Project description
Studying coccolithophores to find clues of climate change throughout Earth's history
The greatest in size among all ecosystems on Earth, the marine pelagic ecosystem encompasses 99 % of the total biosphere volume. Its large, diverse environment is home to hundreds of kinds of organisms: bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, reptiles, mammals and birds. The EU-funded P4 project will investigate the impact of past climate extremes on this ecosystem. It will do this using the unicellular plant-like organism, coccolithophores, one of the main types of phytoplankton and the base of the marine food web. Since the coccolithophores were affected by climatic changes in ancient pelagic oceans, it is important to study the patterns of their past behaviours, their abundances and distribution, and how they change with colder or warmer conditions. The findings will improve our understanding of the potential future response of coccolithophores to a warming world.
Objective
The P4 fellowship will test the impact of past climate extremes on marine ecosystems using coccolithophores, a group of marine primary producers that experienced first order effects of climatic changes in ancient pelagic oceans. Here we will use sedimentary materials of exceptional quality recovered during IODP Expedition 361: South African Climates from the Mozambique Channel (Site U1476), Natal Valley (U1474), Agulhas Plateau (U1475), and Cape Basin (U1479), to reconstruct surface water biotic response during the Mid-Pliocene Warm Period (MPWP; 3.264 to 3.025 Ma), an interval considered to be the nearest analogue for future warm climate. For the first-time, recovery of a complete Pliocene/Pleistocene succession in this region offers an unprecedented and timely opportunity to investigate episodes of major ocean and climate reorganizations during the Neogene period. With this, P4 is original and novel, being able to combine biological (assemblage composition), physical (volume, mass), and geochemical (trace elements, stable isotopes) coccolithophore-derived datasets for understanding the climate of the MPWP, and explore its link with the past dynamics of the greater Agulhas Current system. P4 is innovative and collaborative, using state-of-the-art analytical techniques, and in combination with other proxies from ongoing works of other IODP Expedition 361 scientists, offer a broad context for understanding 21st century global climate vulnerabilities. Thus, P4 results and our understanding of the potential future response of coccolithophore species to a warming world will underpin the future design of evidence-based monitoring, mitigation, and management strategies of marine ecosystem and environment. Furthermore, an exceptional set of training and transferable skills between the Experienced Researcher, the Supervisor, and the Secondment Hosts is envisioned, an important prerequisite for the successful delivery of P4’s ambitious research objectives.
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 ecosystems
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology climatic changes
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
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.
-
H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
See all projects funded under this programme
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)
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
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-2019
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
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.
CF10 3AT CARDIFF
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.