Improving the success of hybrid living shorelines for coastal protection. This project aims to improve the success of hybrid living shorelines that combine the restoration of mangroves and oysters with engineered structures to enhance restoration outcomes and coastal hazard resilience. It expects to generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of innovative coastal-manager-led solutions that have not yet been robustly evaluated. Expected outcomes of this project include delivery of the technical ....Improving the success of hybrid living shorelines for coastal protection. This project aims to improve the success of hybrid living shorelines that combine the restoration of mangroves and oysters with engineered structures to enhance restoration outcomes and coastal hazard resilience. It expects to generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of innovative coastal-manager-led solutions that have not yet been robustly evaluated. Expected outcomes of this project include delivery of the technical guidelines needed to practically design and implement nature-based coastal protection at scale. This should provide significant socio-economic and environmental benefits through improving Australia’s capacity to adapt to increased erosion and flood risk caused by climate change and coastal urbanisation.Read moreRead less
Tracking 3000 years of agricultural adaptation to the resource poor, climate sensitive and remote Solomon Islands using biomarkers and palaeoecology. Establishing research programs with Pacific neighbours benefits Australia's relations with Pacific Island countries generally. This project applies novel research methods to understanding human adaptations to long-term environmental and climatic fluctuations. It will address the National Research Priority goal of responding to climate variability b ....Tracking 3000 years of agricultural adaptation to the resource poor, climate sensitive and remote Solomon Islands using biomarkers and palaeoecology. Establishing research programs with Pacific neighbours benefits Australia's relations with Pacific Island countries generally. This project applies novel research methods to understanding human adaptations to long-term environmental and climatic fluctuations. It will address the National Research Priority goal of responding to climate variability by advancing our understanding of recent climate change in the Australia/Pacific region. It will show that Australian researchers can play a significant role in understanding the spread of humans across the Pacific, and the environmental adaptations required by populations in resource depleted environments. It will increase collaboration between research institutions focusing on the Australia/Pacific region.Read moreRead less
Testing co-evolutionary processes driving venom diversity in tiger snakes. Testing co-evolutionary processes driving venom diversity in tiger snakes. This project aims to examine the geographic variation amongst tiger snakes in anatomy, ecology, and life history traits, and the relationship of these factors to venom toxins and production; and to evaluate the true pharmacological potential of tiger snake venom. This project will investigate the role of venom adaptation in long-term animal evoluti ....Testing co-evolutionary processes driving venom diversity in tiger snakes. Testing co-evolutionary processes driving venom diversity in tiger snakes. This project aims to examine the geographic variation amongst tiger snakes in anatomy, ecology, and life history traits, and the relationship of these factors to venom toxins and production; and to evaluate the true pharmacological potential of tiger snake venom. This project will investigate the role of venom adaptation in long-term animal evolution, by identifying rare venom transcripts involved in providing evolutionary potential for adaptation to environmental change. This is essential as continuing climatic and human-induced alteration of our environment affects southern Australia where many people live, work and interact with native wildlife. Anticipated outcomes are maximizing venom harvests and enhanced snakebite treatment capacity.Read moreRead less
Pair bonding: is it all in the brain? This project aims to understand the interaction between classic pair bonding neural circuits, parasites, and the immune system in sleepy lizards. Social bonds are a cornerstone of human societies, especially true of the pair bond and this project expects to generate knowledge to help understand why healthy adult pair bonds are the single best predictor of longevity in humans. The expected outcomes of this project are to reveal the mechanistic basis of pair b ....Pair bonding: is it all in the brain? This project aims to understand the interaction between classic pair bonding neural circuits, parasites, and the immune system in sleepy lizards. Social bonds are a cornerstone of human societies, especially true of the pair bond and this project expects to generate knowledge to help understand why healthy adult pair bonds are the single best predictor of longevity in humans. The expected outcomes of this project are to reveal the mechanistic basis of pair bonding by identifying the brain regions, cell types and neurochemicals that promote pair bonding behaviour — for the first time in a wild animal. This project should provide significant benefits by increasing our knowledge of how pair bonds promote wellness.Read moreRead less
Sex, Sperm and Society. Insights into the evolutionary potential of sexual conflict in insects: a fundamental question in evolutionary biology. Social insects are biologically and economically important species. Honeybees or stingless bees are used for crop pollination and honey production and invasive ants or termites are severe pest species causing economic damage. Part of the biological success of social insects is based on the capability to produce colonies with many workers although colonie ....Sex, Sperm and Society. Insights into the evolutionary potential of sexual conflict in insects: a fundamental question in evolutionary biology. Social insects are biologically and economically important species. Honeybees or stingless bees are used for crop pollination and honey production and invasive ants or termites are severe pest species causing economic damage. Part of the biological success of social insects is based on the capability to produce colonies with many workers although colonies typically contain only one or very few reproductives. Consequently, colony success is bound to queen fertility and studying social insect reproduction can therefore optimize breeding regimes of species of interest or offer new possibilities to control pest species. Detailed information on sperm form and function will provide pioneering insights into the complexity of sexual reproduction.Read moreRead less
Resolving the threat of ocean deoxygenation to coral resilience. This project aims to uncover the role low oxygen plays in shaping healthy corals over space and time. Climate change and land use development are rapidly deoxygenating shallow water coral reefs, yet we have no knowledge of how less oxygen availability affects critical life history factors that govern coral resilience: growth, reproduction, and stress tolerance. This project unites a multidisciplinary team of experts to, for the fir ....Resolving the threat of ocean deoxygenation to coral resilience. This project aims to uncover the role low oxygen plays in shaping healthy corals over space and time. Climate change and land use development are rapidly deoxygenating shallow water coral reefs, yet we have no knowledge of how less oxygen availability affects critical life history factors that govern coral resilience: growth, reproduction, and stress tolerance. This project unites a multidisciplinary team of experts to, for the first time, couple advanced oxygen sensing, metabolic physiology, coral reproductive and stress biology to transform our understanding of oxygen thresholds that are diagnostic of reduced coral competitive fitness across life stages (adults, juveniles, larvae), needed to improve coral reef ecosystem management.Read moreRead less
A paradigm shift for predictions of freshwater harmful cyanobacteria blooms. This project aims to advance model predictions to generate novel insights into the triggers of freshwater harmful cyanobacteria blooms. Current models are poorly adapted for this purpose because they fail to account for antecedent environmental forcing. The project is expected to create new knowledge of cyanobacteria dynamics from simulating the adaptive responses of individual cyanobacteria cells, colonies or filaments ....A paradigm shift for predictions of freshwater harmful cyanobacteria blooms. This project aims to advance model predictions to generate novel insights into the triggers of freshwater harmful cyanobacteria blooms. Current models are poorly adapted for this purpose because they fail to account for antecedent environmental forcing. The project is expected to create new knowledge of cyanobacteria dynamics from simulating the adaptive responses of individual cyanobacteria cells, colonies or filaments to temperature, light and nutrient history. Three field studies will be used to validate a new individual based model. The outcomes of this project will be valuable for managing freshwater ecosystems that are increasingly subject to blooms in a warming climate, and for testing suitable mitigation and control strategies.Read moreRead less
Diagnosing coral health tipping points under accelerating coastal hypoxia. This project aims to unlock the role hypoxia plays in shaping the healthy functioning of corals over space and time. Climate change and land use development are rapidly deoxygenating shallow water coral reefs and amplifying hypoxia exposure, yet we have no knowledge of the oxygen thresholds that sustain ‘normal’ coral functioning, or the mechanisms corals’ employ to tolerate hypoxia. This project will couple advanced oxyg ....Diagnosing coral health tipping points under accelerating coastal hypoxia. This project aims to unlock the role hypoxia plays in shaping the healthy functioning of corals over space and time. Climate change and land use development are rapidly deoxygenating shallow water coral reefs and amplifying hypoxia exposure, yet we have no knowledge of the oxygen thresholds that sustain ‘normal’ coral functioning, or the mechanisms corals’ employ to tolerate hypoxia. This project will couple advanced oxygen sensing, metabolic physiology and functional genomics techniques to transform our understanding of how corals and their associated microbial communities respond to reduced oxygen conditions, which is essential to improve coral reef ecosystem management.Read moreRead less
Climate change, larval dispersal and patterns of connectivity in coral metapopulations. Patterns of connectivity among coral populations are virtually unknown and these patterns are likely to change with changing climate. This project will test how temperature and pH will change patterns of coral dispersal in order to assist the design of an effective marine reserve network throughout the Great Barrier Reef.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100142
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$396,000.00
Summary
Elemental diagnostic of coral resilience to future reef climates. This project aims to integrate elemental stoichiometry, bio-elemental imaging and metabolomics to develop a common ‘elemental currency’ as an entirely new diagnostic of coral fitness. Coral reefs generate invaluable ecosystem services, but are on the verge of global collapse. Efforts to resolve coral traits that promote ecological resilience have been unable to integrate biological and environmental complexities of reef systems in ....Elemental diagnostic of coral resilience to future reef climates. This project aims to integrate elemental stoichiometry, bio-elemental imaging and metabolomics to develop a common ‘elemental currency’ as an entirely new diagnostic of coral fitness. Coral reefs generate invaluable ecosystem services, but are on the verge of global collapse. Efforts to resolve coral traits that promote ecological resilience have been unable to integrate biological and environmental complexities of reef systems into a unifying diagnostic of reef health. Natural extremes will provide the platform to identify key metabolic traits vital for future survival, to establish adaptive elemental signatures that can scale from organism to ecosystem. The project is expected to enhance capacity of marine managers and reef stakeholders to effectively manage and safeguard Australia’s reefs and the cultural and ecosystems.Read moreRead less