Micro-botanical Analyses at Cenozoic fossil localities from East Africa: new insights into the evolution of savannas in Africa from 50 million years

Project Information

MACEA

Grant agreement ID: 659596

DOI 10.3030/659596

Project closed

EC signature date 7 December 2015

Start date 1 May 2016

End date 30 April 2019

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost € 246 668,40

EU contribution € 246 668,40

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITE D'AIX MARSEILLE
France

Objective

Today, the savanna biome occupies ~50% of Africa’s land surface, and is associated with many mammal species specifically adapted to life in the savanna environment. The present project, MACEA, aims to document the appearance and expansion of savannas in Africa’s geologic past, and to evaluate their relationship with the evolution of modern mammals.
Precisely, MACEA will assess savanna history in Africa via phytoliths, microscopic particles of amorphous hydrated silica produced in plant tissues and conserved in sediments post-mortem. A unique aspect of this study is that it will apply phytolith analyses for the first time to document paleoenvironments older than ~15 Ma in Africa, and to bring the great potential of phytoliths to bear on the question of savanna origins in Africa. The MACEA project consists of two phases: an outgoing phase at the University of Washington (Seattle, USA), and a return phase at CEREGE (Aix en Provence, France). Both labs will provide all needed equipment, training, and expertise. Upon its completion, MACEA will have created new modem and fossil phytolith datasets, new modern phytolith calibrations, as well as new paleovegetation reconstructions at the scale of tropical Africa. Publications resulting from this study will be of interest to paleobotanists, paleomammalogists, paleoclimatologists, and those concerned with conservation of modem biodiversity in Africa.

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.

• natural sciences › computer and information sciences › databases
• natural sciences › biological sciences › ecology › ecosystems
• natural sciences › biological sciences › zoology › mammalogy
• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › palaeontology
• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › geology

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Programme(s)

• H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme
• H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility

Topic(s)

• MSCA-IF-2014-GF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-GF)

Call for proposal

H2020-MSCA-IF-2014

Funding Scheme

MSCA-IF-GF - Global Fellowships

Coordinator

UNIVERSITE D'AIX MARSEILLE

• Net EU contribution: € 246 668,40
• Address: BOULEVARD CHARLES LIVON 58 LE PHARO ; 13284 Marseille ; France
• Region: Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur › Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur › Bouches-du-Rhône
• Activity type: Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
• Total cost: € 246 668,40

Partners (1)

Partner

Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

United States

• Net EU contribution: € 0,00
• Address: BROOKLYN AVENUE NE 4333 ; 98195 9472 Seattle Wa
• Activity type: Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
• Total cost: € 160 130,40