How does forestry impact headwater streams? Although headwater streams make up much of the catchment of rivers, the effects of forestry on instream species composition, habitat types, and ecosystem functions remain uninvestigated. We aim to fill these three gaps so that managers can: 1. determine whether stream side buffers are necessary and 2. identify which species and ecosystem functions are the most sensitive and reliable variables for future monitoring of instream ecosystem health.
The future of forests under climatic stress. This project aims to measure the vulnerability of forest trees to more extreme drought as global temperatures inevitably rise. Australian forests face the immediate threat of increased mortality associated with intensifying drought stress in the future. Understanding the magnitude of this threat is of the utmost urgency. This project aims to predict future mortality of forest communities in Australia and worldwide using recent breakthroughs enabling t ....The future of forests under climatic stress. This project aims to measure the vulnerability of forest trees to more extreme drought as global temperatures inevitably rise. Australian forests face the immediate threat of increased mortality associated with intensifying drought stress in the future. Understanding the magnitude of this threat is of the utmost urgency. This project aims to predict future mortality of forest communities in Australia and worldwide using recent breakthroughs enabling the rapid quantification of lethal stress in trees. This new understanding will provide a basis upon which to make far-reaching decisions about land management, conservation and restoration.Read moreRead less
Does mother know best? Unifying proximate causation and ultimate explanation in mammalian sex allocation. The study of parental effects is a fundamental area in evolutionary ecology, but is characterised by poor integration of theory (ultimate causation) and physiology (proximate causation). This is true in sex allocation research that focuses almost exclusively on ultimate causation without integrating the physiological mechanisms for sex ratio adjustment. Using a combination of experiments and ....Does mother know best? Unifying proximate causation and ultimate explanation in mammalian sex allocation. The study of parental effects is a fundamental area in evolutionary ecology, but is characterised by poor integration of theory (ultimate causation) and physiology (proximate causation). This is true in sex allocation research that focuses almost exclusively on ultimate causation without integrating the physiological mechanisms for sex ratio adjustment. Using a combination of experiments and modelling, the project addresses this gap in understanding mammalian sex allocation, specifically: the lack of known mechanism; the connection between proximate mechanistic explanation and adaptive fitness explanations; and, knowledge on constraints. This project argues that one mechanism, pre-implantation glucose levels, links adaptive hypotheses with proximate causation. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100946
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$394,561.00
Summary
410 million years of stomatal evolution: key innovations in the transition from passive valves to active pores. Central to the supremacy of seed plants was the evolution of active, metabolic control of the stomata; the pores that regulate both plant productivity and water loss. However, little is known about the transition from passive control of stomata in seedless plants to active stomatal control in seed plants. This project will identify the key physiological and genetic innovations that und ....410 million years of stomatal evolution: key innovations in the transition from passive valves to active pores. Central to the supremacy of seed plants was the evolution of active, metabolic control of the stomata; the pores that regulate both plant productivity and water loss. However, little is known about the transition from passive control of stomata in seedless plants to active stomatal control in seed plants. This project will identify the key physiological and genetic innovations that underpinned the evolution of stomatal control over the past 410 million years. Understanding these evolutionary innovations will offer important insights into stomatal function in seed plants, as well as informing models of global productivity and water use through time, with benefits for Australian agriculture and natural resource management.Read moreRead less
Female multiple mating and the evolutionary origins of complex societies. This project plans to connect micro-evolutionary processes with macro-evolutionary change to provide a unified understanding of why animals live together. Evolutionary transitions to and from complex social behaviour appear linked to female multiple mating (polyandry). However, the causal pathway by which variation in polyandry results in the emergence and diversification of sociality is yet to be established. Using a vert ....Female multiple mating and the evolutionary origins of complex societies. This project plans to connect micro-evolutionary processes with macro-evolutionary change to provide a unified understanding of why animals live together. Evolutionary transitions to and from complex social behaviour appear linked to female multiple mating (polyandry). However, the causal pathway by which variation in polyandry results in the emergence and diversification of sociality is yet to be established. Using a vertebrate system we aim to integrate empirical, theoretical and comparative approaches to show: the ecological causes of individual variation in female polyandry; its effect on social behaviours that promote social complexity at the population level; and how this corresponds to divergence in social complexity across species.Read moreRead less
Plasticity and the origins of family. This project aims to answer the question of how family life evolved. Humans and many animals live in stable family groups because of the benefits of cooperation. Surprisingly, we have a very poor understanding of how family living initially evolved. This project will experimentally determine how simple responses to environmental change have driven the evolution of family living and thereby refine theories for understanding social evolution more generally. ....Plasticity and the origins of family. This project aims to answer the question of how family life evolved. Humans and many animals live in stable family groups because of the benefits of cooperation. Surprisingly, we have a very poor understanding of how family living initially evolved. This project will experimentally determine how simple responses to environmental change have driven the evolution of family living and thereby refine theories for understanding social evolution more generally. This information will be useful to environmental policy makers that need to consider the role of environmental change in managing and conserving viable populations.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100336
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$369,453.00
Summary
Female multiple mating, male care and the origins of complex sociality. The project aims to connect processes occurring across levels of biological organisation to provide a unified understanding of why animals live together. Evolutionary transitions to and from complex social behaviour appear linked to female multiple mating (polyandry). However, the causal pathway by which variation in polyandry results in the emergence and diversification of sociality is yet to be established. This project ai ....Female multiple mating, male care and the origins of complex sociality. The project aims to connect processes occurring across levels of biological organisation to provide a unified understanding of why animals live together. Evolutionary transitions to and from complex social behaviour appear linked to female multiple mating (polyandry). However, the causal pathway by which variation in polyandry results in the emergence and diversification of sociality is yet to be established. This project aims to combine empirical, theoretical and comparative approaches to address this. It will test: the environmental causes of individual variation in polyandry; its effect on social behaviours that promote social complexity at the population level; and how this corresponds to divergence in social complexity across species.Read moreRead less
Mechanisms and evolution of plant water management. This project proposes a new approach to understand the evolution and physiology of stomatal function, and how this interacts with xylem evolution to determine whole-plant water management. Using a combination of membrane-level, and whole-leaf physiological techniques, this project will focus on mechanisms of stomatal closure in diverse plant species. Specific stomatal and xylem responses to water stress will be mapped together onto the gymnospe ....Mechanisms and evolution of plant water management. This project proposes a new approach to understand the evolution and physiology of stomatal function, and how this interacts with xylem evolution to determine whole-plant water management. Using a combination of membrane-level, and whole-leaf physiological techniques, this project will focus on mechanisms of stomatal closure in diverse plant species. Specific stomatal and xylem responses to water stress will be mapped together onto the gymnosperm clade to reveal co-evolutionary linkages between xylem and stomatal physiology. By combining physiological data with evolutionary patterns among major land plant lineages this project will produce a mechanistic framework for interpreting the drought ecology of all plant species.Read moreRead less
Global patterns of mammalian biodiversity loss over the last 50,000 years. Wild mammals have experienced major population losses and extinctions in recent centuries, but their communities had already suffered from widespread losses during the Pleistocene. Existing literature has focused on documenting individual extinctions or continental-scale patterns. This project aims to show how biodiversity loss played out at the local scale around the world. It will use palaeontological and zooarchaeologi ....Global patterns of mammalian biodiversity loss over the last 50,000 years. Wild mammals have experienced major population losses and extinctions in recent centuries, but their communities had already suffered from widespread losses during the Pleistocene. Existing literature has focused on documenting individual extinctions or continental-scale patterns. This project aims to show how biodiversity loss played out at the local scale around the world. It will use palaeontological and zooarchaeological data to show how losses varied in space, how population sizes changed, and how species attributes such as rarity and body size related to loss. The world of mammals has become more homogeneous as biodiversity has declined. The challenge is to show how that happened across space and time.
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Using animal-borne cameras to quantify prey field, habitat characteristics and foraging success in a marine top predator. To understand the factors which influence population dynamics, knowledge of habitat use is required. This project will determine the key ecological characteristics of the Australian fur seal habitat, enabling fundamental issues of foraging ecology and wildlife management to be addressed for the first time in a marine mammal.