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Unifying ecophysiological predictions of ectotherms to global warming

Project description

Novel predictive framework for heat tolerance of ectothermic animals

Climate change poses a severe threat to human life and global biodiversity, with escalating emissions and ecological impacts amplifying the existing challenges affecting biodiversity. The current critical thermal limits (CTmax) framework used for studying and assessing the heat tolerance of organisms has been demonstrated to be unrealistic and has yielded inaccurate results. The EU-funded e_WARM project seeks to address this limitation by developing an accurate and unified predictive framework for studying heat tolerance in terrestrial and aquatic ectothermic animals. This project aims to replace the current framework with an analytical toolbox designed to anticipate heat mortality more effectively.

Objective

Ongoing climate change represents a major threat to biodiversity, and scientists now face pressing concerns to forecast how ecological communities will respond to global warming in the medium- to long-term. However, the current framework to study heat tolerance rely on critical thermal limits (CTmax), which comprises a coarse metric that has been shown to be unrealistic. Not only results from CTmax are ludicrous, they do not allow for temporal forecast. Unfortunately, this is what overwhelming majority of research groups are now measuring, at an enormous waste of time and human effort. The e_WARM project proposes the ambitious umbrella objective of stablishing a unified predictive framework for the study of heat tolerance in terrestrial and aquatic ectothermic animals. For this purpose, the candidate will develop a novel comprehensive analytical toolbox to anticipate heat mortality with a unprecedented accuracy and reliability. This approach translates high-resolution temperature records from the field into realistic mortality rates of species. Importantly, the analytical routines proposed can be expanded to include the interplay of warming with other factors, such as heat waves, phenotypic plasticity or hypoxic stress. As a proof of concept, the candidate will study Drosophila species as model organisms from terrestrial, and Daphnia species (invertebrate) and Galaxias maculatus (fish) as model organisms from aquatic ecosystems, The subject of the e_WARM project is both timely and important, as more reliable predictions of the impact of global warming on populations’ resilience are urgently needed. Repercussions of this research will be immediately transmitted to the society, and they will have a big scientific, political, economic and health impact.

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Topic(s)

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01

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Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD DE GRANADA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 221 390,88
Address
CUESTA DEL HOSPICIO SN
18071 GRANADA
Spain

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Region
Sur Andalucía Granada
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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Partners (2)

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