Objective
Recent models have been developed predicting climate change-induced habitat losses and extinction of many plants and animals. Their coarse scale may have over-estimated extinction threats due to their inability to capture small-scale habitat heterogeneity. Plus, they are difficult to validate. Proposed validations use current data as calibration and past data as verification. The Quaternary fossil record is thus essential to understand the mechanisms that have allowed past species persistence, and to improve our forecasting ability regarding their future performance. But data on species past distribution and dynamics has too been affected by coarse-scale issues. For example, evidence for woody taxa populations north of the classical pollen-based southern refugia during the last glacial maximum (LGM) has recently come from DNA and macrofossil studies. LGM refugia existed as habitat islands in a matrix of unsuitable landscapes, from which populations expanded in the Holocene. Such small populations – cryptic refugia – are indistinguishable in the pollen record and coarse-scale bioclimatic envelope models don’t detect them. Persistence of many species in future climates may, as it has in the past, depend on the preservation of cryptic refugia, and defining their physical environment is of great importance. However, cryptic refugia have been described in general terms. This study aims at defining the physical characteristics – topographical and geomorphological – of cryptic refugia for 3 Northern Eurasian tree taxa and integrate the resulting relevant physical parameters to local species-envelope models to improve our understanding of the role of cryptic refugia on species persistence during past climate changes, and so to better forecast biotic response to future climate changes. The study will use remote sensing data and a new continental plant macrofossil dataset that offers the opportunity to independently validate hindcast results from the species-envelope models.
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 biological sciences genetics DNA
- engineering and technology environmental engineering remote sensing
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology climatic changes
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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.
FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF
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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.
Coordinator
OX1 2JD Oxford
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.