Choosing to persist: sexual selection in the wild. This project aims to investigate the role of sexual selection in maintaining healthy wild populations. The prevailing story of sexual selection, in which the sexes either compete for or choose the other sex, has been of extravagant ornaments and displays that drive species to extinction. However, an opposing story has emerged, with elaborate ornaments reflecting a healthy genome and sexual selection instead sweeping away damaging genetic mater ....Choosing to persist: sexual selection in the wild. This project aims to investigate the role of sexual selection in maintaining healthy wild populations. The prevailing story of sexual selection, in which the sexes either compete for or choose the other sex, has been of extravagant ornaments and displays that drive species to extinction. However, an opposing story has emerged, with elaborate ornaments reflecting a healthy genome and sexual selection instead sweeping away damaging genetic material. This project expects to generate new knowledge on the potential for sexual selection to remove harmful mutations in the wild. Expected outcomes include determining if sexual selection can help prevent extinction in wild populations, with direct benefits for conservation programs.Read moreRead less
Quantifying kelp carbon and nutrient flows for nature-based solutions . This fellowship aims to resolve carbon removal and nutrient mitigation potential of Australia’s kelp forests now and in future. It will create new understanding of the ecosystem services provided by the Great Southern Reef, and the capacity of kelp forests to provide nature-based solutions to reduce emissions and improve coastal water quality. Using a combination of global models and ecological experiments on kelp forests an ....Quantifying kelp carbon and nutrient flows for nature-based solutions . This fellowship aims to resolve carbon removal and nutrient mitigation potential of Australia’s kelp forests now and in future. It will create new understanding of the ecosystem services provided by the Great Southern Reef, and the capacity of kelp forests to provide nature-based solutions to reduce emissions and improve coastal water quality. Using a combination of global models and ecological experiments on kelp forests and their replacement ecosystem states, the fellowship will predict changes in function with warming. This information is critical to determine net ecosystem mitigation potential and will significantly advance our understanding of the potential of kelp forests to generate co-benefits while conserving biodiversity. Read moreRead less
Species redundancy in response to multiple disturbances. This project aims to elucidate how the context within which disturbances occur affects food web linkages and how these map to responses in ecosystem function. There is a critical need to test the common assumption in environmental management that high biodiversity makes ecosystems resilient to disturbances. Studies that merely observe biodiversity change after disturbance cannot identify ecological processes connecting high diversity and e ....Species redundancy in response to multiple disturbances. This project aims to elucidate how the context within which disturbances occur affects food web linkages and how these map to responses in ecosystem function. There is a critical need to test the common assumption in environmental management that high biodiversity makes ecosystems resilient to disturbances. Studies that merely observe biodiversity change after disturbance cannot identify ecological processes connecting high diversity and ecosystem function, making experiments that manipulate identical disturbances in ecosystems with different biodiversity essential. This project will use field experiments that manipulate disturbances in streams replicated in low and high biodiversity regions and across gradients of chronic background stress to show how biodiversity sustains functional ecosystems, and how much diversity can be lost before ecosystems collapse.Read moreRead less
Balancing estuarine and societal health in a changing environment. This project aims to facilitate sustainable development in a fast-growing coastal region (Peel-Harvey, south-western Australia). By exploiting 30+ year data sets for this catchment-estuary system and integrating ecological, hydrological, biogeochemical, modelling and socio-economic expertise, this project seeks to link primary catchment drivers to estuarine health response (up to higher fauna), quantify estuarine ecological healt ....Balancing estuarine and societal health in a changing environment. This project aims to facilitate sustainable development in a fast-growing coastal region (Peel-Harvey, south-western Australia). By exploiting 30+ year data sets for this catchment-estuary system and integrating ecological, hydrological, biogeochemical, modelling and socio-economic expertise, this project seeks to link primary catchment drivers to estuarine health response (up to higher fauna), quantify estuarine ecological health and ecosystem services under historical and future scenarios, and test resilience across the human–natural system. Envisaged outcomes include evidence-based catchment planning solutions that optimise trade-offs between socio-economic development goals and minimal downstream impacts on estuarine health.Read moreRead less
The Devonian Gogo Fauna: Diversity, Palaeoecology and Global Significance. The late Devonian Gogo Formation (380 million years old) is undoubtedly one of the richest and best-preserved assemblages of fossil fishes and invertebrates from this age anywhere on Earth. This project will use CT scanning for stomach contents, plus use biomechanical and morphometric analyses to reconstruct tropic relationships of reef-dwelling organisms and test the resilience of the reef ecosystem. Several new species .... The Devonian Gogo Fauna: Diversity, Palaeoecology and Global Significance. The late Devonian Gogo Formation (380 million years old) is undoubtedly one of the richest and best-preserved assemblages of fossil fishes and invertebrates from this age anywhere on Earth. This project will use CT scanning for stomach contents, plus use biomechanical and morphometric analyses to reconstruct tropic relationships of reef-dwelling organisms and test the resilience of the reef ecosystem. Several new species will be published and the heritage significance of the site will be assessed. Working with local indigenous stakeholders, the scientific findings will feed into developing a long-term management plan to protect and conserve the site for future research work and to grow tourism in the region.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100692
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$414,814.00
Summary
Regime shifts from kelp forests to turfs: drivers, resilience and future. This project aims to apply a comparative experimental and analytical approach to quantify linkages among multiple stressors driving kelp forest loss and expansion of turfs across three continents. Transformations of kelp forests to turf reefs are associated with a profound loss of ecological productivity and function, with significant impacts for societies reliant on the biodiversity and functioning of kelp ecosystems. Fie ....Regime shifts from kelp forests to turfs: drivers, resilience and future. This project aims to apply a comparative experimental and analytical approach to quantify linkages among multiple stressors driving kelp forest loss and expansion of turfs across three continents. Transformations of kelp forests to turf reefs are associated with a profound loss of ecological productivity and function, with significant impacts for societies reliant on the biodiversity and functioning of kelp ecosystems. Field and laboratory experiments will be used to develop and test ‘green gravel’, a novel restoration tool that aims to overcome reinforcing feedbacks (lack spores and hard substrate) preventing recovery of kelp forests. This will provide significant benefits by identifying solutions to address loss of kelp forests in Australia and globally.Read moreRead less
Buffering the ecosystem impact of invasive cane toads. This project aims to address the devastating ecological problems caused by invasive species, by developing a novel approach that does not rely upon eradicating the invader through training vulnerable native predators not to eat toxic cane toads. Expected outcomes of this project include building a broad coalition of conservation-focused groups, from private land-owners and local businesses through to Indigenous groups and government and non- ....Buffering the ecosystem impact of invasive cane toads. This project aims to address the devastating ecological problems caused by invasive species, by developing a novel approach that does not rely upon eradicating the invader through training vulnerable native predators not to eat toxic cane toads. Expected outcomes of this project include building a broad coalition of conservation-focused groups, from private land-owners and local businesses through to Indigenous groups and government and non-government agencies across the entire Kimberley region. It will also result in the evaluation of methods for deployment of taste-aversion at a landscape scale. This should provide significant benefits by conserving vulnerable fauna and building a powerful network within a region of high biodiversity in tropical Australia.Read moreRead less
Blue carbon potential of the Great Southern Reef. As one of Australia’s largest vegetated coastal ecosystems, kelp forests provide substantial climate mitigation opportunities. Although kelp carbon is ubiquitous in the deep ocean, the mechanism of transport and amount of kelp carbon reaching deep sinks remains largely unknown, significantly hampering their inclusion in ocean carbon budgets and mitigation action. We will use Australia-wide field data on kelp export, cross-shelf measurements of tr ....Blue carbon potential of the Great Southern Reef. As one of Australia’s largest vegetated coastal ecosystems, kelp forests provide substantial climate mitigation opportunities. Although kelp carbon is ubiquitous in the deep ocean, the mechanism of transport and amount of kelp carbon reaching deep sinks remains largely unknown, significantly hampering their inclusion in ocean carbon budgets and mitigation action. We will use Australia-wide field data on kelp export, cross-shelf measurements of transport and decay, coastal ocean circulation and future distribution models to vastly improve estimates of kelp carbon transfer to deep ocean sinks. Our comprehensive data-driven assessment of kelp carbon sequestration aims to uncover the carbon sink capacity of seaweed forests now and in the futureRead moreRead less
Dynamic assessment of threats to marine megafauna in face of global change. This project aims to develop a global approach to synthesise global tracking datasets and deliver near real-time diagnostics on risks for marine megafauna at a global scale pushing forward a new frontier in dynamic marine spatial management to improve conservation. This project expects to increase our understanding of how marine megafauna movements vary with environmental changes and how much they overlap with threatenin ....Dynamic assessment of threats to marine megafauna in face of global change. This project aims to develop a global approach to synthesise global tracking datasets and deliver near real-time diagnostics on risks for marine megafauna at a global scale pushing forward a new frontier in dynamic marine spatial management to improve conservation. This project expects to increase our understanding of how marine megafauna movements vary with environmental changes and how much they overlap with threatening global human activities. Expected outcomes will demonstrate how big data in marine telemetry can be synthesised and translated into ecologically significant behaviours. This should provide significant benefits to address global scientific and societal problems highlighted in the Australian science and research priorities.Read moreRead less
Does coevolution drive speciation? This project aims to connect micro-evolutionary processes with macro-evolutionary patterns to test the extent to which tightly coupled co-evolutionary interactions between species drive evolutionary diversification. The project will use techniques including the most recent phylogenetic modelling methods, field experiments and molecular genetics. Expected outcomes include advancing understanding of the mechanisms that generate biodiversity and developing new tec ....Does coevolution drive speciation? This project aims to connect micro-evolutionary processes with macro-evolutionary patterns to test the extent to which tightly coupled co-evolutionary interactions between species drive evolutionary diversification. The project will use techniques including the most recent phylogenetic modelling methods, field experiments and molecular genetics. Expected outcomes include advancing understanding of the mechanisms that generate biodiversity and developing new techniques for acquisition of DNA from museum specimens. The project is expected to provide significant benefits, such as insights into the processes that promote new species in nature.Read moreRead less