Palaeoclimate reconstructions from the isotopic signatures of fossilised leaf waxes. This project develops a method for using the chemical signature of fossilised leaf waxes to reconstruct hydrologic change in south-eastern Australia during the Holocene (last 10,000 years) and Eocene (56-34 million years ago). Understanding climate in the geologic past is essential for testing models and projecting future climate with rising carbon dioxide.
Utilizing the geological record to constrain the response of marine ecosystems and global carbon cycling to warming and de-oxygenation. Earth history is punctuated by a huge variety of transitions and perturbations in climate, biogeochemical cycling, and ecosystems, some of which may hold direct future-relevant information. In the oceans, these are closely linked in a complex web of feedbacks, as well as to the oxygenation of the ocean and the ultimate geological fate of excessive carbon release ....Utilizing the geological record to constrain the response of marine ecosystems and global carbon cycling to warming and de-oxygenation. Earth history is punctuated by a huge variety of transitions and perturbations in climate, biogeochemical cycling, and ecosystems, some of which may hold direct future-relevant information. In the oceans, these are closely linked in a complex web of feedbacks, as well as to the oxygenation of the ocean and the ultimate geological fate of excessive carbon released into the atmosphere – burial of carbon in sediments. This project will develop a computer model representation of this coupled carbon-climate-life system and test this against the geological record, explore the causes and consequences of carbon release events and extinctions as well as how the ocean floor delivery and preservation of organic carbon responds.Read moreRead less
Systems modelling for synergistic ecological-climate dynamics. The project aims to improve forecasts of the response of biodiversity to future climate change and so improve on-ground conservation management. A systems modelling framework will be developed and tested against real-world data to integrate a wide variety of biological and geophysical inputs and so produce more realistic predictions.
Integrating models with molecular 'logbooks' to better forecast extinction risk from climate change. Current forecasts indicate that human-driven climate change will likely cause widespread biodiversity loss. However, climatic shifts during the Quaternary (2.6 million years ago to present), similar in magnitude to those projected for the 21st century, did not apparently cause extensive extinctions (with the exception of the megafauna). This project aims to use models linked to past responses imp ....Integrating models with molecular 'logbooks' to better forecast extinction risk from climate change. Current forecasts indicate that human-driven climate change will likely cause widespread biodiversity loss. However, climatic shifts during the Quaternary (2.6 million years ago to present), similar in magnitude to those projected for the 21st century, did not apparently cause extensive extinctions (with the exception of the megafauna). This project aims to use models linked to past responses imprinted in species’ genes to resolve whether the disparity between observed and predicted extinction rates comes from models over-predicting species loss due to climate change. It will use this genetic-demographic approach to improve predictions of biodiversity responses to global change by establishing the biological and environmental determinants of extinction.Read moreRead less
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
Identifying the genes and population histories that drive rapid adaptive change and speciation. This project will uncover the genetic variation and demographic histories that allow rapid adaptation and speciation in natural populations. It will leverage the powerful framework provided by Indo-Australian sea snakes, and new gene sequencing technologies, to reconstruct the evolutionary histories of genes, populations and species. Using this data, it will address inter-related key questions that ar ....Identifying the genes and population histories that drive rapid adaptive change and speciation. This project will uncover the genetic variation and demographic histories that allow rapid adaptation and speciation in natural populations. It will leverage the powerful framework provided by Indo-Australian sea snakes, and new gene sequencing technologies, to reconstruct the evolutionary histories of genes, populations and species. Using this data, it will address inter-related key questions that are critical to effective biodiversity conservation but have rarely been evaluated in the same taxon. It will address what genetic changes are involved in adaptive shifts and speciation, whether these originate de novo or from pre-existing variation and how gene flow and changes in population size promote or constrain adaptation and speciation.Read moreRead less
Trying times: Millennial to million year luminescence chronologies for improved reconstructions of Australian megafaunal extinctions. The causes of megafaunal extinction in Australia continue to be fiercely debated owing to chronological gaps in the palaeontological record, poorly constrained palaeoenvironmental histories and limited data on long-term faunal responses to climate change prior to human arrival. This project will utilise and advance new luminescence dating methods to provide unpara ....Trying times: Millennial to million year luminescence chronologies for improved reconstructions of Australian megafaunal extinctions. The causes of megafaunal extinction in Australia continue to be fiercely debated owing to chronological gaps in the palaeontological record, poorly constrained palaeoenvironmental histories and limited data on long-term faunal responses to climate change prior to human arrival. This project will utilise and advance new luminescence dating methods to provide unparalleled reconstructions of faunal turnover and environmental change over millennial to million year timescales. The chronologies generated through this work will provide a crucial new perspective on the ongoing megafaunal debate and will be used to test key assumptions underpinning anthropogenic- and climate-driven extinction hypotheses on local, regional and continental scales.Read moreRead less
Solving the problems of estimating extinction rates in recent and geological time. Human activity is causing species to go extinct at rates not seen for at least 65 million years: this is the sixth mass extinction event in the history of the Earth. This project will use state-of-the-art modelling tools applied to Australian and global species and land-use change data to quantify humanity's influence on recent and future extinctions.
From Baskets to Boomerangs: Knowledges, Lifeways and Colonial Legacies. This project aims to transform our understanding of Australian Aboriginal lifeways by undertaking a comprehensive study of objects made from fibre and wood, from iconic boomerangs through to woven basketry. Although crucial to toolkits for millennia, systematic research about plant-based technologies has been limited, even though knowledge about their creation has been passed down across generations. This project, initiated ....From Baskets to Boomerangs: Knowledges, Lifeways and Colonial Legacies. This project aims to transform our understanding of Australian Aboriginal lifeways by undertaking a comprehensive study of objects made from fibre and wood, from iconic boomerangs through to woven basketry. Although crucial to toolkits for millennia, systematic research about plant-based technologies has been limited, even though knowledge about their creation has been passed down across generations. This project, initiated by River Murray Traditional Owners, will employ innovative archaeological science techniques, explore colonial legacies and use creative engagement methods to provide new insights into the diversity of Aboriginal experiences and connect Traditional Owners with their material cultural heritage housed in museums.Read moreRead less