Objective
Environments are currently changing at unprecedented rates, but the evolution of endocrine response mechanisms is still hardly understood. As environmental transducers, hormone levels are plastic, and basic evolutionary questions such as the nature of individually-consistent hormonal traits are still unanswered. The research proposed here embraces hormonal plasticity by using a novel reaction norm approach. Reaction norms are a gold standard in physiological and evolutionary ecology, but have rarely been applied to hormones. Glucocorticoids (GC) mediate environmental responses in many vertebrate traits. Using great tits (Parus major), I will characterize individual GC phenotypes by quantifying GC components and their reaction norms across environmental gradients. These will be assessed repeatedly to test for repeatability, while field studies will explore fitness relationships. I will address four hypotheses: 1) Individuals differ in GC flexibility; 2) Individuals show repeatable GC responses across different contexts and seasons; 3) GCs are related to reproductive success; and 4) GCs modulate reproductive performance. I will quantify GCs at baseline, after capture-restraint and after negative feedback induction in captivity. I will also assess variation in baseline GC along temperature and workload gradients. I will conduct these tests in non-breeding and breeding seasons to calculate repeatability for GC components. I will then adapt these methods to the field, to investigate how GC flexibility correlates with fitness. Finally, I will impose an environmental challenge during the chick-rearing stage by increasing workload to assess GCs and performance. With this novel approach I aim to advance evolutionary endocrinology by identifying individual hormonal characteristics that are repeatable and fitness-relevant. This research represents a topic of high relevance for science and the public and will provide outstanding academic training to an experienced researcher.
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 ecology
- natural sciences biological sciences evolutionary biology
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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.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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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.
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.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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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.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2014
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
80539 MUNCHEN
Germany
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.