The spatial patterns of disruption of plant -animal interactions within a population dynamic approach

Objective

The decline or extinction of native species involved in biotic interactions (i.e. the disruption of interactions) can cause significant changes in ecosystem structure and/or functioning. Since the distribution, population dynamics and evolution of many species depend on species inter-relationships, changes (or loss) of such interactions can lead to disproportionately large, irreversible, and often negative alterations of ecosystem processes. Despite short-term consequences of the disruption of interactions, the current knowledge about its medium and long-term costs are limited, not only for the species regeneration but also for the functioning of the whole ecosystem. We can observe the causes and the final consequences of a disruption in a given plant-animal interaction, but the ecological and demographic processes that underlie such patterns remain unknown. This project will take a multidisciplinary approach and use recent modelling techniques (Individual based modelling and spatial-explicit population models) to study the direct and indirect consequences of a mutualism disruption within a comprehensive way including the spatial pattern generated by seed disperser to the plant spatial pattern and demographic consequences produced by such plant pattern. The methodological innovation of this project is the integration of previously collected data into two interacting Spatial-Explicit Population Models which describe an explicit plant-animal interaction. This type of simulation model allows for taking a first principle approach in which natural history and field observations are used to deduce the causal relationships among components of the natural systems and the resulting system dynamics.

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.

• humanities history and archaeology history
• natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
• natural sciences biological sciences biological behavioural sciences ethology biological interactions

Keywords

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

• Anthropogenic impact on ecosystems
• Causes and mechanisms of loss
• Computational biology
• Habitat and species restoration and rehabilitation
• Modelling (Environmental risks)
• Plant ecology

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

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.

• PEOPLE-2007-2-1.IEF - Marie Curie Action: "Intra-European Fellowships for Career Development"

Call for proposal

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

FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-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-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator