A Varied Diet, Ageing, and the Evolution of Life Histories. This research aims to understand how nutritional environments affect lifespan and its evolution. The expected outcomes are improved knowledge around the biology of ageing including the identification of diet-responsive genes and biological pathways. These elements will comprise targets for future applied studies on ageing, metabolic dysfunction and personalised nutrition. This study will also inform as to how lifespans evolve. Because l ....A Varied Diet, Ageing, and the Evolution of Life Histories. This research aims to understand how nutritional environments affect lifespan and its evolution. The expected outcomes are improved knowledge around the biology of ageing including the identification of diet-responsive genes and biological pathways. These elements will comprise targets for future applied studies on ageing, metabolic dysfunction and personalised nutrition. This study will also inform as to how lifespans evolve. Because lifespan is a fundamental demographic trait, this knowledge will improve ability to predict how populations adapt to environmental change. Lastly, through methodological innovation this project will also provide new statistical tools for studying how treatments affect the risk of death age specifically.Read moreRead less
Towards 2050 - managing recovery of Australia's coral reefs. The coral reefs of Australia contribute over $6 bn each year to the economy. However, the reefs of Australia, in addition to those worldwide, are threatened by coral bleaching driven by anthropogenic climate change. If we are to preserve the economic, social and ecosystem value of these environments, it is essential that we are able to better manage the recovery of reefs from bleaching events. This project will utilise a variety of mul ....Towards 2050 - managing recovery of Australia's coral reefs. The coral reefs of Australia contribute over $6 bn each year to the economy. However, the reefs of Australia, in addition to those worldwide, are threatened by coral bleaching driven by anthropogenic climate change. If we are to preserve the economic, social and ecosystem value of these environments, it is essential that we are able to better manage the recovery of reefs from bleaching events. This project will utilise a variety of multi-disciplinary approaches, ranging from future climate models, historical satellite data to in-field experimentation to fill fundamental knowledge gaps in our understanding of coral bleaching recovery and delivery a variety of management and stakeholder relevant outputs.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100087
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$411,567.00
Summary
Illuminating the function and evolution of iridescence. This project seeks to reveal how dynamic colour signals enable effective communication by connecting the production, transmission, and perception of visual information through space and time. By integrating innovative analyses of behaviour, physiology, and optics, it will offer original insight into how information is encoded and fluidly exchanged under real-world conditions, and produce new tools for interrogating the subjective visual wor ....Illuminating the function and evolution of iridescence. This project seeks to reveal how dynamic colour signals enable effective communication by connecting the production, transmission, and perception of visual information through space and time. By integrating innovative analyses of behaviour, physiology, and optics, it will offer original insight into how information is encoded and fluidly exchanged under real-world conditions, and produce new tools for interrogating the subjective visual world of animals. This work promises benefits to our understanding of how the universal process of communication drives adaptation amidst environmental change, with significant scope for bio-inspired solutions to contemporary problems of vision and efficient information processing, including among humans.Read moreRead less
Quantifying the impact of phenotypic plasticity on population persistence. This project aims to understand how environmental sensitivity in growth, survival and reproduction of individuals in a population influence population dynamics using terrestrial ectotherms. It will provide significant new insights into whether phenotypic plasticity promotes population persistence in the face of environmental change. Expected outcomes include approaches for incorporating environmental effects in population ....Quantifying the impact of phenotypic plasticity on population persistence. This project aims to understand how environmental sensitivity in growth, survival and reproduction of individuals in a population influence population dynamics using terrestrial ectotherms. It will provide significant new insights into whether phenotypic plasticity promotes population persistence in the face of environmental change. Expected outcomes include approaches for incorporating environmental effects in population models for threatened species, open databases that can be used to estimate demographic information for species lacking data, and an assessment of what characteristics make some species more sensitive to the environment than others. Benefits include quantitative training and tools for managing Australia's rich biodiversity.Read moreRead less