Developing a wildlife health intelligence and vaccine distribution system. This project aims to establish an industry-linked pipeline for vaccines to be delivered to animals in edible baits and a near real-time monitoring system for assessing the impact of management actions. This project will develop ultrasensitive diagnostic tests and incorporate biomarkers into baits from Australia's leading pest animal control company. Bait uptake and disease status in the field will be monitored using artif ....Developing a wildlife health intelligence and vaccine distribution system. This project aims to establish an industry-linked pipeline for vaccines to be delivered to animals in edible baits and a near real-time monitoring system for assessing the impact of management actions. This project will develop ultrasensitive diagnostic tests and incorporate biomarkers into baits from Australia's leading pest animal control company. Bait uptake and disease status in the field will be monitored using artificial intelligence technology developed in Tasmania. This integrated wildlife health intelligence and scalable vaccine platform can help protect the iconic Tasmanian devil from disease and increase Australia's preparedness for looming threats to the livestock industry such as African swine fever.Read moreRead less
Contact Networks, Immunity, and Evolution in Competing Cancer Epidemics. The project aims to evaluate evolutionary interactions between two transmissible cancer epidemics affecting Tasmanian devils and quantify their feedback on infection risk and epidemic behaviour. Using contact tracing and a phylogenetic framework we aim to quantify how tumour lineages evolve with each generation of infection and their effects on susceptibility to infection and disease progression. We expect to reveal the hos ....Contact Networks, Immunity, and Evolution in Competing Cancer Epidemics. The project aims to evaluate evolutionary interactions between two transmissible cancer epidemics affecting Tasmanian devils and quantify their feedback on infection risk and epidemic behaviour. Using contact tracing and a phylogenetic framework we aim to quantify how tumour lineages evolve with each generation of infection and their effects on susceptibility to infection and disease progression. We expect to reveal the host immuno-genetic basis underpinning cancer suppression and the adaptive capacity of populations in response to infectious diseases. This should significantly improve our ability to understand and manage this and other epidemic outbreaks in wildlife, as well as advancing our knowledge in cancer ecology and evolution.Read moreRead less
Developing feasible in situ control of mange disease in wombats. Our goal is the development of feasible in situ control of sarcoptic mange in wombat populations. Globally important, the Sarcoptes scabiei mite infects >100 mammal species and is among the 50 most common human diseases, causing health, welfare and population impacts. This infection is treatable, and we will test a new treatment (fluralaner), develop new models to guide management, and conduct replicated field trials. This will ena ....Developing feasible in situ control of mange disease in wombats. Our goal is the development of feasible in situ control of sarcoptic mange in wombat populations. Globally important, the Sarcoptes scabiei mite infects >100 mammal species and is among the 50 most common human diseases, causing health, welfare and population impacts. This infection is treatable, and we will test a new treatment (fluralaner), develop new models to guide management, and conduct replicated field trials. This will enable science-based guidelines, advancing disease control, local eradication, and regulatory approval for wombats. Our research framework is adaptable to other mange-impacted species, and advance methods and theory for control of treatable disease in wildlife.Read moreRead less
ARC Research Network for Understanding and Managing Australian Biodiversity. Biodiversity research is strong in Australia but is highly uncoordinated and, along with recent major breakthroughs in both theory and techniques, has highlighted the need for a Network to properly integrate research and focus it on the most appropriate scale. This Network aims to bring together a diverse spectrum of highly experienced and early career researchers to pool their ideas and expertise to allow them to deter ....ARC Research Network for Understanding and Managing Australian Biodiversity. Biodiversity research is strong in Australia but is highly uncoordinated and, along with recent major breakthroughs in both theory and techniques, has highlighted the need for a Network to properly integrate research and focus it on the most appropriate scale. This Network aims to bring together a diverse spectrum of highly experienced and early career researchers to pool their ideas and expertise to allow them to determine how best to describe Australia's current biodiversity and the biological and environmental history leading up to the present. A major outcome will be the ability to predict the impacts of environmental change on biodiversity to assist management decisions across Australia, with lessons of global importance.Read moreRead less
Using animal-borne sensors to unravel East Antarctic coastal productivity. This project will examine the mechanisms underpinning the high productivity in Antarctic coastal polynyas, which are ice-free oases within the sea ice supporting abundant marine life. The study expects to generate essential new biochemical and biological observations using autonomous platforms to understand phytoplankton dynamics in these inaccessible habitats along Australia’s Antarctic Territory. Expected outcomes inclu ....Using animal-borne sensors to unravel East Antarctic coastal productivity. This project will examine the mechanisms underpinning the high productivity in Antarctic coastal polynyas, which are ice-free oases within the sea ice supporting abundant marine life. The study expects to generate essential new biochemical and biological observations using autonomous platforms to understand phytoplankton dynamics in these inaccessible habitats along Australia’s Antarctic Territory. Expected outcomes include novel insight into the role of iron supply from melting glaciers in supporting marine production. This should reduce the high uncertainty in prognoses for polynya activity under anthropogenic climate change, and support Australia’s international leadership in conservation and management of important Antarctic ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Detecting and deciphering extinction dynamics under environmental change. This project aims to improve knowledge of extinction processes and impacts. It will use high-performance computing and museum collections to disentangle the ecological mechanisms that were integral in the initial decline and later extinction of Australia's unique mammals. Its significance is that it will establish the historical ranges and past population trajectories of Australian threatened mammals, pinpointing the combi ....Detecting and deciphering extinction dynamics under environmental change. This project aims to improve knowledge of extinction processes and impacts. It will use high-performance computing and museum collections to disentangle the ecological mechanisms that were integral in the initial decline and later extinction of Australia's unique mammals. Its significance is that it will establish the historical ranges and past population trajectories of Australian threatened mammals, pinpointing the combinations of ecological characteristics and threats that most affect risk of extinction from environmental change. Expected outcomes and benefits are new data and verified models to enrich conservation research and inform evidence-based solutions to better protect and recover some of Australia’s most threatened species.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) will create next generation electrochemical devices via the precision assembly of nano/micro dimensional components into macroscopic structures. Through the discovery of new materials and structures, and understanding how spatial arrangement in 3D influences chemical, physical and biological properties, ACES will define the cutting edge of Electromaterials Science. The resultin ....ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) will create next generation electrochemical devices via the precision assembly of nano/micro dimensional components into macroscopic structures. Through the discovery of new materials and structures, and understanding how spatial arrangement in 3D influences chemical, physical and biological properties, ACES will define the cutting edge of Electromaterials Science. The resulting technology breakthroughs will have a direct impact on some of today's most challenging global problems in clean energy, synthetic biosystems, diagnostics and soft robotics. National benefit to Australia will be realised through the creation of new manufacturing industries.Read moreRead less
Natural selection and the Tasmanian devil. This project aims to explain evolution of immune capabilities in response to disease threats in the wild by assessing the immune adaptive capabilities of Tasmanian devils in response to facial tumour disease. It plans to determine how the expression of immune genes differs between wild and captive populations. The project will combine immunology, epidemiology and evolutionary biology, to understand the role of host genetic and phenotypic adaptations to ....Natural selection and the Tasmanian devil. This project aims to explain evolution of immune capabilities in response to disease threats in the wild by assessing the immune adaptive capabilities of Tasmanian devils in response to facial tumour disease. It plans to determine how the expression of immune genes differs between wild and captive populations. The project will combine immunology, epidemiology and evolutionary biology, to understand the role of host genetic and phenotypic adaptations to disease threats. The project will assist in the development of diagnostic tools for managing this and other threatened species and for screening disease resistance markers across wild and captive insurance populations.Read moreRead less
Understanding multi-scale dynamics of eddies in the East Australian Current. This project aims to provide the first rigorous quantification of the complex dynamics of rotating eddies (the weather systems of the ocean) and fronts on scales ranging from metres to 100s of kilometres and hours to weeks in the East Australian Current System. This project is at the frontier of oceanographic research and will provide significant new understanding of the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of eddies an ....Understanding multi-scale dynamics of eddies in the East Australian Current. This project aims to provide the first rigorous quantification of the complex dynamics of rotating eddies (the weather systems of the ocean) and fronts on scales ranging from metres to 100s of kilometres and hours to weeks in the East Australian Current System. This project is at the frontier of oceanographic research and will provide significant new understanding of the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of eddies and their interactions across multiple spatio-temporal scales, revealing their impacts on productivity along Australia’s most populous coastline. This will provide significant benefits such as improved ocean forecasting and sustainable management of Australian marine industries and seafood sector, supporting economic growth. Read moreRead less
Seaweed forests of the future: responses to ocean acidification and warming. The aim is to discover if rising levels of oceanic carbon dioxide will offset negative effects of ocean warming on seaweeds, using targeted physiological experiments together with novel molecular diagnostics. Seaweeds create habitats and food for shellfish and fish, and play a crucial role in long term ‘blue carbon’ storage. They are predicted to benefit from future carbon dioxide enrichment, but to test this forecast r ....Seaweed forests of the future: responses to ocean acidification and warming. The aim is to discover if rising levels of oceanic carbon dioxide will offset negative effects of ocean warming on seaweeds, using targeted physiological experiments together with novel molecular diagnostics. Seaweeds create habitats and food for shellfish and fish, and play a crucial role in long term ‘blue carbon’ storage. They are predicted to benefit from future carbon dioxide enrichment, but to test this forecast requires a detailed understanding of the mechanisms used by seaweeds to acquire dissolved inorganic carbon. The expected outcome is robust predictions of how the primary productivity of coastal waters will respond to future high carbon dioxide conditions, enabling human adaptation to environmental change.
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