Targeted gene flow for conservation

Grant number: FT160100198 | Funding period: 2017 - 2021

Completed

Abstract

This project aims to develop targeted gene flow as a broad conservation strategy, exploiting natural geographic variation to achieve conservation outcomes. Geographic variation and local adaptation are ubiquitous within species, but conservation managers do not use this heritable variation. The project will develop decision tools to address when to time a targeted gene flow action, and where to source appropriate genetic variation. As case studies, the project will try to use targeted gene flow to halt the invasion of the cane toad in northern Australia and reverse the decline of northern quolls.

Related publications (15)

Slow and steady wins the race: Spatial and stochastic processes and the failure of suppression gene drives

Jeff F Paril, Ben L Phillips

2022-07-22

Gene drives that skew sex ratios offer a new management tool to suppress or eradicate pest populations. Early models and empirical..

No outbreeding depression in a trial of targeted gene flow in an endangered Australian marsupial

Ella Kelly, Chris J Jolly, Naomi Indigo, Adam Smart, Jonathan Webb, Ben Phillips

2021-02-20

Targeted gene flow is a novel conservation strategy that involves translocating individuals with favourable genes to areas where t..

Optimizing targeted gene flow to maximize local genetic diversity: when and how to act under various scenarios of environmental change.

Adam Smart, Ben Phillips

2020-11-30

<jats:p id="p1">Targeted gene flow is an emerging conservation tool which involves introducing a cohort of individuals with partic..

Estimating the benefit of quarantine: eradicating invasive cane toads from islands

Adam S Smart, Reid Tingley, Ben L Phillips

2020-10-01

Islands are increasingly used to protect endangered populations from the negative impacts of invasive spicies. Quarantine efforts ..

May the (selective) force be with you: Spatial sorting and natural selection exert opposing forces on limb length in an invasive amphibian

Gregory S Clarke, Richard Shine, Benjamin L Phillips

2019-07-30

Spatial sorting on invasion fronts drives the evolution of dispersive phenotypes, and in doing so can push phenotypes in the oppos..

Whispers on the wind: male cane toads modify mate searching and amplexus tactics based on calls from other males

Gregory S Clarke, Richard Shine, Benjamin L Phillips

2019-07-01

In many species of anurans, males produce advertisement calls that function to attract reproductively active females. Rival males ..

Spatial sorting as the spatial analogue of natural selection

Ben L Phillips, T Alex Perkins

2019-06-01

Considerable research effort has been spent to understand why most organisms disperse despite the clear costs of doing so. One asp..

Anywhere but here: local conditions motivate dispersal in Daphnia

Philip Erm, Matthew D Hall, Ben L Phillips

2019-03-12

Dispersal is fundamental to population dynamics. However, it is increasingly apparent that, despite most models treating dispersal..

How many and when? Optimising targeted gene flow for a step change in the environment

Ella Kelly, Ben Phillips

2019-03-01

Targeted gene flow is an emerging conservation strategy that involves introducing individuals with particular traits to places whe..

Targeted gene flow and rapid adaptation in an endangered marsupial

Ella Kelly, Ben L Phillips

2019-02-01

Targeted gene flow is an emerging conservation strategy. It involves translocating individuals with favorable genes to areas where..

Taste overshadows less salient cues to elicit food aversion in endangered marsupial

Ella Kelly, Ben L Phillips, Jonathan K Webb

2018-12-01

Conditioned taste aversion is an emerging conservation tool that can be used to limit inter-species conflict, for example decreasi..

Not such silly sausages: Evidence suggests northern quolls exhibit aversion to toads after training with toad sausages

Naomi Indigo, James Smith, Jonathan K Webb, Ben Phillips

2018-08-01

The invasion of toxic cane toads (Rhinella marina) is a major threat to northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus) which are poisoned w..

Adjusting to climate: Acclimation, adaptation and developmental plasticity in physiological traits of a tropical rainforest lizard

John Llewelyn, Stewart L Macdonald, Craig Moritz, Felipe Martins, Amberlee Hatcher, Ben L Phillips

2018-07-01

The impact of climate change may be felt most keenly by tropical ectotherms. In these taxa, it is argued, thermal specialization m..

Using connectivity to identify climatic drivers of local adaptation

Stewart L Macdonald, John Llewelyn, Ben L Phillips

2018-02-01

Understanding the climatic drivers of local adaptation is vital. Such knowledge is not only of theoretical interest but is critica..

Peripheral Isolates as Sources of Adaptive Diversity under Climate Change

Stewart L Macdonald, John Llewelyn, Craig Moritz, Ben L Phillips

2017-08-14

As climate change progresses, there is increasing focus on the possibility of using targeted gene flow (TGF, the movement of pre-a..

University of Melbourne Researchers

Ben Phillips Biosciences