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Resilience in ant societies

Objective

Complex systems are found at all levels of biological organisation, from molecules to ecosystems. Despite the huge differences in scale, each of them has evolved homeostatic processes conferring resilience to external perturbations. Ants provide an ideal system to identify behavioural responses allowing biological systems to recover from disturbance. The overall aim of this proposal is to identify the collective mechanisms responsible for this resilience. This will be achieved by conducting both abiotic and biotic perturbations. Abiotic perturbations such as flooding frequently have major effects on the demography of the workforce, for example by whipping out all the foragers. We will therefore perform highly controlled perturbations (e.g. targeted removal of worker groups) designed to induce compensatory changes in the behavioural trajectories of the remaining ants to test whether ants can deviate from their baseline behavioural trajectory to mitigate the effect of external perturbations A major biotic challenge faced by all highly social species is the rapid spread of disease between closely-packed conspecifics. Because the kinetics of disease transmission in social groups depends upon the structure of the interaction network, we will investigate how the prophylactic properties of the social interaction network emerge from the individual-level behaviours. Finally, we will perform controlled inoculations with a generalist fungal pathogen to identify active individual-level behavioural responses that further hinder pathogen transmission. The proposed studies which capitalise on two recent methodological advancements (the development of sophisticated network analysis tools and, a tracking system which allows unprecedented collection of behavioural data (e.g. millions of pairwise interactions) will make important contributions to our understanding of processes involved in resilience of complex systems and how animal societies respond to stochastic environments.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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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)

Programme(s)

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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.

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.

ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2016-ADG

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Host institution

UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 2 499 969,00
Address
QUARTIER UNIL CENTRE - BATIMENT UNICENTRE
1015 LAUSANNE
Switzerland

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Region
Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Région lémanique Vaud
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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.

€ 2 499 969,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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