Objective
Mammals are ubiquitous, with over 5000 species across the globe. But how did mammals become so successful? There is vigorous debate among palaeontologists: did mammals explosively diversify after a sudden environmental crisis knocked out dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous (~66 million years ago) or rise to dominance more slowly, alongside the dinosaurs? The debate persists because we still know very little about those mammals that flourished during the ~10 million years after the end-Cretaceous extinction (the early Paleogene), as they are largely ignored because their ‘archaic’ anatomy has long confounded palaeontologists. This project will use a wealth of newly discovered fossils and state-of-the-art analytical techniques to finally untangle the evolutionary story of these ~200 critical species. We will comprehensively study the anatomy of ‘archaic’ species using state-of-the-art imaging technology and build a species-level genealogy placing these long-mysterious mammals in the context of their Cretaceous forebears and modern mammals. Cutting-edge quantitative methods for studying evolution, including novel techniques developed here, will be applied to the family tree to date the origin of placental mammals and the major modern groups, determine what effect the end-Cretaceous extinction had on mammalian biodiversity, quantify the tempo and mode of the placental radiation, and explicitly test for potential drivers of mammalian diversification. This will give ground-breaking insight into how major groups become successful over evolutionary time and how biodiversity is affected and reset by dramatic environmental changes, a pressing concern in today’s rapidly changing world.
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.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine anatomy and morphology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences palaeontology
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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.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
ERC-STG - Starting Grant
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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) ERC-2017-STG
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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.
EH8 9YL Edinburgh
United Kingdom
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.