Obiettivo Understanding biogeochemical dynamics in the ocean and predicting responses of marine ecosystems to climate change and other stressors require a good description and knowledge of the structure and biological processes in pelagic food webs. In marine ecosystems, zooplankton occupy a key trophic position in plankton food webs, playing a pivotal role in marine biogeochemical cycling and fish recruitment. Knowledge of zooplankton predator-prey interactions is essential for better comprehension of the factors regulating the structure of marine food webs and therefore, for an integrated understanding of the marine ecosystems dynamics.Traditionally, models of pelagic marine food webs quantify interactions between species or functional types, but attempts to embrace the inherent complexity of marine food webs make these models very complex. An emerging alternative approach, the trait based approach, proposes to replace the thousands of species with organisms that are characterized by a few key traits (i.e. those characteristics/features that are essential to the success – fitness - of an organism) and their associated trade-offs (what are the costs and benefits of a particular trait). The present project aims to experimentally quantify the feeding tradeoffs (i.e. feeding efficiency vs. metabolic cost and mortality risk) associated with the three main feeding behaviors in zooplankton and to construct trait-based models to predict zooplankton trait distributions in the ocean. Overall, the proposed project will increase our ability to understand the factors that govern the structure and function of pelagic food webs, and predict their changes under different environmental conditions, including global climate change scenarios. Campo scientifico social sciencessociologydemographymortalitynatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemsnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changesnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeochemistrybiogeochemistry Programma(i) FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Argomento(i) FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF - Marie-Curie Action: "Intra-European fellowships for career development" Invito a presentare proposte FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF Vedi altri progetti per questo bando Meccanismo di finanziamento MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF) Coordinatore DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET Contributo UE € 221 154,60 Indirizzo ANKER ENGELUNDS VEJ 101 2800 Kongens Lyngby Danimarca Mostra sulla mappa Regione Danmark Hovedstaden Københavns omegn Tipo di attività Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Contatto amministrativo Ole Henrik Haslund (Mr.) Collegamenti Contatta l’organizzazione Opens in new window Sito web Opens in new window Costo totale Nessun dato