The benefits of sociality: understanding the relationship between cooperation, cognition and fitness. Cooperation may present unique cognitive challenges. Individuals perform behaviours that provide fitness benefits to others, exposing themselves to risk. The need to monitor the behaviour of group members, recognise suitable cooperative partners, and make corresponding behavioural adjustments to maximize the benefits of cooperation, may therefore be an important driver of social evolution. The r ....The benefits of sociality: understanding the relationship between cooperation, cognition and fitness. Cooperation may present unique cognitive challenges. Individuals perform behaviours that provide fitness benefits to others, exposing themselves to risk. The need to monitor the behaviour of group members, recognise suitable cooperative partners, and make corresponding behavioural adjustments to maximize the benefits of cooperation, may therefore be an important driver of social evolution. The relevance of understanding the relationship between cognition and cooperation is in how it affects the fitness of individuals and the stability of cooperation. This project aims to unveil this relationship by conducting one of the first comprehensive studies of the selective benefits of cognitive ability in a wild, cooperative bird species.Read moreRead less
Context dependent flower choice in honey bees. This project aims to discover the strategies honey bees use when choosing between multiple flowers. The choices that honey bees make about which flowers to visit and which to avoid has significant impacts on crop yields, the spread of invasive weeds, and the conservation of native plants. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the fields of behavioural and pollination ecology through a combination of field experiments and modelling. Expec ....Context dependent flower choice in honey bees. This project aims to discover the strategies honey bees use when choosing between multiple flowers. The choices that honey bees make about which flowers to visit and which to avoid has significant impacts on crop yields, the spread of invasive weeds, and the conservation of native plants. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the fields of behavioural and pollination ecology through a combination of field experiments and modelling. Expected outcomes of this project include enhanced capacity in the field of pollination ecology, and new insight into flower preferences in the world’s most important commercial pollinator. This should provide significant benefits to food production and security as one third of the world’s crops benefit from insect pollination.Read moreRead less
Sensory strategies for protecting endangered sawfishes. The Gulf of Carpentaria is the last habitat worldwide containing sustainable populations of sawfish. Easily entangled in nets, the saw has reduced population numbers dramatically in Australia with all species now protected under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This study will provide basic biological information on feeding ....Sensory strategies for protecting endangered sawfishes. The Gulf of Carpentaria is the last habitat worldwide containing sustainable populations of sawfish. Easily entangled in nets, the saw has reduced population numbers dramatically in Australia with all species now protected under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This study will provide basic biological information on feeding, prey manipulation and the role of critical senses in the only captive population of sawfishes in Australia. Such knowledge will underpin the development and use of visual, chemical and/or magnetic repellents by fisherman that are still responsible for the loss of large numbers of sawfish as by-catch.Read moreRead less
How different is different: highly contrasting colours in animal patterns. Red apples in green trees and blue berries on the ground create very different visual signals to animals. Furthermore, elaborate animal colour patterns have evolved to render them conspicuous or camouflaged against their background. Despite the ecological and evolutionary importance of animal colour patterns, little is known about how larger colour contrasts and complex patterns are perceived by animals. This project aim ....How different is different: highly contrasting colours in animal patterns. Red apples in green trees and blue berries on the ground create very different visual signals to animals. Furthermore, elaborate animal colour patterns have evolved to render them conspicuous or camouflaged against their background. Despite the ecological and evolutionary importance of animal colour patterns, little is known about how larger colour contrasts and complex patterns are perceived by animals. This project aims to fill this knowledge gap specifically it endeavours: to provide useful tools for behavioural ecologists and visual neuroscientists, and to understand for the first time the full gamut of colour signalling in both terrestrial and aquatic environments.Read moreRead less
Immediate and delayed changes to survival, physiology, reproduction and movement of chondrichthyans following capture stress. Many sharks and rays are negatively affected by the impact of fisheries capture, with unknown consequences. The project will measure changes to survival, physiology, reproduction and behaviour following capture to better understand and manage the impact of fisheries on these animals. This information is vital for their effective conservation.
The role of early life history on the survival of coral reef fishes - opening the Black Box. A fundamental unanswered question in marine ecology and fisheries management is - what influences the number of individuals that survive the larval phase to join a reef population? Theoretical studies show that small changes in the quality of offspring can lead to large changes in the numbers surviving the larval phase. What aspects of offspring quality determine who survives is largely unknown. We use ....The role of early life history on the survival of coral reef fishes - opening the Black Box. A fundamental unanswered question in marine ecology and fisheries management is - what influences the number of individuals that survive the larval phase to join a reef population? Theoretical studies show that small changes in the quality of offspring can lead to large changes in the numbers surviving the larval phase. What aspects of offspring quality determine who survives is largely unknown. We use a multidisciplinary approach to explore what influences the quality of offspring spawned by adults, and whether offspring traits prior to or at hatching determine the identity of individuals that survive to join the reproductive population.Read moreRead less
Factors controlling marine food webs: consumer vs. nutrient limitation of mobile invertebrates and algae. An understanding of the strength of interactions in marine food webs is crucial to predicting change in coastal habitats due to human activities. The outcomes of this research will indicate the relative importance of changes in nutrient inputs from terrestrial runoff (eutrophication) and predation pressures (via overfishing) - both of which may strongly affect the structure of marine habitat ....Factors controlling marine food webs: consumer vs. nutrient limitation of mobile invertebrates and algae. An understanding of the strength of interactions in marine food webs is crucial to predicting change in coastal habitats due to human activities. The outcomes of this research will indicate the relative importance of changes in nutrient inputs from terrestrial runoff (eutrophication) and predation pressures (via overfishing) - both of which may strongly affect the structure of marine habitats - on an extremely abundant and diverse component of coastal marine habitats.Read moreRead less
Boxing clever: artificial nest boxes as a conservation and research tool. Saving endangered species increasingly requires proactive management. This project presents an innovative and practical solution to save an iconic Australian species, while also providing the scientific foundation for the development of a novel Australian-based commercial product that will be used to protect and restore Australian biodiversity.
Assessing linkages across arid zone estuarine landscapes. We aim to understand the degree of connectivity between the terrestrial environment and estuaries in the arid tropics of Australia. We will investigate the impact of terrestrial-estuarine linkages on near shore food webs, which include a diverse fauna, some of which are commercially important. Human activities in the land-ocean interface have to have the capacity to alter greatly the timing, magnitude, and composition of inputs from water ....Assessing linkages across arid zone estuarine landscapes. We aim to understand the degree of connectivity between the terrestrial environment and estuaries in the arid tropics of Australia. We will investigate the impact of terrestrial-estuarine linkages on near shore food webs, which include a diverse fauna, some of which are commercially important. Human activities in the land-ocean interface have to have the capacity to alter greatly the timing, magnitude, and composition of inputs from watersheds to estuaries, thereby greatly altering the function of estuaries. The results of this project will fill a gap in our knowledge of how arid zone estuaries function, and will contribute to developing management strategies needed to maintain estuary productivity.Read moreRead less
Bioinvasions: the interactive effects of propagule pressure and pollution. The successful establishment of species outside their native range is an increasingly frequent occurrence and can cause reductions in biodiversity and ecosystem disruption. Bioinvasions may also cause public health risks and damage to agriculture and fisheries. Nowhere is the accelerating pace of bioinvasions more dramatic than in ports and harbours. This project will determine the effects of pollution on invasion in a ma ....Bioinvasions: the interactive effects of propagule pressure and pollution. The successful establishment of species outside their native range is an increasingly frequent occurrence and can cause reductions in biodiversity and ecosystem disruption. Bioinvasions may also cause public health risks and damage to agriculture and fisheries. Nowhere is the accelerating pace of bioinvasions more dramatic than in ports and harbours. This project will determine the effects of pollution on invasion in a marine system. This project is in the national interest because it will identify mechanisms through which the invasion of exotic species are encouraged and assist in the identification and prioritisation of effective management strategies to prevent invasion.Read moreRead less