Evolutionary transition to marine life: novel insight from sea snakes

Objective

Evolutionary transitions from terrestrial to marine life entail massive modifications. Marine mammals and birds exhibit major adaptations of their morphology and physiology to increase the depths to which they can dive, and the time during which they can remain underwater. Marine reptiles have attracted far less attention in this respect, but we expect ectotherms to diverge dramatically from endotherms in several dive parameters, especially because ectothermy reduces oxygen demand. The failure to observe an exaggeration of respiratory capacities in marine reptiles, suggests that the primary adaptations for diving will be morphological and behavioural rather than physiological. Sea snakes provide an excellent model for studying the evolutionary transition between the terrestrial and marine environments, because sea snake species encompass a wide continuum in terms of the degree of their dependence on the ancestral terrestrial environment. Because significant constraints apply on a snake’s morphology and ability to efficiently move through the water, the aim of this project is to investigate diving behaviour and associated adaptations within a group of ectothermic air-breathing vertebrates (snakes) that has evolved to exploit aquatic environments. We will use two complementary approaches (experimental biomechanics and free-ranging bio-logging) to comprehensively study sea snake underwater movements and diving behaviour. This project therefore sets out to use an integrative and interdisciplinary approach to fill a major gap in our understanding of diving behaviour and associated morpho-functional adaptations, by focusing on a group of reptiles that has successfully conquered the marine environment: the sea snakes.

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.

• natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy cetology
• medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology
• natural sciences biological sciences biophysics

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.

• FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IOF - Marie Curie Action: "International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development"

Call for proposal

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

FP7-PEOPLE-2009-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