Objective
Nutritional mutualisms between tropical arboreal ants and bacteria symbiotic in their guts are of great ecological significance, because they form an essential part of the web of interactions that underpin the keystone role of ants as predators of arthropods in tropical forest canopies. With the exception of a few highly specialised examples, these important symbioses are virtually unstudied. Plant/ant/bacterial symbioses are convenient model systems for investigating numerous open questions about symbioses between insects and bacteria. Diets of tropical plant-associated ants, for example, are often highly variable among closely related species, and even, in a system to be examined in detail in this study, among colonies in a single population.
They thus offer greater scope for studying questions about functional diversity in insect/bacterial symbioses than do systems such as the interactions between Buchnera and aphids "all of which arephloem-sucking insects" that have provided the foundation from which the exploration of diversity can now begin. Study of plant/ant/bacterial symbioses may elucidate new roles for bacteria and new mechanisms for their effects.
The immediate goal of the study proposed here is to characterise patterns of bacterial diversity in ant guts at different levels, from intra-population variation in the African plant-ant Aphomomyrmex(mediated by the identity of yet another partner in the interaction, homopterans), to inter-population and inter specific variation in Aphomomyrmex and its sister taxon Petal omyrmex, and finally to a comparative study of bacterial symbionts of the pantropical lineage to which these ants belong, the formicine tribe Myrmelachistini. Patterns in this diversity will provide clues about the functioning and the evolutionary history of ant/bacterial symbioses. The long-term goal is to characterise functional diversity in these symbioses.
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 microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology microbiomes
- natural sciences biological sciences biological behavioural sciences ethology biological interactions
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology entomology
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology invertebrate zoology
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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.
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
MONTPELLIER
France
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.