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Content archived on 2024-05-29

Invasion success of crustacean zooplankton: adaptive mechanisms vs. broad physiological tolerance

Objective

Biological invasions of exotic species raise concerns because of their detrimental effects on native species, biodiversity, ecosystems and related high economic costs. However, evolutionary mechanisms involved in the success of invasive species remain poorly understood in the vast majority of organisms.

Evidence is accumulating that invasiveness is influenced by microevolutionary processes such as adaptive capacity rather than by broad physiological tolerance to the environment, enabling colonization of new habitats by invasives that differ greatly from their habitat of origin.

The aim of the proposed project is to study these contrasting mechanisms using experimental approaches as well as evidence from the field. As model invasive organisms, I have chosen two zooplankton species which have each invaded new continents across large geographical scales: Daphnia lumholtzi (Cladocera, Crustacea) in North America, and Acartiatonsa (Copepoda, Crustacea) in Europe.

The proposed project contains three main parts:
- genotype x environment experiments, assessing fitness (e.g. survival and reproductive parameters) of isolated genotypes in response to differing salinities and temperatures,
- examination of genotype composition of the founder population using dormant eggs from the egg banks of invaded habitats
- sampling of populations across wider geographical or environmental scales to characterize population genetic structure in association with environmental/climatic properties.

The expected results add important insight into how and to what extent microevolutionary processes play a role in shaping invasive success of exotic species.

The conclusions to be drawn will bridge the gap between basic research and applied conservation biology within the interdisciplinary framework of evolutionary biology, physiology, genetics and palaeobiology, and will be a valuable contribution for the development of management strategies.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

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Topic(s)

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Call for proposal

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FP6-2005-MOBILITY-6
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

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OIF - Marie Curie actions-Outgoing International Fellowships

Coordinator

CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
EU contribution
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Total cost

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Participants (1)

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