Project description
Uncovering the hidden power of family ties in humans and animals
Scientists are trying to understand why animals and humans change as they get older, specifically by looking at how their family connections within a group shift over time. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Kinduction project aims to investigate the evolutionary drivers of age- and sex-specific behavioural and life-history variations. Central to the research is the kinship dynamics hypothesis. By constructing a theoretical model, it will generate predictive frameworks regarding the shift from affiliation to hostility among groupmates and sex-allocation biases. These predictions will be empirically validated using longitudinal behavioural and demographic data from six mammalian species, including humans. The project will present how changing social landscapes influence reproductive pace and success across diverse systems.
Objective
The study of differences in behaviour and life-history between the sexes or across age classes is central in the biological and social sciences, but our understanding of the causes of these differences is limited. Why do social and reproductive individual traits -such as the propensity to compete or affiliate with groupmates and the reproductive pace or success- differ among individuals of different ages within the same sex? I hypothesize that kinship dynamics, the changes in local relatedness that occur in group living animals as a consequence of mating (in/out of the group) and sex-biased dispersal (male/female/both sex dispersal) patterns, constitute a major driver of these differences. Building on recent work which showed that kinship dynamics can drive the evolution of menopause, I will develop a theoretical model that simulates kinship dynamics and their influence on both male and female reproductive strategies. The outcome of my model will be testable predictions (i) on when relationships among groupmates shift from support to hostility due to changes in local relatedness (e.g. low relatedness, less support) and how does this impact reproductive success; (ii) on the potential for close kin to compensate for low affiliation rates with less related group member; and (iii) on when individuals should invest in female versus male offspring. Then, I will comparatively test the resulting predictions using long-term behavioural and demographic data from six gregarious mammals, including humans, which exhibit different sex-biased dispersal and mating patterns. The combination of modelling with empirical analyses on these complementary systems provide a unique framework to test the influence of kinship dynamics on reproductive traits. This project bridges kin and sexual selection to close a key gap in our understanding of reproductive behaviour and life-history, and may provide innovative insights for future research in evolutionary biology and the social sciences.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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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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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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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-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-2025-PF
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20014 Turku
Finland
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