Description du projet
Étude des mécanismes à l’origine de la dispersion des espèces à grande échelle
Des études récentes montrent que la répartition de nombreuses espèces terrestres modernes peut s’expliquer par plusieurs épisodes de dispersion à grande échelle et que ces derniers sont amenés à se multiplier sous l’effet de bouleversements climatiques. Leurs mécanismes sous-jacents restent toutefois mal compris. Le projet DISPERSAL, financé par l’UE, étudiera les origines et les mécanismes de la dispersion à grande échelle en utilisant comme étude de cas la dispersion des primates asiatiques et d’autres mammifères vers l’Amérique du Sud, intervenue il y a des temps immémoriaux. Ces recherches viseront à découvrir la manière dont ces mammifères se sont dispersés par-delà les mers et les continents et à modéliser les mécanismes de forçage externes qui font de la dispersion à grande échelle un phénomène non aléatoire.
Objectif
Recent studies show that the distribution of many modern terrestrial species can be explained by a handful amount of large-scale dispersals and that these episodes will likely become more numerous under climatic stress. However, the underlying mechanisms governing these dispersals remain nebulous. Long-distance dispersals across marine barriers, often referred to sweepstakes dispersals, have always been assumed to be an unpredictable process in which taxa overcome a geographic barrier in a random manner. Yet, there are many instances of dispersals across marine barriers that appear coordinated and non-random. New paleontological findings show that during a short time period marked by intense climate variations, 40 to 35 million years ago, Asian anthropoid primates and rodents crossed 500 km of Tethys Sea to reach Africa and 800 km of South Atlantic Ocean to reach South America. This proposal aims to build an empirical and theoretical basis for the origins and mechanisms of long-distance dispersals by resolving: how did primates and other mammals disperse across two major seaways? What are the external forcing mechanisms that make transoceanic dispersals non-random?
This project proposes a combination of paleoclimatic, paleogeographic, and paleontological approaches to evaluate the mechanisms of species dispersal and diversification in deep time, applied to the early dispersal of anthropoid primates. This research will set the founding steps of a holistic method to evaluate the mechanisms of all dispersal events in deep time, allowing new interpretations about the modern, past and future distribution of species; it will additionally solve one of the biggest mysteries in paleontology, as this episode ranks among the most pivotal events during all of primate evolutionary history.
Champ scientifique
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régime de financement
ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC)Institution d’accueil
75794 Paris
France