Tag: sparrow

Epigenetics and the introduced populations of the house sparrow in Australia

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Sparrowfig
The relationship between genetic differentiation between populations and epigenetic variation (Fig from Sheldon et al 2018)

In our most recent paper, published today in Royal Society Open Science (see article here), we examine the extent to which DNA methylation is related to genetic variation across different populations in the three introduction clusters of the house sparrow in Australia. We found no support for the idea that epigenetic variation might compensate for a lack of genetic diversity in introduced populations. However, we did find that patterns of epigenetic variation are highly variable across populations within each of these clusters, rather than having shared similarity across clusters (as in genetic variation). This study is still one of relatively few that has examined  the patterns of epigenetic variation across a number of populations and contributes to our growing understanding of the role of epigenetic variation in ecology and evolution.

It is particularly timely that the study is published today, the last day at Macquarie for both Ellie Sheldon who is departing to work on a field project in the Kimberley region, and Sam Andrew, who is heading to Finland to work with Craig Primmer on his Endeavour Fellowship.

Four PhD positions in our research group

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We have four quite different PhD projects in the research group that have been advertised today. These are working across four species and some similar research questions. Three of the projects are based at Fowlers Gap which is an amazing field site in the arid zone near Broken Hill, where we have worked for the past 13 years. Work on the zebra finch in the wild, continues our ongoing into this species, where we have been the only lab in recent years trying to understand the ecology of the species in the wild (more details on that research here). The project with Stephan Leu is a new direction for us, into the behaviour and ecology of sheep in the rangeland. This project will use techniques that we have previously used in both birds and lizards, but use them in an applied context.

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The project on the sleepy lizard is in collaboration with Martin Whiting’s group, also at Macquarie University.   We are hoping to recruit students onto all of these projects in 2017, in order to maximise the outcomes from current Australian Research Council funding to Griffith and Leu. Due to this funding the projects are well supported and will provide great research opportunities. We have a good history in the group of graduating our PhD students with a good number of peer-reviewed papers and a range of different skills that will enhance further career opportunities.

 Further Details

1: Adapting to a foreign climate: the reproductive ecology of the house sparrow in Australia

The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) was introduced into Australia in the 1860’s and has since become well established across a broad range of climates in both countries. This project will take advantage of this ‘experimental’ introduction to focus on behavioural and physiological adaptations to different climates through a field-based comparative approach. This research will complement our existing work on related questions in endemic Australian species and will provide insight into the capacity of avian species to adapt to changing climates. This project will involve periods of field-work in Broken Hill, Armidale and Hobart in Australia, along with a range of behavioural, molecular and physiological assays. The project will involve collaboration with other groups in Australia and the US.

 2: The challenge of growing in a hot climate (in the zebra finch)

In recent years we have characterised the very hot conditions in which zebra finches are raised (with nests often reaching temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius, as well as identifying adverse effects of these conditions on embryonic development, offspring growth, and adult sperm. This project is supported by an ARC funded project and will investigate the adaptations that this iconic and well-studied species has to deal with the extreme climate in which it lives. The project will take a variety of approaches including behavioural work, and assays of metabolism and physiology, and combine fieldwork and laboratory work. The project will be run in collaboration with Dr Christine Cooper (Curtin University, Western Australia), Prof. Pierre Deviche (Arizona State University, US), and Prof. Pat Monaghan (Glasgow, UK).

 3: Social structuring and life-history in free-ranging domestic sheep

In this project we will examine the importance of social structure and collective intelligence to life-history trade-offs and productivity in domestic sheep in the rangelands of Australia. The project will use tools from social network theory and spatial ecology to characterise individual and group behaviour and investigate their effect on individual quality and productivity (lambs and wool) in this challenging, but economically important part of Australia. The project will be based at Fowlers Gap (near Broken Hill in the arid zone) and require field work and well-developed analytical skills. This work will be run in collaboration with partners in the pastoral industry and be jointly supervised by Dr Stephan Leu (also at Macquarie University).

4: Parasite transmission dynamics in an Australian lizard

This project will investigate the relationship between host spatial and social behaviour and bacterial transmission. It combines social network theory, spatial ecology and wildlife epidemiology to determine how different bacterial strains are transmitted through the population and how individual behaviour and consequently population social structure changes as a function of infection status. The project combines the analysis of a very comprehensive (already collected) dataset with scope for the student to develop his/her own ideas and conduct fieldwork. The student should be interested in social networks and disease modelling and have strong analytical skills. This project will be jointly supervised by Dr Stephan Leu and A/Prof Martin Whiting (both at Macquarie University). We also have strong relationships with disease modelling colleagues in the US.

Application

The Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University is a vibrant environment which offers excellent support to postgraduate students. A Macquarie University Excellence in Research Scholarship has already been assigned to one of these projects, but there are other scholarship opportunities available to suitably competitive candidates. International candidates are welcome to apply for any of the projects listed above.

The 2014 MQRES full-time stipend rate is $26,682 pa tax exempt for 3 years (indexed annually). In addition to external grant support for projects, there is additional internal funding (up to $17,000) available to cover direct research expenses and conference travel.

Applicants should ideally have a research-based MSc in a related discipline (with a minimum 50% research component), and additional relevant research experience, qualifications, and details of awards or prizes. For projects 1, 2, and 4 an ability to work in remote and harsh conditions as well as experience in capturing and handling animals is desirable. A driving licence is required for all projects.

Applications should include 1) your CV, 2) a brief statement of your reasons for applying (max. 500 words) and the project you are applying to work on, 3) contact details of two academic referees, 4) your nationality (for scholarship eligibility purposes). Applications should be submitted electronically as a single PDF file.

Applications for these positions (and any initial enquiries) should be emailed by 7th April 2017 to: simon.griffith@mq.edu.au

Prof. Simon Griffith, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

PDF of advert

Sam arrives in Norway to work on the SNP data from the Australian sparrows

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SamNorwayASam is currently in Norway working with the house sparrow genetics group in Trondheim to look at SNP data from the Australian sparrows. During his trip, he is being hosted by Glenn-Peter Saetre in Oslo and Henrik Jensen at NTNU in Trondheim. This molecular work should provide a high level of coverage for population genetics and history and hopefully also for looking at selection across the different Australian climates.

Sparrows from India?

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SparrowMaletrimB&WSam’s first sparrow paper has just been published in the open access journal Avian Research, which means that it’s freely available (here). In our paper we have looked at the history of the house sparrow introduction into Australia in the 1860’s. A great effort was made to introduce sparrows in an effort to use them to fight the insect pests that were perceived to be causing significant damage to the ability of the farms to feed the early colonists. One of the most surprising findings of the historical research that we conducted was that although it is commonly believed that the sparrows came out from England, we found clear evidence that the first birds to arrive and breed in Australia in fact came from India.

Nest boxes off to Armidale

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SparrowNestboxes

Nestboxes for house sparrows are leaving today on their way to Armidale where they’ll be erected at a number of properties around this inland city. Hopefully they will provide welcome homes for house sparrows that will be studied as part of our research into how birds are effected by climate. The house sparrow was introduced into Australia in the 1860’s and has become widely established across a range of different climates.

The relatively high altitude of Armidale and it’s position to the west of the dividing range provides a very different climate from most of the coastal cities in Eastern Australia.