Project description
A closer look at natural hybridisation of sea turtles
While scientists study ways to preserve endangered species, a natural process of hybridisation is taking place along the Brazilian coast. Hawksbills and Loggerheads, two sea turtles listed as endangered, are hybridising. Their genome differs considerably. In fact, the two species separated 30 million years ago. The EU-funded TurtleHyb project will study the reasons and consequences of hybridisation in sea turtles. It will investigate ancient hybridisation cases and their relationship with current populations. It will also analyse the genomes of hybrid parents and hatchlings. The data collected will help understand the hybridisation process in these sea turtles and advance our general understanding of species hybridisation.
Objective
Hawksbills and Loggerheads are two endangered sea turtles species that separated approximately 30 million years ago. Despite this very long divergence time, they are currently hybridizing on the Brazilian coast. Among nesting females morphologically identified as Hawksbills, 42% are F1 hybrids. Hybrids can backcross with both parental species and produce viable offspring. This appears to be a beautiful natural experiment, possibly driven by population decline that favour interspecific mating, to study and understand species hybridization under the extreme conditions of secondary contacts between highly divergent genomes. Here I propose to study causes and consequences of the hybridization in Loggerhead and Hawksbill sea turtles using both whole genomes and RAD sequencing data. I will a) infer timing and intensity of putative ancient hybridization events that may have also occurred in the past, and their relationship with the population size dynamic. Then I will b) dissect the current hybridization event occurring in Brazil, looking for genomic regions associated with reproductive isolation and incompatibilities, and for segregation distortion along the genomes in hybrids parents and hatchlings. The amount of data generated will be unprecedented for sea turtles, will be helpful to identify risks and evolution opportunities of the hybridization process in these turtle species, and will contribute to the general understanding of species hybridization and its genomic aspects. The proposal includes transfer of knowledge to the host institution and the training of the candidate in innovative genomic and statistical techniques. Results will also strengthen the collaborative network of researchers in Europe and the Americas studying sea turtles and their hybridization. This project is in line with current European guidelines to increase knowledge of marine wildlife to protect the environment and adapt to climate change.
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 evolutionary biology
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology climatic changes
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
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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-2018
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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.
44121 Ferrara
Italy
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.