Objective
The project addresses the integration of process-oriented and population-community approaches to asses the role of biodiversity in detritus processing based ecosystems. The main purpose is to establish a scientific basic procedure for the biodiversity and habitat management in inland aquatic ecosystems. The relationships between biodiversity, community assembly rules, food web patterns, nutrient flows and detritus processing will be investigated, through space and time, in rivers, lakes and lagoons in five significant areas of Western Europe.
The project provides studies in the field, in mesocosms and in laboratory, addressing some basic ecological questions:
(1) how is biodiversity related to detritus processing in aquatic systems characterized by different typologies?
(2) Are decay rates of plant detritus related to community complexity and stability, as measured by food web patterns?
(3) How does disturbance affect biodiversity and decomposition processes? Does the effect scale with disturbance strength?
(4) Are temporal variations of detritus dacay rates affected by the fractal dimension (Perimeter/Area) of the habitat and can it be used as measure of habitat vulnerability?
Expected results have to meet the following milestones:
i. the quantitative relationships among biodiversity, decomposition processes and intra-habitat spatial distribution of the process rates;
ii. the rule of disturbance on processes, biodiversity, community organization and on the complexity of tri-trophic food webs;
iii. the relationships between decay rates and decay efficiency, on the one hand, and community and food web organization, and food web stability, on the other hand;
iv. the geo-statistical mapping of the intra-habitat variations of processes, diversity and complexity and a comparison among the patterns observed in the different habitat typologies.
All partners will address at local and regional scale, intra and inter-habitat comparisons of disturbed and undisturbed habitats within the same experimental design. Exchanges of scientists among the partners will improve the respective performances allowing the same taxonomic resolution in the community studies and the application of the same methodology to the different study habitat. The investigations will produce results that on the one hand will improve the actual knowledge on the mechanisms of plant decomposition and food webs in donor control systems, and on the other hand they will supply a useful tool for the management of biodiversity in the inland aquatic systems through EU.
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.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering control systems
- engineering and technology environmental engineering ecosystem-based management habitat conservation
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences hydrology limnology
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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.
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.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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.
Coordinator
00161 Roma
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.