Objective
Introduced ants make up 5% of the most destructive invasive species (including plants), and cause major ecological and economical problems. Their high ecological success is based on an unexpected high level of sociality, hypersociality. Through a complete loss of territorial aggression, all ants from a population form a single and extraordinary large colony.
"Hypersociality" seems to be restricted to the ants' introduced range, and underlying mechanisms of this major evolutionary transition are unclear. The invasive garden ant Lasius neglectus is the most recently introduced ant in Europe, making it a highly valuable study system for early steps of social evolution to hypersociality. Population genetic studies, behavioural observations and chemical analyses of the recognition compounds on the ants' cuticle will be performed of both introduced and native populations. This will reveal the number of independent introductions into Europe and which characters were pre-adaptations for successful invasions or the consequence of an introduction. Genetic composition of hypersocial systems is influenced by
(a) a genetic bottleneck during introduction followed by a decreased overall genetic diversity at the population level, and
(b) free mixing of individuals between nests resulting in a high genetic diversity at the nest level. Experiments will disentangle these opposing effects on the expression of nestmate recognition cues and the behavioural capacity to react on them.
Further, (b) typically increases parasite resistance of social insects, but a release of natural parasites - a general outcome of introductions - should lead to a lower investment into immune defence. Ecological immunology studies will be addressed to separate these effects.
Studies on immunology and chemical recognition cues are new techniques for me requiring intensive methodological training. The project also requires building up a tight collaboration with local researchers.
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.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology entomology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology invasive species
- social sciences economics and business business and management commerce
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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.
FP6-2002-MOBILITY-5
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.
Coordinator
KOEBENHAVN K
Denmark
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.