Project description
Effects of nutrient pollution on coral reef fishes
Global stressors and human activities have led to a rapid decline of coral reefs worldwide. Nutrient pollution derived from sewage outfalls and coastal runoffs is commonly associated with coral health decline and increased dysbiosis susceptibility. As the mechanisms leading to microbial dysbiosis in corals remain inadequately understood, there is a growing need to investigate how nutrient pollution affects the microbiomes of reef fishes that could vector microbes to corals. The EU-funded POPAMA project will combine approaches from microbial ecology and physiology of stress to assess how nutrient pollution alters the microbiomes and physiology of parrotfish in coral reefs from Mayotte. POPAMA will also investigate whether changes in parrotfish microbiomes and physiology have cascading effects on coral health.
Objective
Coral reefs are in precipitous decline worldwide due to a number of global stressors and local human impacts. Nutrient pollution emanating from sewage outfalls and coastal runoffs is often associated with the disruption of coral microbiomes, enhancing coral dysbiosis susceptibility that further alters coral health. That said, the mechanisms leading to microbial dysbiosis in reef organisms remain poorly understood. There is especially a need to investigate how nutrient pollution can affect the microbiomes of ecologically and economically important reef fishes such as parrotfishes, which are suggested to vector microbes to corals and enhance coral dysbiosis susceptibility when coupled with pollution. The proposed research will integrate approaches from microbial ecology and physiology to investigate to what extent nutrient pollution can alter parrotfish microbiomes, whether these changes result in differences in parrotfish physiology, and the potential cascading effects on coral microbiomes and health. Working with Dr. Villéger’s team at MARBEC, I will couple field collections from near pristine and polluted reefs in Mayotte with advanced tools in next-generation sequencing and ecology to test for nutrient-mediated changes to parrotfish mouth and gut microbiota. Both areas are known to serve vital physiological functions for fish and to host potential opportunistic bacterial taxa that could further alter health of both fish and corals. Through my secondment host with Dr. Sucré at the University Centre of Mayotte, I will acquire new skills in fish physiology that can be used to correlate physiological metrics (e.g. stress response) and microbial community status. Our findings may provide underappreciated pathways linking nutrient pollution to dysbiosis in parrotfish microbiota, and the potential spread of opportunistic taxa in coral reefs via corallivory. They will be critical to develop meaningful conservation and restauration strategies to preserve reef 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 earth and related environmental sciences environmental sciences pollution
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
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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.
75794 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.