Research Grant
[Cite as https://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP160102991]Researchers: Dr Lee Rollins (Chief Investigator) , Dr Lee Rollins (Chief Investigator) , Richard Shine (Chief Investigator)
Brief description The evolution of phenotypic plasticity during a biological invasion. The project seeks to unravel the mechanisms by which a species responds to challenges such as pollution, invasive species and climate change. Organisms can deal with challenges by changing their phenotypes in response to environmental cues (plasticity) and/or by longer-term changes in gene frequencies within a population (adaptation). Plasticity itself can be adaptive; so how does it evolve? Invasive species offer a unique opportunity to answer that question, because a founding population (with modest genetic variation) must deal with myriad challenges in its new home. Using Australia’s cane toad invasion as the model system, the project aims to tease apart the roles of epigenetic and genetic modifications, and the interplay between them, as drivers for the toads’ success and rapid evolution in Australia.
Funding Amount $385,700
Funding Scheme Discovery Projects
- PURL : https://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP160102991
- ARC : DP160102991