Project description
Exploring the survival strategies of the European red deer
Many large terrestrial mammals vanished during the Late Quaternary Extinction, a result of climate shifts and human activities. Current human impacts and climate change may lead to similar extinction scenarios. The red deer stands out as one of the few taxa that endured, maintaining a continuous presence for nearly a million years in the Iberian Peninsula. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the AGENDEER project aims to collect data on the genetic structure and niche occupation of southern European fossil red deer populations, with a focus on the period before and after the Late Quaternary Extinction event. This project integrates palaeogenetic analyses, dietary behaviour studies and a pilot palaeoproteomic investigation to unravel the successful strategies that allowed Cervus elaphus to survive.
Objective
The Late Quaternary Extinction event led to a major loss of biodiversity with the global disappearance of several terrestrial large mammals. Ancient DNA studies of extinct lineages dated before the Late Pleistocene/Holocene boundary suggests that this event may have been a result of repetitive climatic shifts that fragmented large mammal populations making them more vulnerable to increasing human activities. Current climate change and human impacts on ecosystems may lead to similar scenarios of extinction. The red deer (Cervus elaphus) represents one of the few taxa that survived the Quaternary megafauna extinction, with the fossil record suggesting that its lineage has been continuously present for almost 1 Ma in the Iberian Peninsula which acted as a refugium during intense glacials. The aim of AGENDEER is to provide data on the genetic structure and niche occupation of Southern European fossil red deer populations before and after the Late Quaternary Extinction event. Through palaeogenetic and dietary behaviours analyses, as well as a pilot palaeoproteomic study, AGENDEER will investigate which winning (palaeobiological and palaeoecological) strategies that allowed Cervus elaphus to not disappear as other megafauna populations. Results will be essential to understand the survival capacity and adaptation of one of the most important species of the European natural heritage providing new information for the proper management of the species. The European Researcher will receive advanced training on state-of-the-art molecular analyses which combined with classical palaeoecological methods will greatly enhance her competence and allow her to develop her research career and leadership
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 genetics DNA
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences palaeontology paleoecology
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy
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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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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
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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.
50009 Zaragoza
Spain
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.