Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-05-27

Seabird population genetics, structure and biogeography

Objective

As the global biodiversity is rapidly eroding, the preservation of species and their intra-specific diversity is an urgent challenge. Many seabirds are slipping dangerously close to extinction and seabird numbers have deteriorated faster than most other groups. Molecular methods and population modelling can be used to answer various questions important for the declining species conservation. This project has three main objectives. First, we will develop an accurate method to census seabird colonies and analyse kinships even when the birds are absent. Indeed, one difficulty of working with seabirds is that they are often located in areas difficult to access and study trips are usually of limited duration. Second, we will determine how seabird populations are connected and if meta-populations occur. The grey-faced petrel (Pterodroma macroptera) and the Yelkouan shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) both have unclear conservation status even if the latter has been recently listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Humans have had a marked impact on their range and many local populations have gone extinct or contracted to very small sizes. It is crucial to evaluate gene flow and meta-population occurrence to identify threatened populations. Third, we will analyse how seabird population diversity is distributed and what are the factors that influence their distribution. We will use a range of various molecular techniques, population modelling and biogeographical analyses to reach these objectives. The fellow will obtain the skills necessary to use the full toolkit of molecular methods currently available to ecologists and to perform meta-population modelling analyses. Once learned, these skills will be easily transferred to other conservation programs in Europe. This project will help to define units below the species level (Evolutionary Significant Units, Adaptative Units, Designatable Units) to accurately assess the extinction probability and to help set conservation priorities.

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.

You need to log in or register to use this function

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.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF
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.

MC-IOF - International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF)

Coordinator

UNIVERSITE D'AIX MARSEILLE
EU contribution
€ 253 118,70
Address
BOULEVARD CHARLES LIVON 58 LE PHARO
13284 Marseille
France

See on map

Region
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Bouches-du-Rhône
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

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.

No data
My booklet 0 0