Objective The American tropics – the Neotropics – comprise more species than any other region on Earth, including thousands of species used as crops, medicines and crafts. Understanding the evolution of this biodiversity and predicting the effects of climate and habitat changes on species losses constitute a major scientific challenge.This project will:1) Estimate the rates of historical migration, speciation and extinction among and within all major Neotropical biomes and regions, thereby identifying key areas for ‘evolutionary’ conservation (i.e. those necessary for biotic interchange and vegetation shifts, and those that may function as ‘species pumps’ to the rest of the continent).2) Test competing hypotheses of speciation (soil specialisation, temperature increases, polyploidy, habitat shifts, range expansion) for the two main centres of Neotropical biodiversity: the tropical Andes and Amazonia.3) Produce new estimates on species losses due to on-going climate and habitat changes based on our new findings in 1) and 2) above.To achieve these goals we will develop novel bioinformatics pipelines that will greatly improve our use of biological databases. We will analyse DNA sequences, georeferences and biotic traits for tens of thousands of plant and animal species. Our tools will enable continuously up-to-date inferences and allow the easy integration of new data by students and researchers interested in the evolution of particular species groups or biomes.This is a multi-disciplinary project that requires a wide range of skills in molecular phylogenetics, bioinformatics, field botany, ecology and palaeontology. It will greatly profit from the well-established scientific network I have built up in my career, the vast collections of Neotropical species deposited at European natural history collections, and the excellent laboratory and cultivation facilities available in Gothenburg, Sweden. Fields of science natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdatabasesnatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNAnatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemsnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencespalaeontologynatural sciencesbiological sciencesbotany Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-SG-LS8 - ERC Starting Grant - Evolutionary, population and environmental biology Call for proposal ERC-2012-StG_20111109 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant Host institution GOETEBORGS UNIVERSITET EU contribution € 1 499 855,00 Address VASAPARKEN 405 30 Goeteborg Sweden See on map Region Södra Sverige Västsverige Västra Götalands län Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator Alexandre Marcos Antonelli (Dr.) Administrative Contact Maria Enge (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all GOETEBORGS UNIVERSITET Sweden EU contribution € 1 499 855,00 Address VASAPARKEN 405 30 Goeteborg See on map Region Södra Sverige Västsverige Västra Götalands län Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator Alexandre Marcos Antonelli (Dr.) Administrative Contact Maria Enge (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data
