Objective
Dispersal lays the template upon which other biological processes take place. Previous work has shown that two competing ant genera, both specialist symbionts of a tropical ant-plant, show spatial structuring consistent with a trade-off between propagule dispersal ability and adult fecundity, allowing coexistence when patch density varies. Poor dispersal is also thought to produce local resource competition and male-skewed sex ratios. We propose to isolate micro satellite markers from two ant species, which will be used to measure relatedness within colonies, amongst ant foundresses competing for the same saplings, and to match foundresses with natal colonies. This will allow the direct reconstruction of dispersal kernels and the quantification of the level of loc al resource competition.
The results of this work will connect dispersal biology with the study of population genetics, spatial ecology, sex ratio evolution, and the maintenance of cooperation in mutualisms, making important and basic contributions to three outstanding challenges in evolutionary ecology. The first challenge is to relate population genetic measures to patterns of propagule dispersal, as opposed to gene flow generally. The second challenge is to test empirically the theoretically well-supported notion that species can coexist via spatial niche partitioning. And the third challenge is to explain the mechanisms that allow species coexistence and mutualism to remain evolutionarily stable.
This proposal is supported by one of the most advanced British universities in evolutionary ecology, with the aim to create a durable research collaboration between England and France. This network will provide the foundation of a wider grouping in a near future, involving other member states of the Community, e.g. Germany and Austria.
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.
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- natural sciences biological sciences ecology evolutionary ecology
- natural sciences biological sciences biological behavioural sciences ethology biological interactions
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Programme(s)
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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.
Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2002-MOBILITY-5
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Funding Scheme
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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.
Coordinator
NORWICH
United Kingdom
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