A Round Up of Latest Research News from Macquarie University

Albino cane toads created using gene-editing technology reveal that albino animals face competitive disadvantages going far beyond their vulnerability to predators, according to new research published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 

The study, led by Macquarie University PhD candidate Alexander Funk, is the first to use a gene-editing technique (CRISPR) to 'knock out' or disable specific genes in cane toads – animals not typically used in laboratory research.

The researchers tested a long-held belief that albino animals are rare mainly because predators can easily spot and kill them.

"Other studies have shown that albino animals tend to have reduced visual abilities as the condition is linked to poor stereoscopic vision," says Funk. "We were curious how this poor vision might affect them, because cane toads are visual foragers, especially in their adult stage."

The team's experiments, comparing albino and pigmented siblings in controlled environments without predators, revealed a more complex story. The albino tadpoles were less likely to survive and changed into adult toads faster when competing with non-albino siblings for food and space. Adult albino toads grew more slowly when living with pigmented toads and had much more difficulty catching prey.

"That surprised us – we expected to see the intense competition in the adult stage, but we didn't expect to see it come out so clearly in its effects on survival in the tadpole stage," Funk says.

The team also tested toads' hunting abilities, dropping live termites in their containers and comparing what happened under different lighting conditions. The tests revealed the problem: poor eyesight. Albino toads needed much brighter light to catch their prey successfully.

"We can now apply this emerging power to manipulate the genetic features of animals, to ask fundamental questions in evolutionary biology," says Professor Rick Shine, evolutionary biologist and ecologist at Macquarie University who supervised the research.

References

• Article in Lighthouse: https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/august-2025/albino-toads
• Research: Funk AT, Shine R, Jolly CJ, et al. (2025) Knocking out genes to reveal drivers of natural selection on phenotypic traits: a study of the fitness consequences of albinism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.1458

Tiny ants crack the secret to perfect teamwork, by Fran Molloy

Weaver ants have solved a problem that has plagued human teams for centuries: individuals contribute less to tasks when more people join in. New research just published in Current Biology shows individual weaver ants actually get stronger as their group grows.

The longstanding problem in human teams was first identified and published by French engineer Max Ringelmann in 1913 who measured students pulling on ropes. He found that while total force increased as more people joined in, each individual's contribution actually decreased. But Macquarie University behavioural ecologist Madelyne Stewardson, lead author of the new research, said weaver ants got better at collectively building their nests as the group size increased.

"Each individual ant almost doubled their pulling force as team size increased – they actually get better at working together as the group gets bigger," says Ms Stewardson.

The researchers set up experiments enticing weaver ant colonies to form pulling chains to move an artificial leaf connected to a force meter. "The ants split their work into two jobs: some actively pull while others act like anchors to store that pulling force," says Stewardson.

Co-lead author Dr Daniele Carlesso from the University of Konstanz developed a theory called the 'force ratchet' to hypothesise how this works. "The job each ant performs depends on its position in the chain," says Dr Carlesso. "Ants at the back of chains stretch out their bodies to resist and store the pulling force, while ants at the front keep actively pulling."

Dr David Labonte from Imperial College London says "Longer chains of ants have more grip on the ground than single ants, so they can better resist the force of the leaf pulling back."

References

• Article in Lighthouse: https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/august-2025/ants
• Research: Stewardson M, Carlesso D, Labonte D, Reid CR. (2025) Superefficient teamwork in weaver ants. Current Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.038

Neighbourhood Watch: Cohabiting bats and bird

A cross-institutional team of researchers from Macquarie University, UNSW and the University of Nebraska has unpicked the reasons why hundreds of bat and bird species across Central and South America live in close proximity: the answer lies in their family trees.

A new study published in the Royal Society's Proceedings B analysed 190 bat species and 1197 bird species across 95 locations from Mexico to Argentina. Using advanced computer modelling, the research team examined three factors influencing where species live together: family relationships, diet and human impact.

"We found that closely related species are much more likely to live together than distant relatives," says Associate Professor John Alroy, a paleobiologist from Macquarie University's School of Natural Sciences. "Possibly, the shared evolutionary history of related species means they also share similar needs, allowing them to coexist in the same places."

Lead author Dr Anikó Tóth, a conservation scientist from UNSW, says the findings challenge ideas about competition driving species apart. "Rather than competing species avoiding each other, we found that animals with similar needs, especially close relatives, tend to group together in suitable habitats."

For bats, the research found an unexpected pattern where species with somewhat similar diets were more likely to live together than those either with very similar or very different diets.

"We think having slightly different needs can help species coexist because it reduces direct competition, while they can still both benefit from shared habitat preferences," says Dr Tóth.

Senior author Associate Professor Andrew Allen, a theoretical biologist at Macquarie University, worked with Dr Tóth to develop a new class of statistical models.

"This method represents a major advance in studying biodiversity patterns across large areas," says Associate Professor Allen.

References

• Article in Macquarie University: https://www.mq.edu.au/faculty-of-science-and-engineering/news/news/cohabiting-bats-birds
• Research: Tóth AB, Allen AP, Alroy J, Lyons SK. (2025) Effects of phylogenetic distance, niche overlap and habitat alteration on spatial co-occurrence patterns in Neotropical bats and birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1679

Living colour: how red, green and yellow concrete improves Sydney marine life, by Fran Molloy

A new study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology by researchers from Macquarie University and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science has found the colour of concrete can significantly affect which marine organisms make their homes in urban seawalls.

Their findings suggest a simple, low-cost design tweak – adding colour – could help revive marine life along concrete-dominated coastlines. As cities expand into the sea, natural shorelines are increasingly replaced by concrete seawalls, pilings and pontoons.

"Many marine animals respond to light and colour when choosing a place to settle," says senior author Dr Laura Ryan, from Macquarie University's School of Natural Sciences. "So we asked: if we make concrete more colourful, can we improve marine biodiversity?"

To test this, the team created coloured concrete panels — red, yellow, green, and standard grey — and attached them to seawalls around Sydney Harbour. Over 12 months they tracked which organisms settled on each panel.

They found marine invertebrates and seaweeds colonised panels differently depending on the panel colour. Red panels in particular supported communities distinct from other coloured panels, attracting higher numbers of green algae and barnacles.

"We were surprised that even after the panels were fully covered in marine growth, the original colour continued to influence which species were present," says Holly Cunningham, first author on the study.

"Incorporating colour into marine design is practical, affordable, and easy to scale, potentially bringing back a forgotten sensory cue that many species rely on," says coastal ecologist Professor Melanie Bishop from Macquarie University, supervising author and co-leader of the Living Seawalls project.

References

• Article in Lighthouse: https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/july-2025/living-colour-how-red,-green-and-yellow-concrete-improves-marine-life
• Research: Cunningham H, Ryan LA, Bishop MJ, et al. (2025) The rainbow connection: The case for including substrate colour in the 'eco‐engineering' of marine constructions. Journal of Applied Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.70118

Why biology could be the future of computing and engineering, by Mary O’Malley

Australian researchers are turning to nature for the next computing revolution, harnessing living cells and biological systems as potential replacements for traditional silicon chips.

Living computers, organs-on-a-chip, data storage in DNA and biosecurity networks that detect threats before they spread – these aren't science fiction concepts but emerging realities. A team from Macquarie University and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology (COESB) has explored this convergence of biological and digital technologies in a recent Perspectives paper published in Nature Communications.

The Macquarie University authors—Professor Isak Pretorius, Professor Ian Paulsen and Dr Thom Dixon (who are also affiliated with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology), Professor Daniel Johnson and Professor Michael Boers—draw on decades of combined experience to explain why harnessing bio-innovation can proactively shape the future of computing technology.

"As biology and digital technology merge, we're entering an era of bio-inspired computing and engineering that could redefine the future of innovation," says Professor Pretorius.

The global economy relies on information and energy flows, and the race for computer science to develop artificial intelligence that can attempt to handle these flows, comes at an enormous cost in energy and resources. Meanwhile, over 3.5 billion years of evolution, nature has become very good at efficiently sensing, solving problems and making decisions.

Biological systems have inspired breakthroughs like brain-computer interfaces and 'neuromorphic chips' - processors designed to mimic the brain. Artificially replicating intelligence has an enormous energy and resource cost compared to biology, which processes complex chemical, optical, and electrical signals effortlessly.

"Rather than forcing biology to fit into digital systems, we should learn from nature's intelligent designs," says Professor Paulsen. "Integrating biological computing with technology could revolutionise AI, sensing, and data processing, leading to a more sustainable future."

The paper argues that engineering biology and bio-computing will impact multiple sectors: organs-on-a-chip can enable faster, more precise medical treatments; biocomputing systems that mimic biological intelligence could accelerate data processing; and biosecurity networks could use AI-driven DNA analysis to detect emerging biological threats.

"The future of computing isn't just about technology — it's about geopolitics," says Professor Johnson. The paper argues those who lead the semisynbio revolution—the fusion of synthetic biology and semiconductor technology—will define the next era of intelligence.

"This isn't just about advancing technology — it's about rethinking intelligence itself," says Professor Pretorius. "The age of semisynbio is upon us, and its potential is bound only by human imagination," says Professor Pretorius.

References

• Article in Lighthouse: https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/june-2025/why-biology-could-be-the-future-of-computing-and-engineering
• Research: Pretorius IS, Dixon TA, Boers M, Paulsen IT, Johnson DL. (2025) The coming wave of confluent biosynthetic, bioinformational and bioengineering technologies. Nat Commun. 16(1):2959. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58030-y

Australian native bees see the world differently: research first, by Fran Molloy

The first-ever study of Australian stingless bee vision shows how two native species have evolved distinct visual abilities to suit their foraging behaviours and environments.

This Macquarie-led research, published in the Journal of Comparative Physiology A, examined two species: Tetragonula carbonaria and Austroplebeia australis. While both can see detail equally well, they have significant differences in visual capabilities.

"This is the first description of the eyes of Australian native bees," says Associate Professor Ajay Narendra from Macquarie University's School of Natural Sciences, who supervised the research.

Using pattern electroretinography, researchers measured contrast detection and visual sharpness. A. australis showed superior contrast sensitivity, detecting objects just 7.6 per cent brighter than their background, while T. carbonaria could only distinguish objects 16.6 per cent brighter than their background.

"Their eye structure gives A. australis higher contrast sensitivity, so these bees can discriminate many different shades and colours of petals," says Associate Professor Narendra. This allows A. australis to forage in dimmer conditions, such as under tree canopies or during overcast weather.

The visual differences align with their foraging strategies. T. carbonaria is a generalist collector found along Australia's east coast from northern Queensland to NSW, while A. australis is more selective, found in drier inland regions across northern NSW, Queensland, Northern Territory and parts of Western Australia.

"A. australis foragers spend proportionately less time hovering in front of flowers than T. carbonaria, so they are described as more efficient foragers in terms of their energy consumption," says Associate Professor Narendra.

Both species are important crop pollinators, with A. australis particularly valued for pollinating celery and capsicum. "Understanding these visual capabilities will become increasingly important, as Australian agriculture looks for sustainable pollination solutions and as conservation efforts focus on protecting native bee populations," Associate Professor Narendra says.

• Article in Lighthouse: https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/june-2025/eye-for-detail-australian-native-bees-see-world-differently
• Research: Penmetcha B, Ryan LA, Ogawa Y, Hart NS, Narendra A. (2025) Visual physiology of Australian stingless bees. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 211(4):435-444. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-025-01