Species and gene turnover across environmental gradients - a landscape-level approach to quantify biodiversity and resilience for climate adaptation. Biodiversity corridor planning in Australia desperately needs to progress beyond the simple linking up of remnant vegetation, based on aerial maps and start incorporating ecosystem features which will promote climate adaptation. This project will develop a new genomics method to assess ecosystem resilience for use in national biodiversity corridor ....Species and gene turnover across environmental gradients - a landscape-level approach to quantify biodiversity and resilience for climate adaptation. Biodiversity corridor planning in Australia desperately needs to progress beyond the simple linking up of remnant vegetation, based on aerial maps and start incorporating ecosystem features which will promote climate adaptation. This project will develop a new genomics method to assess ecosystem resilience for use in national biodiversity corridor planning.Read moreRead less
Developing best-practice approaches for restoring forest ecosystems that are resilient to climate change. Existing restoration practices for forests tend to rely on ad hoc rules of thumb that lack a firm scientific basis and risk failure due to climate change. The project will model biodiversity, genetic and growth performance data to develop best-practice restoration guidelines for forest ecosystems to enable them to become resilient to climate change and maximise biodiversity and carbon captur ....Developing best-practice approaches for restoring forest ecosystems that are resilient to climate change. Existing restoration practices for forests tend to rely on ad hoc rules of thumb that lack a firm scientific basis and risk failure due to climate change. The project will model biodiversity, genetic and growth performance data to develop best-practice restoration guidelines for forest ecosystems to enable them to become resilient to climate change and maximise biodiversity and carbon capture outcomes.Read moreRead less
Comparative Paleogenomics of the Arctic Tundra Ecosystem: the genetic response of plants and animals to climate change. This project will use DNA from deep-frozen seeds and bones 100,000 years old to record how species respond to climate change - by adapting and surviving or by shifting ranges and moving. Very large numbers of genes will be examined to identify changes across the genomes of four plant and two animal species, and contrast the responses to major climatic shifts.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100115
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$180,000.00
Summary
Confocal microscope for high-resolution microtopographic analysis of surfaces in historical, forensic and polymer sciences. High-resolution analyses of microscopic patterns on surfaces using confocal microscopy can provide vital clues into the nature of ancient diets and environments, adaptive evolution, weapons used in crimes, and properties of polymers. This instrument will heighten Australia’s capacity for world-leading research in areas of major national importance.
Using phylogenomics to record the impacts of climate change, extinction and population fragmentation. This project will use ancient DNA from permafrost-preserved Steppe bison bones and bovid exome capture systems to build a detailed record of the genomic impacts of rapid climate and environmental change at the end of the Pleistocene (30 to 11 kyr). The project will analyse how ancestral genetic diversity is distributed amongst surviving bison populations, and the role of nuclear loci under selec ....Using phylogenomics to record the impacts of climate change, extinction and population fragmentation. This project will use ancient DNA from permafrost-preserved Steppe bison bones and bovid exome capture systems to build a detailed record of the genomic impacts of rapid climate and environmental change at the end of the Pleistocene (30 to 11 kyr). The project will analyse how ancestral genetic diversity is distributed amongst surviving bison populations, and the role of nuclear loci under selection and drift. It will create a novel temporal dataset of genomic adaptation and evolution, and will generate critical data for studies of evolutionary processes such as extinctions, speciation and conservation biology and management.Read moreRead less
The Eocene high latitude Australasian 'tropics' in a changing climate: resolving conflicting evidence. Between 45 to 30 million years ago, high latitude subtropical floras in Australia and New Zealand experienced significant climate change, leading to the evolution of present day vegetation. Understanding the effects of this climate change on extinction and speciation will produce more accurate predictions about modern floras when faced with climate change.
Resolving how five million years of dramatic climatic changes shaped Australia's unique fauna. Australia’s biota is a product of its unique heritage, tectonic history and most especially its climate. Over the past five million years it has been beset by a series of intense climatic shifts driven by a combination of global and regional factors. This project will be the first to track faunal responses to environmental changes across this critical interval. It will establish the dynamics of the ori ....Resolving how five million years of dramatic climatic changes shaped Australia's unique fauna. Australia’s biota is a product of its unique heritage, tectonic history and most especially its climate. Over the past five million years it has been beset by a series of intense climatic shifts driven by a combination of global and regional factors. This project will be the first to track faunal responses to environmental changes across this critical interval. It will establish the dynamics of the origin of the modern southern vertebrate fauna, analysing changes in diversity, diet and community structure. By exploring associations between phases of faunal turnover and key climatic transitions, it will bring a Southern Hemisphere perspective to evolutionary models of Cenozoic faunal change largely generated to date from Northern Hemisphere data.Read moreRead less
Faunal responses to past climatic and human impacts in eastern Australia. The Wellington Caves in central eastern New South Wales are Australia's most historically significant fossil locality and preserve one of the world's most complete records of vertebrate life spanning the past 4 million years. To date this unique archive has been vastly under-exploited as a source of information on how faunas respond to increased aridity and climatic variability, as well as human activities over the past 50 ....Faunal responses to past climatic and human impacts in eastern Australia. The Wellington Caves in central eastern New South Wales are Australia's most historically significant fossil locality and preserve one of the world's most complete records of vertebrate life spanning the past 4 million years. To date this unique archive has been vastly under-exploited as a source of information on how faunas respond to increased aridity and climatic variability, as well as human activities over the past 50 000 years. This project aims to elucidate how climate change drove the evolution of the modern fauna of eastern Australia by analysing changes in diversity, diet and community structure over time. It may also help break the 130-year climate-versus-humans deadlock over what drove the Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions.Read moreRead less
Evolution in tooth and claw: exploring the relationship between the radiation of marsupial herbivores and late Cenozoic climate change. Establishing how animals responded to past environmental changes is essential for understanding the ecology of modern species and managing them in light of contemporary climatic trends. By applying several novel analytical methods this project will unravel the links between the radiation of Australian marsupials and key stages in climatic evolution.
The role of epigenetic modifications in bovid adaptation to environmental change. This project will explore the role of epigenetic change, where gene expression is regulated without changing the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence, in how animals adapt to rapid climate change. This project will trace epigenetic markers in ancient bison and cows through 30,000 years of climate change, and identify key adaptive genes for the cattle industry.