Project description
Understanding biodiversity evolution
The notion of tempo and mode of species diversification integrates palaeontology with genetics and natural selection. It represents a key question in evolutionary biology. Clades that are groupings including a common ancestor; the lineages diversify during their evolution, increasing disparity in niches when new lineages colonise gaps of niche spaces. However, despite its importance, the interdependence between species diversification and niche evolution is not yet understood. The EU-funded INSANE project aims to develop innovative flexible models that allow joint inference on coupled diversification and trait evolution dynamics. It will extend research into multivariate trait evolution, better describe the niche concept and integrate palaeontological data. The project will increase our understanding of biodiversity creation and evolution.
Objective
Understanding the tempo and mode of species diversification and concomitant ecological divergence has been a long-sought goal in evolutionary biology. As clades diversify, disparity in niches typically increases when new lineages colonize previously unfilled zones of niche space. Despite its critical importance in understanding life’s evolution, the universality of an interdependence between species diversification and niche evolution, as well as the directionality and drivers of this association, are still poorly understood. This is presumably attributable to the inherent computational and mathematical challenges to develop process-generating models that would couple diversification and niche evolutionary dynamics and the limited availability of extensive and comparable datasets to characterize niches over large radiations integrating neontological and paleontological data. In this project, I will first develop much-needed novel flexible models that allow joint inference on coupled diversification and trait evolution dynamics by allowing joint rate-heterogeneity for radiations of considerable size. Subsequently, I will enhance biological realism by expanding to multivariate evolution of traits, better characterizing the niche concept, and by integrating paleontological data. Finally, I will allow inference on biotic and abiotic drivers of the interrelationship of species and niche diversification. These models will enable examining hitherto untestable classic evolutionary hypotheses in a formal framework on the feedback between diversification and niche evolution, at the intersection of ecology and evolutionary biology. By applying these models to big scale curated datasets of species-level niches and recently available phylogenetic trees for thousands of species and the ability to integrate fossil information, I will substantially increase our understanding on how biodiversity, both in terms of richness and niches, is generated.
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 biological sciences ecology ecosystems
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.
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-EF-ST - Standard EF
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.
75230 Paris
France
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.