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
Demographic consequences of environmental change for wild bird populations. The project intends to improve our understanding of how climate drives shifts in body size and shape in wildlife populations, and the implications of such responses for population viability. Populations of plants and animals are showing a range of responses to recent, rapid shifts in the Earth’s climate. The ecological and evolutionary significance of these responses and the mechanisms that drive them remain largely unkn ....Demographic consequences of environmental change for wild bird populations. The project intends to improve our understanding of how climate drives shifts in body size and shape in wildlife populations, and the implications of such responses for population viability. Populations of plants and animals are showing a range of responses to recent, rapid shifts in the Earth’s climate. The ecological and evolutionary significance of these responses and the mechanisms that drive them remain largely unknown. Focusing on Australian birds, the project plans to integrate long-term records from citizen science, museum collections and field studies to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the pattern and process of morphological change. Understanding the processes driving change may help in developing strategies to manage our biodiversity as climate changes. Read moreRead less
Getting smaller as temperatures rise? Body size responses of Australian birds to climate change. Many animals appear to be declining in size as climate change occurs, but why this is so is unclear. Using historical records and museum specimens we will determine the factors underlying body size reductions in Australian birds, and especially the role of changing temperature and ecosystem productivity.
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100629
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,058.00
Summary
Evolutionary impacts of climate change in Australia’s fossil record. This project aims to identify evolutionary responses to climate change in Australia's fossil record by comparing variation in lizard and frog communities across geological time. Using X-ray techniques on museum specimens, this project will generate a large-scale database for tracking evolutionary shifts in relation to historical climatic events. Expected outcomes include the first anatomical descriptions for many species, filli ....Evolutionary impacts of climate change in Australia’s fossil record. This project aims to identify evolutionary responses to climate change in Australia's fossil record by comparing variation in lizard and frog communities across geological time. Using X-ray techniques on museum specimens, this project will generate a large-scale database for tracking evolutionary shifts in relation to historical climatic events. Expected outcomes include the first anatomical descriptions for many species, filling major gaps in our ability to place fossils in a contemporary framework. This research will demonstrate the value of our national collections for addressing important environmental issues, such as biodiversity, extinction, and future habitat change.Read moreRead less
Multiple stressors and vulnerability to global change. This project aims to develop a framework for accurately predicting species responses to environmental change. Future environments will involve shifts in many environmental factors, and species will evolve. Yet we lack understanding of how multiple environmental factors affect the ability of species to evolve and adapt to environmental change. The intended outcome is a tool for predicting the impact of environmental change on the distribution ....Multiple stressors and vulnerability to global change. This project aims to develop a framework for accurately predicting species responses to environmental change. Future environments will involve shifts in many environmental factors, and species will evolve. Yet we lack understanding of how multiple environmental factors affect the ability of species to evolve and adapt to environmental change. The intended outcome is a tool for predicting the impact of environmental change on the distribution and abundance of organisms. The benefits include improved conservation outcomes and better pest/disease vector control.Read moreRead less
Frayed at the edges? Integrating evolutionary genetics into the study of species distributional limits. Restricted species, like those in rainforests, represent the vast majority of biodiversity, but they face high risks of extinction due to climate change unless they can adapt. Using butterflies as a model, this project will examine whether rainforest restricted species are able to adapt to future climate change and provide insight into their extinction risk.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100507
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$352,454.00
Summary
Is adaptation to climate change really constrained in niche specialists? Accurately predicting the vulnerability of species to climate change is of paramount importance for managing biodiversity for conservation, agricultural and human health-related purposes. Mounting evidence indicates that adaptive responses to climate changes may be highly constrained, particularly in the biodiverse tropics. However, this is based on studies that do not reflect projected climatic variations. This project aim ....Is adaptation to climate change really constrained in niche specialists? Accurately predicting the vulnerability of species to climate change is of paramount importance for managing biodiversity for conservation, agricultural and human health-related purposes. Mounting evidence indicates that adaptive responses to climate changes may be highly constrained, particularly in the biodiverse tropics. However, this is based on studies that do not reflect projected climatic variations. This project aims to provide the first assessment of the capacity to adapt to climate change in widespread and tropical species using ecologically realistic conditions that reflect projected changes. The data will be used to develop accurate models predicting species vulnerability and serve to better guide conservation strategies.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100141
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$380,219.00
Summary
Buffering climate change - Predicting the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. Environmental change is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and may ultimately drive many species to extinction. Limiting biodiversity losses will require an understanding of species climate change responses. Phenotypic plasticity will be central to these responses, yet assessments of risk ignore the potential for phenotypic plasticity to buffer species from negative effects of environmental change. This project ....Buffering climate change - Predicting the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. Environmental change is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and may ultimately drive many species to extinction. Limiting biodiversity losses will require an understanding of species climate change responses. Phenotypic plasticity will be central to these responses, yet assessments of risk ignore the potential for phenotypic plasticity to buffer species from negative effects of environmental change. This project will investigate the extent to which phenotypic plasticity mediates responses across species and environments. The outcome will be a better understanding of species’ responses to climate change, more accurate risk predictions and more effective protection of vulnerable environments.Read moreRead less
Will life be tougher in the tropics? The evidence for latitudinal variation in vulnerability to climate change. There is an urgent need to accurately assess the vulnerability of species to climate change. Tropical species, which make up the vast majority of the world’s biodiversity, are predicted to be most at risk from climate change. These predictions of risk and vulnerability ignore the ameliorating factors of evolutionary adaptation and phenotypic plasticity, making them inherently uncertai ....Will life be tougher in the tropics? The evidence for latitudinal variation in vulnerability to climate change. There is an urgent need to accurately assess the vulnerability of species to climate change. Tropical species, which make up the vast majority of the world’s biodiversity, are predicted to be most at risk from climate change. These predictions of risk and vulnerability ignore the ameliorating factors of evolutionary adaptation and phenotypic plasticity, making them inherently uncertain. This project will address this uncertainty by assessing the importance of evolutionary adaptation and phenotypic plasticity for responses to climate change in tropical and temperature species. This will provide a spatially explicit framework for the accurate assessment of risk and vulnerability to climate change.Read moreRead less