Predicting adaptive responses to climate change in Australian native bees. This project aims to understand how insects will adapt to climate change by examining a largely overlooked but economically important group of species: Australian native bees. Native bees are important pollinators of both crops and native plants, but their sensitivity to changes in climate are unknown. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of the resilience of native bees to climate change, and new effective tools for p ....Predicting adaptive responses to climate change in Australian native bees. This project aims to understand how insects will adapt to climate change by examining a largely overlooked but economically important group of species: Australian native bees. Native bees are important pollinators of both crops and native plants, but their sensitivity to changes in climate are unknown. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of the resilience of native bees to climate change, and new effective tools for predicting climate change resilience that can be applied to many species. The intended benefits include increasing our understanding of the potential for native bees to act as future pollinators in Australia’s natural and agro-ecosystems, and guide policy and management decisions to better protect and conserve our bee fauna.Read moreRead less
Coral-associated viruses: pathogens, mutualists and agents of evolution? Corals host numerous organisms, of which viruses are the least studied. The aim of this project is to characterise the viruses associated with corals and to obtain a detailed understanding of the critical roles that viruses play in coral health, coral bleaching and adaptation of corals to climate change.
Drought and death: past, present and future survival limits in the Australian vegetation landscape. Science cannot predict the point at which water stress becomes lethal for plants. This research into plant water transport aims to find a new way to understand whether plant species will die or adapt to a future drier climate.
Can evolution rescue marine populations from environmental change? This project aims to test whether rapid evolutionary responses can buffer marine species against the environmental changes impacting Australia’s coastal ecosystems now and in coming years. This project plans to use an innovative experimental evolution framework to test the newly-advanced theory of evolutionary rescue, its goal is to understand whether populations can adapt to new environments fast enough to outpace extinction, an ....Can evolution rescue marine populations from environmental change? This project aims to test whether rapid evolutionary responses can buffer marine species against the environmental changes impacting Australia’s coastal ecosystems now and in coming years. This project plans to use an innovative experimental evolution framework to test the newly-advanced theory of evolutionary rescue, its goal is to understand whether populations can adapt to new environments fast enough to outpace extinction, and how phenotypic plasticity, fluctuating natural selection and biotic interactions influence extinction risk. The intended outcome is to deliver key insights into the intrinsic capacity of our marine biota to withstand the current and near-future challenges that they face, and to inform predictions about population persistence. In doing so, this project should deliver vital information on extinction risk to managers, policy-makers and other stakeholders, and contribute innovative, cutting-edge research in an area of national priority.Read moreRead less
Keeping pace with a changing climate: can Australian plants count on rapid evolution? Integrating field and common-garden experiments with cutting-edge genomic technology, this project will answer the critical question of whether Australia's flora can count on evolution to keep pace with a rapidly changing climate. The project outcomes will inform science-based policies integrating social-economic development and biodiversity conservation.
Learning in a changing world: Maternal effects on offspring development and behaviour. The impact of anthropogenic change on Australia's biodiversity is of grave concern. It is therefore vital to understand the capacity of Australian fauna to adapt and change, despite environmental challenges. This project aims to quantify the potential for birds to respond to environmental challenges, by programming offspring with adaptive developmental profiles. By quantifying the effects of maternal stress ov ....Learning in a changing world: Maternal effects on offspring development and behaviour. The impact of anthropogenic change on Australia's biodiversity is of grave concern. It is therefore vital to understand the capacity of Australian fauna to adapt and change, despite environmental challenges. This project aims to quantify the potential for birds to respond to environmental challenges, by programming offspring with adaptive developmental profiles. By quantifying the effects of maternal stress over two generations, this project aims to determine whether mothers have the ability to alter rates of evolutionary change by employing epigenetic mechanisms. Combining lab trials with field data it will determine the biological relevance of these effects to a common, but declining bird, with relevance across Australian avifauna.Read moreRead less
Revealing the structure, evolution and sensitivity of symbioses in basal metazoa. This project will explore the complex interactions between each component of the sponge holobiont (virus, bacteria, sponge) during thermal stress. This will also provide the first molecular assessment of sponge viruses and provide insights into how sponges may adapt to a changing climate.
Primary producers; morphological flexibility under environmental constraints. Climate change impacts on phytoplankton that uptake nutrients for incorporation into food webs including marine mammals and fish. This project will study the morphological flexibility of diatoms to reveal principles underlying nutrient uptake under different climatic scenarios.
Finding damage thresholds in pyrethrum to optimise crop profitability. This project aims to use a new vascular approach to develop a quantitative stress tolerance framework for the crop species pyrethrum, defining the risks to plant production of water, heat and frost stress. Using novel optical and x-ray technology, this project seeks to pinpoint damaging stress thresholds and combine this knowledge with crop monitoring technology in a way that will allow crop managers to avoid damaging stress ....Finding damage thresholds in pyrethrum to optimise crop profitability. This project aims to use a new vascular approach to develop a quantitative stress tolerance framework for the crop species pyrethrum, defining the risks to plant production of water, heat and frost stress. Using novel optical and x-ray technology, this project seeks to pinpoint damaging stress thresholds and combine this knowledge with crop monitoring technology in a way that will allow crop managers to avoid damaging stress events. The intended outcome is to enable the pyrethrum industry, and ultimately a diversity of crop managers, to better utilise new advances in monitoring technology to maximise the benefits of irrigation such that yields are high relative to water use and damage by stress is avoided. Immediate beneficiaries will be the pyrethrum industry, but the research will provide a model, applicable to the multitude of irrigated crops in Australia. Read moreRead less
Can consistent individual differences in metabolic rate explain animal personality? Implications for fish and aquaculture in a warming climate. This project will determine if consistent individual differences in metabolic rate affect behaviour, growth, and reproduction in fish. If so, then we need to prepare for the fact that a warming climate will lead to reductions in fish growth and reproduction, because rising temperature directly increases metabolism and therefore maintenance costs.