Trait spaces of Australian mammal diversity

Project description

Trait spaces are an incredibly powerful way of contrasting the biological properties of particular animal groups to each other. They are basically statistical summaries of traits, which we have already collected for all Australian mammals (like herbivory, metabolic rate, or body mass). In collaboration with Frédérik Saltré’s BEAM lab, this will allow students to compute trait spaces from these data to answer key ecological questions like: “How did mammalian trait spaces change after European invasion into Australia?” or “How did the introduction of feral mammals change the trait spaces from the native-only condition?”. We are also open to discussing other questions that might be of interest to students, and happy to design the project with the right collaborators to ensure we have the best expertise on the topic on board.

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