Objective
Dialects occur in a range of species, from human language to bird song. This project will focus on dialect evolution in killer whales. Each pod of killer whales shares a unique repertoire of discrete calls – a vocal dialect, which passes from mother to offspring through social learning. It is commonly accepted that killer whale dialects change gradually with time by accumulation of stochastic copying errors, but some observations suggest that call evolution is much more complex phenomenon. The goal of the proposed research is to reveal the principles of killer whale dialect evolution. The distribution of various call features in dialects on intra- and inter-population level will be described using the linguistic methodology developed for the description of human languages. This distribution will be analysed using the computational methods from the evolutionary biology. The phylogeny of dialects will be constructed by the amount of shared call features using Bayesian methods. The phylogenetic tree obtained by the dialect comparison will be calibrated with genetic analysis using complete mitochondrial genome sequences. It will allow to estimate the speed of dialect evolution and test for its homogeneity. The project will lead to better understanding of the general principles of cultural evolution and yield a model of killer whale dialect evolution that will allow to determine the population structure of killer whales by vocal dialects, which will significantly help conservation and management of killer whale populations. Killer whales are listed with other Cetacea in Annex IV of the Habitats Directive as a species of community interest in need of strict protection. In recent decades Northeast Atlantic killer whales have been subject to a number of anthropogenic threats. Identifying killer whale populations is a key goal for conservation and management of the species, because any impact must be primarily accessed on the population rather than on species level.
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: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciences biological sciences biological morphology comparative morphology
- natural sciences mathematics applied mathematics statistics and probability bayesian statistics
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy cetology
- natural sciences biological sciences evolutionary biology
- natural sciences computer and information sciences computational science
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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-2011-IIF
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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
KY16 9AJ St Andrews
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.