Objective
Why do organisms age? This is surely one of the most compelling questions in biology. With advancing age, organisms can see physiological decline leading to higher mortality and lower fertility, a process known as ‘senescence’. The foundations of aging research state senescence should be inevitable in any organism, and is likely a by-product of attenuation in force of selection with age. But is senescence inevitable? Could senescence be adaptive?
Senescence is not inevitable, according to recent research from the Max Planck Odense Center, University of Southern Denmark. Species’ aging trajectories are diverse; mortality and fertility may increase, decrease or stay constant with age. We need a new way to understand aging, which recognises this diversity and seeks to understand pattern and process in the evolution of aging across the tree of life. The WHYAGE project explores ecological consequences and evolutionary causes of diversity in aging from this ‘macro’ perspective.
Senescence could be adaptive. This proposal presents a theoretical framework under which certain environmental disturbances affecting population age structures could, through population-level processes, favour senescent individuals. More generally, diverse environmental disturbance regimes could help explain diversity of aging across the tree of life.
Three objectives facilitate the project. First, demographic method development will allow better understanding of aging trajectories in mortality and fecundity, and population dynamics influenced by these. Second, comparative phylogenetic analyses of global demographic databases of plants and animals will uncover the consequences of aging for population dynamics across the tree of life. This knowledge will inform the third objective; development of theoretical population models exploring how environmental disturbances and population dynamics feed into evolutionary processes, and using these to find conditions under which senescence may be adaptive.
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 biological morphology comparative morphology
- natural sciences computer and information sciences databases
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
- natural sciences biological sciences evolutionary biology
- natural sciences biological sciences botany
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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.
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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-EF-ST - Standard EF
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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-2016
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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.
5230 Odense M
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.