Project description
The dietary habits of fossil sloths
Fossil sloths are generally considered plant eaters, like their modern relatives, but their extremely high diversity suggests they were more versatile than traditionally thought. The EU-funded FEPS project will employ amino acid compound specific isotope analyses to assess evidence of carnivorous behaviour and consumption of animal proteins. Since xenarthrans (which includes sloths, armadillos and anteaters) represented a third of all mammal species in South American until as recently as 10 000 years ago, the discovery that fossil sloths possessed ecologies different than previously believed could radically alter understanding of the entire community structure of terrestrial fossil mammals on the continent over time. The project results will also help understand the isotopic signals preserved in other fossil species and ecosystems.
Objective
South America (SA) contains Earth’s highest mammalian species richness, but this richness was exponentially higher just 10k years ago, prior to the last ice age extinction that eliminated more than 80% of mammals in the continent. With only two living genera restricted to tree-dwelling in rainforests, sloths once were a dominant group within SA mammalian ecosystems. Fossil sloths are generally considered plant eaters, like their modern relatives, but their extremely high diversity (in terms of body mass [4-4000 kg], geographical distribution [Patagonia to Alaska], habitats [coast, mountains, rainforest] and inferred locomotion [terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal, semiaquatic]) suggests that these were ecologically more versatile than traditionally thought. The primary goal of this project is to determine the dietary composition of fossil sloths assessing evidence for carnivory and the consumption of proteins of animal origin by means of amino acid compound specific isotope analyses, as suggested by our preliminary results. Since xenarthrans (the mammal group including sloths, armadillos, and anteaters) represented 1/3 of overall species diversity in South American mammal communities until as recently as 10,000 years ago, a discovery that fossil sloths possessed ecologies differing from those traditionally attributed to them could radically alter understanding of the entire community structure of terrestrial fossil mammals on the continent through time. Stable isotope analyses represent powerful, morphology-independent tools to directly reconstruct animal ecologies, and to test this controversial hypothesis of carnivory. To confidently apply this technique, however, several underlying assumptions first need to be tested on modern sloths and other mammals. Thus, the study will also test key assumptions inherent within isotopic trophic studies, and thus it is broadly relevant to our understanding of the isotopic signals preserved in other fossil species and ecosystems.
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 biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy
- natural sciences chemical sciences organic chemistry amines
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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.
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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 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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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-2020
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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.
CB2 1TN CAMBRIDGE
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.