Project description
Reducing bias in the fossil record to inform biodiversity, climate change
The fossil record provides key insights into life on Earth and responses to past climate changes, which are essential for addressing biodiversity loss. However, biases in the record can lead to misleading interpretations, and our ability to address them remains limited. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the TransFoRM project will create a comprehensive framework to address the biases in the fossil record. It will identify these biases through a systematic literature review and statistical assessments using a many-analysts approach. Additionally, the project will develop a structural causal model to account for known biases and confounding factors. The outcomes will provide a framework to reduce biases, helping to connect fossil data with contemporary ecological crises.
Objective
The fossil record offers invaluable insights into the history of life on Earth, including species' responses to past climate changes, serving as a vital resource in addressing the contemporary biodiversity crisis. However, the fossil record is subject to multiple environmental, geological, and anthropogenic biases, which, if unaccounted for, may lead to misleading interpretations. Despite an increasing awareness of these biases among researchers, our ability to mitigate fossil record biases in analyses and account for the uncertainty produced remains limited.
TransFoRM therefore seeks to develop a coherent framework to address inherent biases of the fossil record systematically. Specifically, I will (i) identify general biases of the fossil record through a systematic literature review; (ii) identify instances where researchers overlook biases in the fossil record through a statistical assessment of surveys (a many-analysts approach), (iii) develop a structural causal model that incorporates the data-generating process of the fossil record, to account for known biases and confounders; and (iv) strengthen the connections between paleontological research and conservation practice by equipping researchers with the tools, awareness, and knowledge necessary to navigate and communicate the complexities of the fossil record effectively.
The transdisciplinary nature of the project and planned dissemination activities will lead to knowledge that is highly transferable into various fields. The outcomes will provide a comprehensive framework to alleviate biases in the fossil record, facilitating the propagation of fossil information to the contemporary ecological crises. TransFoRM is particularly timely, as confounder- and bias-corrected frameworks exist, with clear guidelines for their application to observational data in ecology, but are not yet integrated in paleontological research, prompting recent calls for their adoption.
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.
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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)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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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.
Funding Scheme
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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1010 WIEN
Austria
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