Objective
Throughout Europe, the expansion of modern, chemical-intensive agriculture is regarded as the principal cause of widespread declines in abundance and diversity beneficial arthropods. Conservation of natural enemies in agricultural landscapes is considered the most ecologically sustainable method for biological control of agricultural pests. An ecological relevant hypothesis is that higher plant diversity, through addition of plant species able to supply accessible food and/or shelters at different seasons of the year, can increase natural enemies' fitness. Based on existing insights in insect–plant interactions, specific floral seed mixtures (to be placed in field margins or as ground cover vegetation) can be developed which target specific visiting biocontrol agents. However, the particular mechanisms involved and potential for practical use in farm management remain unclear. In this project I propose to consider the insect community level, including pests and their parasitoids to evaluate the service of pest regulation provided by plant functional and evolutionary diversity at a time when climate change is expected to trigger more frequent or severe insect outbreaks. This will be done by comparing a group of native flowering plants that are already sold by private companies for bees pollination (or other interests) in terms of their capacity to serve as source of sugar (pollen) for aphid parasitoids while resulting unattractive for their aphid hosts. The best resulting plants will be isolately tested under greenhouse to evaluate their efficiency by measuring the resulting parasitism rate by aphid parasitoids under optimal and extremely hot conditions (summer in Valencia, Spain, where this experiment will be performed during the secondment). Training for me will include experimental design, insect physiology, HPLC analysis, wind tunnel management, insect thermal resistance, plant flower and pollen characterization, plant-insect interactions, statistics and others.
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.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture agronomy plant protection
- natural sciences biological sciences biological behavioural sciences ethology biological interactions
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology entomology
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology climatic changes
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology invertebrate zoology
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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-CAR - CAR – Career Restart panel
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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-2014
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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.
35065 RENNES CEDEX
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.