Project description
Exploring comparative evolution with the help of penguins
Penguins have evolved from flying seabirds to flightless marine creatures, and they are very sensitive to climate and environmental change. Therefore, they represent a great opportunity for scientists to study comparative evolution, biogeography, adaptation and demography. The EU-funded GENEDAMP project aims to explore comparative evolution and adaptation across all penguin species by using full genome data. Within this scope, it will span 27 modern penguin lineages (including all extant and recently extinct taxa). The project is expected to provide revolutionary insights into three key aspects of penguin evolutionary history: drivers of diversification and biogeography, genomic adaptations to diverse environments and climate driven demography.
Objective
Penguins are a diverse order of Southern Hemisphere seabirds, with breeding ranges spanning from the tropical Galápagos Islands to the sea-ice around Antarctica. Sharing a common ancestor with Procellariiformes, penguins transitioned about 60 million years ago from flying seabirds to powerful, flightless marine divers. They have subsequently evolved many unique adaptations for an aquatic environment, including densely-packed waterproof and insulating feathers, visual sensitivity, dense bones, stiff wing joints and an enhanced thermoregulation system. Lineage-specific adaptations have also evolved, and include different body size, breeding strategies, bill morphologies and plumage. This unique evolutionary history, together with their high sensitivity to climate and environmental change, make penguins an excellent group for studying comparative evolution, biogeography, adaptation and demography. However, this has proven challenging. For example, several studies have attempted to pinpoint the timing, and thereby the drivers of recent speciation events and biogeography, morphological/physiological adaptations and historical demographic trends in penguins, yet no consensus has been reached. Most studies have been limited by the genetic markers available (short mitochondrial or nuclear sequences, mitochondrial genomes, single nucleotide polymorphisms), or have been biased towards primarily Antarctic species. To finally resolve such questions, it is necessary to explore comparative evolution and adaptation across all penguin species using full genome data. This project will achieve this through analysing a new set of high-coverage genomes spanning 27 modern penguin lineages (including all extant and recently extinct taxa). In doing so, we will provide revolutionary insights into three key aspects of penguin evolutionary history: 1) drivers of diversification and biogeography; 2) genomic adaptations to diverse environments; and 3) climate driven demography.
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 zoology ornithology
- social sciences sociology demography
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics nucleotides
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences physical geography
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.
1165 KOBENHAVN
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.