Objective
Tropical forests harbour over half of Earth's biodiversity, are vital to global carbon and nutrient cycles, contribute to over a billion people’s livelihoods around the world and now are at risk of shifting from carbon sinks to sources. This proposal explores and quantifies how the functional composition of trees and their soil microbiota influences the capacity of tropical forests to adapt to climate change, and aims to identify the functional syndromes becoming more prevalent across this biome. While my recent work has demonstrated functional trait shifts in American tropical forests as a response to a changing climate, the extent and mechanisms of adaptation in African and Asian forests remain poorly understood. This work addresses critical gaps in knowledge, including biome-wide changes in functional trait composition, their role in climate resilience, and the interplay between tree and microbiota diversity. Employing extensive forest plot networks, advanced remote sensing, and state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms, I will evaluate the resilience of tropical forests in the Americas, Africa, and Asia by: 1) analysing long-term functional biodiversity dynamics; 2) identifying tree and microbiota traits essential for adaptation; 3) investigating the contribution of soil microbiota to resilience; 4) testing the relationship between diversity and resilience; and 5) scaling local insights to a pantropical level using pioneering remote sensing approaches. This project offers a novel, empirically grounded approach to understanding and modelling responses of the tropical forest biome to climate change, spanning local to global scales. The outcomes will provide actionable, evidence-based recommendations for tropical forest restoration, climate mitigation policies, and ecosystem conservation, ensuring that adaptive strategies are informed by functional biodiversity and ecological resilience. This would represent a major empirical, analytic and conceptual advance.
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 environmental sciences sustainability sciences
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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)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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.
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
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.
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
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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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.
SW7 2AZ London
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.