Project description
Alien benthic foraminifera in marine biomonitoring
Benthic foraminifera are single-cell eukaryotic microorganisms that are abundant in marine sediments. Non-indigenous species are increasingly found in many ecosystems, indicating environmental changes, pollution or anthropogenic activity. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Foraminiferal aliens project will investigate recently observed alien and invasive foraminifera along the west Swedish coast, focusing on polluted harbours and fjords. Researchers will combine morphological criteria, molecular analysis and deep learning to reliably distinguish non-indigenous species and determine their arrival history in the region. Ultimately, the Foraminiferal aliens project will support the integration of alien and invasive foraminifera into biomonitoring frameworks to improve assessments of marine ecosystem health.
Objective
FORALIEN (FORaminifera ALIEN) is a project aiming to fill the lack of knowledge of non-indigenous (i.e. alien) benthic foraminifera (marine protists) observed recently in Europe to make them a reliable indicator of human impacts for a better integration into biomonitoring surveys in the context of the European regulation of the Marine Framework Strategy Directive. To do so, I plan to sample surface sediment and sediment cores of several sites on the West Swedish coast which are composed of understudied harbours, in terms of foraminifera but known places of pollution and introduction, and fjords where some have been recently observed, such asTrochammina hadai and Nonionella sp. T1. Among those NIS, Ammonia confertitesta could also occur there. This species has been recently identified as a pseudo-cryptic species included in the Ammonia tepida morphotype with two other very morphologically similar species, A. aberdoveyensis and A. veneta, that are native species in Europe. In a first place, I will morphologically identify these NIS by defining easy criteria of identification and apply a recently developped method allowing an easy identification of the three species of the A. tepida morphotype. To complement the morphological method I will apply novel methods, genetic (digital Polymerase Chain Reaction) and deep learning models, to identify NIS foraminifera quickly and reliably assess their efficiency in biomonitoring surveys. Secondly, I will use methods precedingly described and sediment samples to analyse the spatio-temporal distribution and time of arrival of NIS in the region. This would result in the development of a NIS index to asses their impact on native species. Finally, environmental parameters will be measured to define the unknown ecological requirements of NIS to better integrate them in traditional foraminiferal biotic indices used to assess the health of ecosystems and to explain and forecast their possible succesful invasions in Sweden.
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
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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-2023-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.
405 30 Goeteborg
Sweden
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.