Project description
Understand evolutionary changes by analysing ancient rocks
The Neoproterozoic Era (1 to 0.54 billion years ago) was a time of ecological and evolutionary transformations, leading to the emergence of animals after nearly 4 billion years of bacterial dominance. This period was marked by environmental disturbances, which are reflected in sedimentary rocks. However, the exact nature and impact of these disturbances remain poorly understood. The ERC-funded DNE project will develop methodologies that combine organic geochemistry, isotope geochemistry, and palaeontology to analyse ancient rocks. The project seeks to enhance our understanding of the carbon cycle in ancient habitats. Additionally, it will help identify the organisms from this era, providing valuable insights into the ecosystems that existed prior to the rise of animal life.
Objective
The Neoproterozoic Era (1 to 0.54 billion years ago) witnessed some of the most dramatic ecological and evolutionary changes in Earth history, which culminated in the appearance and diversification of animals. After almost 4 billion years of bacterial dominance, it took life on our planet just ~250 million years to go from the proliferation of unicellular eukaryotes to diversification of animals. This sequence of rapid ecological and evolutionary changes is thought to be related to unprecedented environmental perturbations, which occurred during this time interval and are recorded in sedimentary rocks. We know these perturbations did happen, but not their magnitude, duration, or driving mechanisms. One of the major limitations of interpreting the data is that each sample represents tens, or even hundreds of years of sedimentation, and contains a mixture of unevenly preserved remains of organisms that lived throughout this time. This project focuses on new methodological approaches at the interface of organic geochemistry, isotope geochemistry, and palaeontology to deconvolve the mixed signals of ancient rocks. Stable carbon isotope analysis on biomarkers of specific groups of organisms would provide insights about the carbon cycle at their habitat; analysing biomarker composition of the first complex microfossils would allow to identify which organisms they were; position-specific isotopic composition of ancient biomarkers might reveal their biosynthetic pathway and thus identify the first ecologically successful eukaryotes on our planet. The study is designed to extract information about the composition and ecology of ancient ecosystems, as well as the history of carbon cycle throughout the critical time of the rise and diversification of complex life. It aims to resolve what it takes a habitable planet to evolve complex life, and, in turn, how life on our planet responded to possibly the largest perturbations in the global carbon cycle in the Earth history.
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.
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 earth and related environmental sciences geochemistry
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences geology sedimentology
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences palaeontology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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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.
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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.
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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28359 Bremen
Germany
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