The evolution of light detection and its impacts on early vertebrate evolution. The eye is a complex organ crucial for survival. Tracing the evolution of the eye will not only provide basic concepts of how building visual complexity is achieved in nature but also enhance the understanding of the selection pressures driving the radiation of early vertebrates.
New Molecular Approaches to Comparative Phylogeography. Funds are requested to gather data to test new molecular and analytical approaches in the field of molecular phylogeography. We will generate phylogeographic hypotheses from mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA for six species and evaluate the utility of microsatellite data for the reconstruction of phylogeographic history. We will borrow powerful analytical techniques from the field of evolutionary ecology and use them in a completely nove ....New Molecular Approaches to Comparative Phylogeography. Funds are requested to gather data to test new molecular and analytical approaches in the field of molecular phylogeography. We will generate phylogeographic hypotheses from mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA for six species and evaluate the utility of microsatellite data for the reconstruction of phylogeographic history. We will borrow powerful analytical techniques from the field of evolutionary ecology and use them in a completely novel way to test hypotheses of microsatellite diversity. Our research is inter-disciplinary in that we will bridge the gap between molecular phylogenetics and molecular evolution and in so doing make a major advancement in this emerging field.Read moreRead less
Climate change and cryptic biodiversity in the Australian arid-zone: Molecular phylogeny-based assessment of conservation priorities. Australia's arid zone comprises two thirds of the country yet from a climate change, biodiversity, and conservation point of view it has received little attention relative to eastern Australia. The project will address broad questions in evolutionary biology with unique Australian systems, make a world class contribution to the fields of phylogeography, molecular ....Climate change and cryptic biodiversity in the Australian arid-zone: Molecular phylogeny-based assessment of conservation priorities. Australia's arid zone comprises two thirds of the country yet from a climate change, biodiversity, and conservation point of view it has received little attention relative to eastern Australia. The project will address broad questions in evolutionary biology with unique Australian systems, make a world class contribution to the fields of phylogeography, molecular phylogenetics and conservation genetics and contribute substantially to the continued training of high quality research students and postdoctoral fellows. The project directly addresses two National Priority Research Areas and will supply of critical information to the eight biggest of the 57 Natural Resource Management Regions. Read moreRead less
Comparative phylogeography and conservation genetics of Australia's biodiversity hotspot. Southwestern Australia has been identified as one of the world's 25 biodiversity hotspots. The project will address broad questions in evolutionary biology with unique Australian systems, make a world class contribution to the fields of phylogeography, molecular phylogenetics and conservation genetics and contribute substantially to the continued training of high quality research students. I am a foundation ....Comparative phylogeography and conservation genetics of Australia's biodiversity hotspot. Southwestern Australia has been identified as one of the world's 25 biodiversity hotspots. The project will address broad questions in evolutionary biology with unique Australian systems, make a world class contribution to the fields of phylogeography, molecular phylogenetics and conservation genetics and contribute substantially to the continued training of high quality research students. I am a foundation member of the new ARC Environmental Futures Network: Discovering the Past and Present to Shape the Future. One of its primary listed objectives is "documenting Australia's biodiversity: recognising, understanding and managing key hotspots". My research plan fits in precisely with this research agenda. Read moreRead less
Moving between day and night: Navigational strategies and foraging costs of temporal niche partitioning. This study involves fundamental research to identify the navigational strategies and the foraging cost in animals that occupy different temporal niches. It will make use of the unique research opportunities in Australia, by working with endemic fauna that allows scientists to address questions that would otherwise be hard to answer. The project will introduce the novel technique of differenti ....Moving between day and night: Navigational strategies and foraging costs of temporal niche partitioning. This study involves fundamental research to identify the navigational strategies and the foraging cost in animals that occupy different temporal niches. It will make use of the unique research opportunities in Australia, by working with endemic fauna that allows scientists to address questions that would otherwise be hard to answer. The project will introduce the novel technique of differential GPS to track the paths of ants which has the potential to revolutionise the field of insect navigation. Salience-dependent navigational strategies analysed in this study will be of great interest in the field of engineering and robotics.Read moreRead less
Moving to be seen: a comprehensive analysis of movement-based signal design. Papers on visual motion processing and animal signal design regularly feature in major journals, and the programs of international conferences. We can thus be confident that theoretical advances will attract international attention. We will develop further state-of-the-art methods in motion analysis, with our overall approach likely to serve as a framework for future research programs, although our techniques will have ....Moving to be seen: a comprehensive analysis of movement-based signal design. Papers on visual motion processing and animal signal design regularly feature in major journals, and the programs of international conferences. We can thus be confident that theoretical advances will attract international attention. We will develop further state-of-the-art methods in motion analysis, with our overall approach likely to serve as a framework for future research programs, although our techniques will have applications outside of biology. In addition, we will learn much about the social behaviour of a group of native reptiles about which relatively little is known. Research on the social behaviour of animals is readily comprehended by non-specialists and plays an important role in attracting young people to careers in science.Read moreRead less
Testing Theories of Historical Divergence using South Eastern Australian Reptiles. The processes that serve to create species diversity must also be preserved in order to allow evolution to continue. My study will clarify the number and distribution of water skink species in south eastern Australia, a biologically diverse, yet under studied area of Australia. I will also be looking at processes, such as dispersal, that determine patterns of species distribution over time. These lizards are also ....Testing Theories of Historical Divergence using South Eastern Australian Reptiles. The processes that serve to create species diversity must also be preserved in order to allow evolution to continue. My study will clarify the number and distribution of water skink species in south eastern Australia, a biologically diverse, yet under studied area of Australia. I will also be looking at processes, such as dispersal, that determine patterns of species distribution over time. These lizards are also found on mountain tops and may be affected by global warming. Understanding how climate change has affected these lizards in the past may help us to predict how climate changes will affect them in the future and better enable us to conserve these and other species in the future.Read moreRead less
The role of ecological specialisation in insect-plant macroevolutionary processes: a molecular phylogenetic approach across three kingdoms. Flowering plants and phytophagous insects are major components of the world's biodiversity and their evolution has been closely linked. This project will increase our knowledge of insect-endosymbiont-plant interactions and enhance our understanding of the origin, generation and maintenance of much of the world's biodiversity. A broader understanding of how i ....The role of ecological specialisation in insect-plant macroevolutionary processes: a molecular phylogenetic approach across three kingdoms. Flowering plants and phytophagous insects are major components of the world's biodiversity and their evolution has been closely linked. This project will increase our knowledge of insect-endosymbiont-plant interactions and enhance our understanding of the origin, generation and maintenance of much of the world's biodiversity. A broader understanding of how insects, their symbionts and plants have co-evolved should improve our understanding of why and how some insects are able to become pests whereas others do not. Scale insects (the model system in this study) are important pests, both ecologically (Christmas Island interaction between coccids, rainforest plants and crazy ants) and economically (e.g. citrus mealybug).Read moreRead less
Uncovering the evolutionary history of Australasian marsupials: combining molecular phylogenetics and ecological inference. Marsupials are symbolic of the uniqueness of Australia's biological systems and there is widespread public interest in their natural history. Yet we know little of the evolutionary mechanisms that have shaped their biodiversity. This is a critical problem when considered in the context of Australian marsupials having suffered the highest extinction rate of any continental m ....Uncovering the evolutionary history of Australasian marsupials: combining molecular phylogenetics and ecological inference. Marsupials are symbolic of the uniqueness of Australia's biological systems and there is widespread public interest in their natural history. Yet we know little of the evolutionary mechanisms that have shaped their biodiversity. This is a critical problem when considered in the context of Australian marsupials having suffered the highest extinction rate of any continental mammal fauna over the past 200 years. This project will make a major contribution to understanding the origins, timescale and ecological nature of Australasian marsupial evolution. In doing so, it will inform conservation strategy, promote Australasian marsupials as a model system for studying faunal coevolution and develop widely applicable bioinformatic tools.Read moreRead less
Molecular Phylogenetics of Australian Myobatrachid Frogs and the Evolution of Reproductive Strategies. The Family Myobatrachidae (22 genera, 120+ species) is wholly endemic to the Australo-Papuan region, represents 57% of the Australian frog fauna and displays more diversity in reproductive strategies than any other group of frogs. We will recover a robust molecular phylogeny for all species in this family and use it to exploit existing ecological and behavioural data sets to provide powerful te ....Molecular Phylogenetics of Australian Myobatrachid Frogs and the Evolution of Reproductive Strategies. The Family Myobatrachidae (22 genera, 120+ species) is wholly endemic to the Australo-Papuan region, represents 57% of the Australian frog fauna and displays more diversity in reproductive strategies than any other group of frogs. We will recover a robust molecular phylogeny for all species in this family and use it to exploit existing ecological and behavioural data sets to provide powerful tests of alternative hypotheses concerning the evolution of diverse reproductive strategies. This multi-disciplinary research project will provide detailed phylogenetic information for one of the most diverse vertebrate radiations in Australia and address important questions in historical ecology.Read moreRead less