Biological responses to environmental change

Combining experimental and computational approaches to study the effect of environmental variation and stress on natural population.

Behavioural Ecology and Macroevolution studies of behavioural ecology from a broad evolutionary perspective. We use comparative analyses and field and lab experiments to answer different questions about nature.

BRITE supports collaborative efforts to improve our teaching and learning. We enable research on teaching and learning innovations and the evaluation of teaching practices.

The research focus in the Climatic and Metabolic Ecology Lab is on how physical constraints on heat, water and nutritional balances limit the behaviour, distribution and abundance of species.

Coastal and Estuarine Adaptation Lab (CEA Lab) research natural, restored and artificial coastal and estuarine habitats.

We use genetics, chemical biology, molecular biology, biochemistry and systems analyses to understand mechanisms that control circadian rhythms with a particular focus on metabolic signalling and nutrient balance.

Can we change how plants absorb nutrients to produce more nutritious crops? We employ a variety of molecular tools to discover, characterize and engineer plant genes that are important for the absorption and bioavailability of iron and zinc.

Research focuses on community ecology and the conservation of plant and insect communities in human altered environments. We work in tropical and subtropical rain forests and Mediterranean, temperate and tropical grasslands on a diversity of plant and insect species.

Our group is interested in malaria and symbiosis - two topics that seem somewhat far apart but are in fact strangely interconnected. Our research has led to a paradigm shift in understanding the malaria parasite.

Researching the causes and consequences of variability in mating systems, particularly the relative importance of sexual and natural selection, the role of visual and acoustic signals, and the way in which cooperation and conflict interact in complex social groups.

Research in the lab broadly addresses questions on species interactions and adaptation. We also continue longstanding interests to understand plant growth, defense, and other functional traits as they change under biotic and abiotic stress.

Research on adaptation of organisms (particularly invertebrates) to environmental stresses including climate change and chemical pollutants, using field sites in the Victorian mountains, in tropical rainforests and in wetlands around Melbourne.

Researching the impacts of, and adaptations to, natural and human-induced flow variability, fishery activity, and environmental change.

Focusing on the community ecology of plants and pollinators in a changing climate. We use experiments, long-term and historical data, and observations of natural variation to understand how climate change is affecting plants, pollinators, and their interactions.

The SoilTox Lab collaborates with government and industry on pollution research and projects, providing solutions for a healthier, safer and more sustainable future.

The interests of the Shai Meiri Lab lie at an intersection of evolutionary biology, biogeography, conservation biology, macroecology and zoology.

The Stuart-Fox Lab studies the biology of light and colour, tackling questions at different scales of biological organisation – from optical properties at the nanometre scale to global patterns of colour diversity.

Focusing on the ecology of urban environments, and practical ways to conserve native species and their habitats in cities.

The Urban Light Lab addresses questions related to the evolution and maintenance of fitness traits in the face of urban light pollution.

Led by Michelle Watt, the Adrienne Clarke Professorial Chair of Botany, making discoveries about the root systems of plants, and applying those discoveries to engineering plant systems that sustain healthy life on Earth and in future in space.

Researching the role of genomic parasites in generating intragenomic conflict, predominantly working with insects, by elucidating the consequences for mating systems, the evolution of new traits, the creation of biological novelty, and the survival of populations.