drivers of genome evolution and diversification in marsupials. This project aims to investigate the impact of the four basic forces of evolution, mutation, selection, neutral drift, and gene flow, on the genome. Genome-scale data have a signature of these forces and extracting it would greatly improve the quality of evolutionary models fit to the data, but the framework to identify the evolutionary forces has not been developed. This project will develop tests for assessing the impact of the ....The drivers of genome evolution and diversification in marsupials. This project aims to investigate the impact of the four basic forces of evolution, mutation, selection, neutral drift, and gene flow, on the genome. Genome-scale data have a signature of these forces and extracting it would greatly improve the quality of evolutionary models fit to the data, but the framework to identify the evolutionary forces has not been developed. This project will develop tests for assessing the impact of the primary evolutionary forces on the genome, and test these methods using simulations. The new framework of genomic analysis will be disseminated through an intuitive software package, and will be used to estimate with unprecedented confidence the history of diversification and genome evolution of marsupials.Read moreRead less
Shape-shifting birds: a novel consequence of climate change. This project aims to identify which species are affected by climate change, and whether these changes in their ecology enhance or decrease fitness and survival. Climate change is having drastic effects on animal biology, threatening many species. Recent data suggest that changes in body shape (the size of appendages) is one such effect. By studying the bills and legs of birds this project aims to investigate changes in body shape as a ....Shape-shifting birds: a novel consequence of climate change. This project aims to identify which species are affected by climate change, and whether these changes in their ecology enhance or decrease fitness and survival. Climate change is having drastic effects on animal biology, threatening many species. Recent data suggest that changes in body shape (the size of appendages) is one such effect. By studying the bills and legs of birds this project aims to investigate changes in body shape as a biological response to climate change. This project will model the predicted consequences of changes in body shape on population trends in Australian birds, enabling the prediction of which species are most threatened by climate change, and helping inform conservation priorities.Read moreRead less
Resolving insect evolution. Our poor understanding of the evolution of insects, life’s most successful group, is a huge gap in our knowledge of nature. By analysing genomic data the project will resolve the insect evolutionary tree and discover what drove insect evolution. This will expand our knowledge of how evolution works - a vital part of conserving our biological diversity.