Project description
Tracking the cold frontier
Mountains are no longer the last refuge of untouched nature. Non-native plants are spreading uphill along mountain roads and trails, using these routes to enter habitats once undisturbed. By the time such species are officially labelled invasive, they are often too well established to remove, putting the unique mountain biodiversity at risk. The ERC-funded GloNoMo project aims to design the first global effort to track this spread. From fertile valleys to the upper limits of plant life, researchers are identifying which species are most likely to move from roadsides into natural ecosystems. The project will also deliver a predictive tool that will help design policies to protect the planet’s most fragile ecosystems.
Objective
The current biodiversity crisis is characterized by unprecedented rates of species extinctions, and invasive species are one of the most important drivers of this loss. Yet, many invasive species were only recognized as such when already widely naturalized in a region. A major challenge is thus to identify which non-native species have the potential to spread into natural ecosystems and become invasive before their eradication becomes unfeasible. Mountain ecosystems remained comparatively natural and harbour high levels of unique biodiversity but are disproportionately affected by climate change. So far, they are considered to be only minimally affected by non-native species and are thus the frontiers of their distributions. Yet, many non-native plant species spread upslope along roads, from where they might continue to spread into the surrounding undisturbed habitats. Indeed, non-native plant species have been recorded in mountains on all populated continents, and might hence be substantially more widespread than assumed. However, due to data deficiency, it remains unknown whether non-native plant species already occur in undisturbed habitats, which species have the potential to spread and which drivers besides roads are decisive. Even less is known about their impacts in mountains and thus which species should be classified as invasive, as impacts are least investigated in mountains of all terrestrial habitats. This project will fill these knowledge gaps by integrating field observations, experiments and macroecological analyses based on so far untapped global monitoring data from all populated continents, ranging from valleys to the upper limits of plant life in disturbed to undisturbed habitats. It will conduct the first global quantification of the status, trends, drivers and impacts of non-native plant species in mountains. The outcomes have thus not only a high scientific relevance but are also essential for the conservation of the world’s biodiversity.
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.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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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-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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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.
4051 Basel
Switzerland
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