Koala Guardians: Empowering community to protect an Australian icon. There is an urgent need for innovative approaches to combat widespread decline of koalas. This project aims to develop technology, integrating behavioural change theory and community co-design, to enable the public to participate in koala conservation. This interdisciplinary initiative will harness the power of citizen science to facilitate mutually-beneficial educational interactions. Expected outcomes include the production o ....Koala Guardians: Empowering community to protect an Australian icon. There is an urgent need for innovative approaches to combat widespread decline of koalas. This project aims to develop technology, integrating behavioural change theory and community co-design, to enable the public to participate in koala conservation. This interdisciplinary initiative will harness the power of citizen science to facilitate mutually-beneficial educational interactions. Expected outcomes include the production of innovative solar-powered Bluetooth ear tags and co-designing a smartphone application that educates and incentivises users in recognising signs of koala disease and submitting sightings, by leveraging gamification, outdoor recreation and tourism. This blueprint can be adapted to assist other threatened species.Read moreRead less
Is New Guinea the missing link for understanding Australia’s rainforests? This project aims to understand the extent to which the animals in Australia have shared histories with animals from the islands of Melanesia, and especially New Guinea. Key outcomes will be identification of hotspots of unique and high evolutionary diversity across both regions, and understanding of whether New Guinea has been an overall refuge or source for rainforest animals as Australia became more arid over the last 2 ....Is New Guinea the missing link for understanding Australia’s rainforests? This project aims to understand the extent to which the animals in Australia have shared histories with animals from the islands of Melanesia, and especially New Guinea. Key outcomes will be identification of hotspots of unique and high evolutionary diversity across both regions, and understanding of whether New Guinea has been an overall refuge or source for rainforest animals as Australia became more arid over the last 20 million years. Expected benefits include addressing fundamental gaps in our knowledge of the history of both the Australian continent and its resident biota such as when landbridges first formed with New Guinea, and the identification of priority areas for conservation investment in both Australian and Melanesia.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101226
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,000.00
Summary
Plant community responses to fire regime: the role of plant–soil feedbacks. We need to know how different prescribed burning regimes set the stage for long-term changes in plant community composition, diversity, and flammability. This project aims to reveal how plant community dynamics under different fire scenarios can be predicted based on contemporary interactions between plants and soil micro-organisms. This innovative approach to fire ecology integrates soil biology and plant ecophysiology ....Plant community responses to fire regime: the role of plant–soil feedbacks. We need to know how different prescribed burning regimes set the stage for long-term changes in plant community composition, diversity, and flammability. This project aims to reveal how plant community dynamics under different fire scenarios can be predicted based on contemporary interactions between plants and soil micro-organisms. This innovative approach to fire ecology integrates soil biology and plant ecophysiology with sophisticated experiments and novel modelling techniques. Expected outcomes include a much-needed mechanistic framework for early detection of major ecological changes under novel fire regimes, with direct benefits for land managers and the long-term conservation of Australia’s iconic vegetation.Read moreRead less
Enabling wider use of mechanistic models for biodiversity forecasts . Forecasting species distributions is challenging yet necessary. The pattern-based models commonly used are error-prone. Mechanistic models, best equipped for the task, are limited by lack of data. This project aims to enable wider use of mechanistic models by developing new methods for dealing with incomplete trait data and uncertainty. It expects to generate new knowledge about how species’ traits define the environments in w ....Enabling wider use of mechanistic models for biodiversity forecasts . Forecasting species distributions is challenging yet necessary. The pattern-based models commonly used are error-prone. Mechanistic models, best equipped for the task, are limited by lack of data. This project aims to enable wider use of mechanistic models by developing new methods for dealing with incomplete trait data and uncertainty. It expects to generate new knowledge about how species’ traits define the environments in which they persist. Anticipated outcomes include enhanced capacity to apply mechanistic models to conservation problems, methods for communicating uncertainties and models for tens of species of immediate conservation interest. This will enable more reliable biodiversity forecasts, supporting better decision-making.
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New metrics to measure and track fauna community condition in Australia. This project aims to improve how biodiversity is measured by developing a system to describe the condition of animal communities, analogous to those used for plant communities. It develops and tests the system for Australia’s birds, then extends the approach to other animal groups. The project expects to develop a data-driven typology of bird communities, accompanying community condition metrics that are scalable from site ....New metrics to measure and track fauna community condition in Australia. This project aims to improve how biodiversity is measured by developing a system to describe the condition of animal communities, analogous to those used for plant communities. It develops and tests the system for Australia’s birds, then extends the approach to other animal groups. The project expects to develop a data-driven typology of bird communities, accompanying community condition metrics that are scalable from site to national levels, and guidance for using these metrics in practice. These metrics will enable holistic and relevant measures of the biodiversity value of sites, improve evaluation of restoration actions, reveal trends in community condition, and inform monitoring and evaluation tools for emerging biodiversity markets.Read moreRead less
The Macroderma initiative: conserving ghost bats and informing development. This project aims to improve methods for capturing biological information required for environmental assessments of highly mobile species and enable strategic environmental planning in Northern Australia. Using Australia’s iconic ghost bat as a focus, the project will test and apply emerging technologies to obtain key information on a species’ population status and its critical resources to inform assessments of ecologic ....The Macroderma initiative: conserving ghost bats and informing development. This project aims to improve methods for capturing biological information required for environmental assessments of highly mobile species and enable strategic environmental planning in Northern Australia. Using Australia’s iconic ghost bat as a focus, the project will test and apply emerging technologies to obtain key information on a species’ population status and its critical resources to inform assessments of ecological impacts of industry development. Important benefits of the project include information and tools for streamlining development approvals and accurately assessing risks to threatened species to improve outcomes for both our economy and our natural environment.Read moreRead less
Pathways to semelparity versus early maturity in animals and plants. The project aims to resolve an important but unresolved question in life history evolution and ecology- which mechanisms and constraints lead to semelparity (breeding once, which is rare), and which lead to fast life history (breeding early, which is common) in animals and plants. Theory predicts that both may be adaptations to schedules of adult death. Understanding why males and females have either semelparous or fast life hi ....Pathways to semelparity versus early maturity in animals and plants. The project aims to resolve an important but unresolved question in life history evolution and ecology- which mechanisms and constraints lead to semelparity (breeding once, which is rare), and which lead to fast life history (breeding early, which is common) in animals and plants. Theory predicts that both may be adaptations to schedules of adult death. Understanding why males and females have either semelparous or fast life history strategies is crucial to predicting survival of harvested and threatened species under pressure from climate change, drought, predators, and diseases that kill adults. Expected project outcomes include improved ability to address agents of decline of threatened animals and plants including semelparous species.Read moreRead less
Hyperactive endogenous retroviruses and their impact on the koala genome. Koala populations are in steep decline with the ubiquitous koala retrovirus (KoRV) strongly linked with disease. KoRV and other less studied endogenous retrovirus (ERVs) are extremely active within the genome of koalas to a level never observed in any other vertebrate genome. This study will map ERV integration sites within koalas from across their geographic range country and use long-read genomics approaches to understan ....Hyperactive endogenous retroviruses and their impact on the koala genome. Koala populations are in steep decline with the ubiquitous koala retrovirus (KoRV) strongly linked with disease. KoRV and other less studied endogenous retrovirus (ERVs) are extremely active within the genome of koalas to a level never observed in any other vertebrate genome. This study will map ERV integration sites within koalas from across their geographic range country and use long-read genomics approaches to understand the link between KoRV and other ERVs, the impact on koala caused by dramatic genomic rewiring, and the mechanisms of genomic immunity which supress ERV activity and mitigate disease. Findings will provide insights into the ongoing arms race between virus and host and inform conservation of an iconic species.Read moreRead less
New thinking on the relationship of dingo ecology to biodiversity conservation and sustainable cattle production. This project will provide new understanding of the role of Australia's only native large mammal predator in sustaining biodiversity and ecological function. This will result in improved management of dingoes as a key part of Australian ecosystems. The project will also test the possibility that relaxation of current controls on dingoes could provide net benefits to beef cattle produc ....New thinking on the relationship of dingo ecology to biodiversity conservation and sustainable cattle production. This project will provide new understanding of the role of Australia's only native large mammal predator in sustaining biodiversity and ecological function. This will result in improved management of dingoes as a key part of Australian ecosystems. The project will also test the possibility that relaxation of current controls on dingoes could provide net benefits to beef cattle producers, and thereby improve the viability and sustainability of Australia's cattle-grazing industry.Read moreRead less
The roles of stress and immunocompetence in biological invasions. Invasive species pose a major threat to biodiversity worldwide; and within Australia, cane toads are widely viewed as one of the biggest such problems. Building on recent studies that reveal weakened immune systems in invasion-front toads, this project will provide a comprehensive understanding of immune responses in cane toads and native frogs, with the aim of exploiting the toads' immunocompromised state to develop new and more ....The roles of stress and immunocompetence in biological invasions. Invasive species pose a major threat to biodiversity worldwide; and within Australia, cane toads are widely viewed as one of the biggest such problems. Building on recent studies that reveal weakened immune systems in invasion-front toads, this project will provide a comprehensive understanding of immune responses in cane toads and native frogs, with the aim of exploiting the toads' immunocompromised state to develop new and more effective control measures. The project will develop a new paradigm about the roles of stress and immunity in biological invasion, applicable to the control of other invasive species and to understanding processes at work when environmental changes force species to shift their ranges.Read moreRead less