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

An Evolutionary Approach to Biodiversity Conservation: Riverine Floodplains of the European Alps as a Model System

Objective

The importance of evolutionary relatedness of species is increasingly recognized in both ecology and conservation. What remains is a need for quantitative predictions on the role of evolution and a synthesis of methods. This project uses DNA surveys of aquatic insect communities to measure species diversity and genetic relatedness in riverine floodplains. Riverine floodplains are one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth and create a very high spatio-temporal heterogeneity. Unfortunately, the most diverse and abundant aquatic insects are poorly known at the species level, therefore research that has been carried out to link biodiversity and the spatio-temporal heterogeneity relies on estimates of diversity and has lacked an evolutionary perspective. The project examines the role of habitat heterogeneity in the evolutionary processes of structuring biodiversity by sampling communities from 4 habitat types at each of 6 study reaches along 3 natural riverine corridors in the Alps. It will construct a ‘DNA profile’ of macroinvertebrate communities using DNA sequences and coalescent-based modeling to delineate species, determine the extent of local and regional endemism of species, reconstruct a phylogeny of all samples and calculate phylogenetic diversity of individual habitats, individual reaches, and whole river corridors, and use the resulting tree topology to examine the degree of phylogenetic clustering and overdispersion as a means to quantify the role of evolution in community assembly. The project explores 3 timely research topics: the linkage of ecology and phylogeny, the integration of evolutionary criteria in conservation management, and DNA-based biodiversity surveys. The applicant has high potential for knowledge transfer to the European freshwater science and the implementation of the project. His expertise in river ecology and population genetics, problem-oriented approach as an engineer by training, and international experience will ensure success.

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: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

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-IIF-2008
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-IIF - International Incoming Fellowships (IIF)

Coordinator

FORSCHUNGSVERBUND BERLIN EV
EU contribution
€ 170 418,35
Address
RUDOWER CHAUSSEE 17
12489 Berlin
Germany

See on map

Region
Berlin Berlin Berlin
Activity type
Research Organisations
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