Objective
In an era of global changes, the understanding of the biodiversity became a major issue of science. While some particular groups such as fishes, crustaceans or molluscs are relatively well known, most of the small sized metazoan taxa, which often have few morphological distinctive characters, remain largely undescribed. The difficulties encountered to identify those organisms resulted in a dramatic lack of knowledge on these taxa, often qualified as minor taxa. Most of those organisms are present in the meiobenthos and their ecological importance recently became clear. Meiobenthos also hosts some evolutionary important albeit enigmatic phyla which diversity is almost unknown. In this project, modern molecular methods such as DNA barcoding coupled with environmental massive sequencing technologies will be used to investigate the diversity of the meiobenthos. The main objective of this study will be the development of new molecular tools to explore marine meiofaunal biodiversity. These tools will be tested on a case study testing the hypothesis of the cosmopolitism of deep sea meiobenthos. To achieve these objectives, short environmental DNA fragments obtained from multiple samples by massive sequencing will be analysed following a DNA-barcoding approach. Specific probes developed for the selected poorly known taxonomic groups will be then used for investigating their richness in sediment samples. New taxa will be described in collaboration with specialists. The project will provide the first genetic insight in the global metazoan diversity of the deep sea meiobenthos. It will contribute to assess the ecological importance and geographical distribution of small-sized marine animals. The probability to discover new taxonomic groups might lead to significant advances in the understanding of metazoan evolution. Moreover, this project will provide an accessible tool to identify “minor taxa” that can be further used by non specialists.
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.
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics DNA
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
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-2009-IIF
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
LL57 2DG Bangor
United Kingdom
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.