Cel Highly diverse communities of endophytic fungi ― fungi that colonize plant tissues without causing symptoms of disease ― live cryptically in all higher plants ranging from mosses to flowering plants. While knowledge of the biodiversity and biogeography of endophytes is rapidly increasing, the mechanisms that maintain their diversity and control their dispersal among plants in natural ecosystems are widely unknown. Specifically the concerted functions of mutualistic and antagonistic plant-insect interactions on endophyte diversity and dispersal are little understood. In a comparative approach using myrmecophytes (ant-plants) and closely related non-myrmecophytic plant species, the function of defending ants as well as insect pollinators and herbivores on endophyte dispersal will be analyzed in a Peruvian lowland tropical rainforest. This study will be the first ever to examine the dispersal ecology of fungal endophytes among plants while considering the function of mutualistic and antagonistic insects in a natural ecosystem. Applying next generation sequencing of endophytes from plant and insect samples collected at the study site together with isolating living endophytes for morphological and molecular characterization will permit the novel analysis of environmental and evolutionary factors influencing the diversity and community composition of these cryptic organisms. This project will use state of the art techniques in molecular community ecology and dispersal modeling and will address important questions of wide relevance for general distribution mechanisms of fungal endophytes. The proposed research will be combined with high quality training in population genetic and phylogenetic methodology, provided by world leading experts in these areas. Dziedzina nauki natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologymycologynatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemsnatural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicsmathematical analysisfunctional analysisnatural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyentomologynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesphysical geography Program(-y) FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Temat(-y) FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IOF - Marie Curie Action: "International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development" Zaproszenie do składania wniosków FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IOF Zobacz inne projekty w ramach tego zaproszenia System finansowania MC-IOF - International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF) Koordynator UNIVERSITEIT GENT Wkład UE € 238 840,40 Adres SINT PIETERSNIEUWSTRAAT 25 9000 Gent Belgia Zobacz na mapie Region Vlaams Gewest Prov. Oost-Vlaanderen Arr. Gent Rodzaj działalności Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Kontakt administracyjny Saskia Vanden Broeck (Ms.) Linki Kontakt z organizacją Opens in new window Strona internetowa Opens in new window Koszt całkowity Brak danych
