Objective
"Marine phytoplankton and zooplankton communities mediate a large flux of carbon from the atmosphere into the ocean. This biogeochemical process has traditionally been modelled with the focus primarily on the supply and consumption of essential nutrients. I propose to broaden this approach to resolve important processes occurring at higher trophic levels. I plan to use observations and food-web models to examine how trophic interactions influence and control large-scale ecology and biogeochemical cycling. I will address two outstanding questions that have not yet been examined from this perspective.
1) Marine ecosystem models have traditionally classified phytoplankton as strictly photoautotrophic consumers of inorganic nutrients. This view is challenged by recent observations showing that the majority of photosynthetic plankton also graze upon a large fraction of the bacterial community. These ``mixotrophic'' species combine autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition. They have a large capacity to increase the flux of carbon through the marine biota, but their ecology is not yet clearly understood. I will explore the mechanisms by which mixotrophs are able to compete in different environments, and I will examine how their success affects the cycling of elements at the ocean basin scale.
2) Phytoplankton show large variability in their elemental composition. These changes are driven by adaptation and acclimation to different environments, and hence the changing balance of marine communities should affect elemental ratios across broad environmental gradients. This elemental variability is an important component of the global carbon cycle, but the underlying links between physiology, ecology and biogeochemistry are still poorly understood. I will ask how biodiversity can facilitate observed ecological and biogeochemical distributions on the global scale, and examine how physiological changes may affect the biogeochemical function of marine communities."
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences geochemistry biogeochemistry
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
75230 Paris
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.