Objective
One of the biggest and most persistent challenges in contemporary ecology is to explain the high diversity in ecological communities such as tropical forests, grasslands, coral reefs, or plankton ecosystems. The broad objective of our project is to understand the relative importance of processes and factors that govern the composition and dynamics of species-rich communities. Advances in this issue have important implications for efforts to protect terrestrial biodiversity from climate and land use change. Surprisingly, although most processes which are thought to contribute to species coexistence have a strong spatial component, the rich source of information on spatial patterns has not been used. To accomplish our goal, we take a radically different approach than previous attempts and adopt a spatially explicit perspective that will allow us to take significant steps towards a Unified Spatial Theory of Biodiversity. We use the best data sets available, i.e. 25-50 ha mega-plots of tropical forests each comprising several hundred of species and >100000 trees that are monitored and censuses every 5 years. We proceed in three steps. (1) We quantify the highly complex spatial structures found in these forests using state-of-the-art techniques in spatial pattern analysis. (2) We build a range of individual-based spatially-explicit simulation models ranging from pure neutral models to detailed process-based models of tropical forest, such as FORMIND. (3) We use pattern-oriented modelling to confront these simulation models with the set of patterns identified in (1) to identify the most parsimonious models that account simultaneously for all (spatial) patterns. We anticipate that the new spatial perspective and innovative computer modelling techniques will allow for a major break through in this important challenge at the frontier of ecological research, and open up new horizons for understanding and conservation of 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.
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.
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.
ERC-2008-AdG
See other projects for this call
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.
Host institution
04318 Leipzig
Germany
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.