Spring isn't all it's quacked up to be. Pollen levels are high, magpies are terrorising cyclists and pedestrians alike, and protective duck parents are in attack mode.
Our new research unites genomic sequencing and museum collections to reconstruct the evolutionary tale of native rodents, including many extinct and elusive species – and they have a fascinating origin story.
If swooping season strikes fear into your heart, you're not alone. Fortunately, Dr Chaminda Ratnayake from the ANU Research School of Biology has the intel you need to navigate the great outdoors this spring.
To measure the speed of adaptive evolution in the wild, we studied 19 populations of birds and mammals over several decades. We found they were evolving at twice to four times the speed suggested by earlier work.
A fundamental goal of evolutionary biology is to understand the processes that contribute to patterns of genomic variation and how this relates to adaptive variation (phenotypes) and ultimately fitness.
Bushrocks provide critical habitat for reptiles and are a common feature in agricultural landscapes. Despite this, there is limited quantitative evidence describing the use of bushrock by biodiversity and its conservation significance in landscapes.
Rust fungi are a diverse group of plant pathogens consisting of over 8,000 species in the Basidiomycete order Pucciniales. They parasitise numerous plants of agricultural and ecological importance, such as cereals, legumes, and trees.