Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Flies provide guide to climate dangers
Some of the smallest residents of Australia's tropical rainforests have turned scientific thinking about climate change on its head. Researching insects, evolutionary biologist Dr Carla Sgrandograve; has found that not all species possess the genetic capacity to survive rapid environmental change. Carla's findings are helping to refine government policies on biodiversity management, and are motivating her to step into the policy arena.
For many years the dominant belief in evolutionary biology has been that all living things can evolve and adapt to changes in their environment. But Carla's research has found this is not always true.
She has been tracking the short lives of a species of vinegar fly found in the rainforests of Far North Queensland. In only a few years she has traced the evolution of more than two-dozen generations of the fly.
In a similar timeframe other insect species have developed insecticide resistance - a classic form of biological evolution. An example of this is resistance to dieldrin, which was widely used on a range of agricultural pests in the 1950s. Targeted pests that survived had the genetic capacity to adapt to the chemical. Within five years their offspring had inherited resistance to the insecticide.
But this adaptability was not what Carla found in the vinegar fly species she studied.
'The thinking was that all organisms have the capability for genetic variation. But we have found the exact opposite. Our data shows that the tropical rainforest vinegar flies have remained in that habitat because they simply don't have the genetic capacity to adapt to conditions outside. However, closely related fruit fly species have been able to expand their environment much further afield.'
The restrictions that hold true for rainforest insects may also hold true for other species, she says. This includes higher order species such as tree kangaroos or wallabies whose habitat is known to be under threat.
Carla's own fascination with evolutionary biology has driven her research into the genetics of environmental adaptability. It is now motivating her involvement with state and federal policy-makers.
'Explaining the relevance of my research to policymakers is an ongoing challenge, but I am trying to make it happen. The conclusion we have reached, working with insects and short-lived plants, is that it is possible to protect genetic diversity and evolution through current management actions and programs.'
VicRoads is one government agency that has already revised vegetation policies based on Carla's findings. She says efforts to plant trees to restore vegetation and prevent degradation need to take climate change into account.
Species chosen need to be able to survive more variable weather conditions.
She says this strategy effectively attempts to future proof fragile environments, rather than attempt to fix a situation that has 'gone bad'.
'Instead of trying to save a species that is on the verge of extinction, we can minimise the threats to its environment to give it as much chance of survival as possible.'
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Research area keywords
- Evolution in Response to Climate Change
- Managing Biodiversity Under Climate Change
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Fitness and evolutionary consequences of developmental plasticity
1/04/24 → 31/03/27
Project: Research
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Genomic vulnerability
Sgro, C. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Hoffmann, A. A. (Chief Investigator (CI)) & Weeks, A. (Chief Investigator (CI))
12/05/22 → 11/05/25
Project: Research
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Are the sexes really equal? Sex-specific adaptation to environmental change
Sgro, C. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
1/01/20 → 31/12/23
Project: Research
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Hot, dry and hungry: multiple stressors and vulnerability to global change
1/01/18 → 31/12/20
Project: Research
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Evolutionary limits
Sgro, C. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
Australian Research Council (ARC), Monash University
1/01/17 → 31/12/19
Project: Research
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Temperature and nutrition do not interact to shape the evolution of metabolic rate
Alton, L. A., Kutz, T., Bywater, C. L., Lombardi, E., Cockerell, F. E., Layh, S., Winwood-Smith, H., Arnold, P. A., Beaman, J. E., Walter, G. M., Monro, K., Mirth, C. K., Sgrò, C. M. & White, C. R., 26 Feb 2024, In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 379, 1896, 11 p., 20220484.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access4 Citations (Scopus) -
Threshold shifts and developmental temperature impact trade-offs between tolerance and plasticity
Van Heerwaarden, B., Sgrò, C. & Kellermann, V. M., 14 Feb 2024, In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 291, 2016, 12 p., 20232700.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access3 Citations (Scopus) -
Within-population plastic responses to combined thermal-nutritional stress differ from those in response to single stressors, and are genetically independent across traits in both males and females
Choy, Y. M. M., Walter, G. M., Mirth, C. K. & Sgrò, C. M., Jun 2024, In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 37, 6, p. 717-731 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus) -
Assessing the role of family level variation and heat shock gene expression in the thermal stress response of the mosquito Aedes aegypti
Ware-Gilmore, F., Novelo, M., Sgrò, C. M., Hall, M. D. & McGraw, E. A., 27 Mar 2023, In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 378, 1873, 9 p., 20220011.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access16 Citations (Scopus) -
Connecting research and practice to enhance the evolutionary potential of species under climate change
Thompson, L. M., Thurman, L. L., Cook, C. N., Beever, E. A., Sgrò, C. M., Battles, A., Botero, C. A., Gross, J. E., Hall, K. R., Hendry, A. P., Hoffmann, A. A., Hoving, C., LeDee, O. E., Mengelt, C., Nicotra, A. B., Niver, R. A., Pérez-Jvostov, F., Quiñones, R. M., Schuurman, G. W. & Schwartz, M. K. & 2 others, , Feb 2023, In: Conservation Science and Practice. 5, 2, 18 p., e12855.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access21 Citations (Scopus)