Research

Plasticity, historical contingency and adaptation

How animals interact with their environment, and consequently the type of selection pressures they are confronted by, can often be highly plastic. This is especially true of animal behaviour. But to what extent does plasticity buffer or accelerate adaptive evolution? And how does evolutionary history constrain or dictate the trajectory of adaptive evolution?

We tackle these questions through the study of morphology and behaviour using broad macroevolutionary analyses in lizards, amphibious fish and mammals.

blenny mauritius

The Indian Ocean blenny lives exclusively on land; Mauritius

 

island nine

Habitat island in our long-term colonisation project; NSW Central Tablelands

Community assembly, character displacement and habitat colonisation

Why do species that are presumably well-adapted to one environment shift into a new habitat? Why do species colonise some environments and not others? Within this context we study the role of ecological opportunity and ecological release in colonisation through macroevolutionary analyses across species and field studies of "natural experiments" within species (e.g., gliding lizards, amphibious fish).

We investigate the order and outcome of colonisation and the resilience of ecological communities to disturbance through a long-term field experiment of habitat "islands", and the consequences of competition among ecologically similar species and character displacement through macroevolutionary and ecological studies.

Animal communication: form, function and evolution

Efficient communication is shaped by the environment, is often plastic, determines mating success, the ability to compete for resources and likely exposure to predators. Given this, animal communication is a wonderful model to investigate plasticity, how animals respond adaptively to large changes in habitat and how complex behaviour evolves. It can also reveal the extent to which different species are likely to interact with one another when competing for common resources, and how mistakes in species recognition can occur and its ramifications.

We investigate the design, function and evolution of territorial displays in lizards, the evolution of conspicuous ornamentation in lizards and fish, and how environmental "noise", predation and other factors of natural selection impact communication.

anoledraco_dewlap

Independent origins of the dewlap in Caribbean anoles and Southeast Asian gliding lizards

dewlap_biomechanics

Biomechanics of the anole dewlap; Caribbean

Functional morphology of adaptation

Communication and other adaptations frequently reflect constraints but also innovations in morphology that underlie the biomechanics of signal production. More broadly, organisms can often evolve alternative adaptations to the same selection pressure as a result of constraints or unique innovations in past history.

Our work in this area includes the evolutionary innovation of the dewlap for social communication in lizards and gliding in lizards and mammals, but also the morphology of fish occupying extreme environments (the intertidal zone, land).

Ecophysiology of behaviour

Lizards, fish and ants are ectotherms and the physiological impact of temperature can have a profound impact on the type and efficiency of behaviour performed. It may have also instigated the evolution of amphibious behaviour in fish, and dictate the microhabitats in which ants establish successful colonies.

Our work in this area examines why the rate of signal production in ectotherms is temperature-dependent, how temperature affects the foraging efficiency, anti-predator behaviour, and establishment success of ant colonies, and whether temperature-dependent stress or deoxygenation of water in warming tide-pools pushes fish to abandon water to try their luck on land.

anttrail_mont

Meat ants experience dramatic daily temperature extremes; NSW Central Tablelands

grey combat

Male eastern grey kangaroos fight for dominance; NSW Central Tablelands

Aggression and play

Aggression is prevalent in the natural world with many animals competing with rivals for access to resources and mates. Play is also wide-spread but its function, if anything, remains a mystery for many species.

We study the consequences of aggression in the evolution of animal social systems, behaviour and morphology in lizards, ants and kangaroos, and how play in juvenile and sub-adult kangaroos can cement social-bonds and help train males for future combat as adults.