Project acronym ALCOHOLLIFECOURSE
Project Alcohol Consumption across the Life-course: Determinants and Consequences
Researcher (PI) Anne Rebecca Britton
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS7, ERC-2012-StG_20111109
Summary The epidemiology of alcohol use and related health consequences plays a vital role by monitoring populations’ alcohol consumption patterns and problems associated with drinking. Such studies seek to explain mechanisms linking consumption to harm and ultimately to reduce the health burden. Research needs to consider changes in drinking behaviour over the life-course. The current evidence base lacks the consideration of the complexity of lifetime consumption patterns, the predictors of change and subsequent health risks.
Aims of the study
1. To describe age-related trajectories of drinking in different settings and to determine the extent to which individual and social contextual factors, including socioeconomic position, social networks and life events influence drinking pattern trajectories.
2. To estimate the impact of drinking trajectories on physical functioning and disease and to disentangle the exposure-outcome associations in terms of a) timing, i.e. health effect of drinking patterns in early, mid and late life; and b) duration, i.e. whether the impact of drinking accumulates over time.
3. To test the bidirectional associations between health and changes in consumption over the life-course in order to estimate the relative importance of these effects and to determine the dominant temporal direction.
4. To explore mechanisms and pathways through which drinking trajectories affect health and functioning in later life and to examine the role played by potential effect modifiers of the association between drinking and poor health.
Several large, longitudinal cohort studies from European countries with repeated measures of alcohol consumption will be combined and analysed to address the aims. A new team will be formed consisting of the PI, a Research Associate and two PhD students. Dissemination will be through journals, conferences, and culminating in a one-day workshop for academics, practitioners and policy makers in the alcohol field.
Summary
The epidemiology of alcohol use and related health consequences plays a vital role by monitoring populations’ alcohol consumption patterns and problems associated with drinking. Such studies seek to explain mechanisms linking consumption to harm and ultimately to reduce the health burden. Research needs to consider changes in drinking behaviour over the life-course. The current evidence base lacks the consideration of the complexity of lifetime consumption patterns, the predictors of change and subsequent health risks.
Aims of the study
1. To describe age-related trajectories of drinking in different settings and to determine the extent to which individual and social contextual factors, including socioeconomic position, social networks and life events influence drinking pattern trajectories.
2. To estimate the impact of drinking trajectories on physical functioning and disease and to disentangle the exposure-outcome associations in terms of a) timing, i.e. health effect of drinking patterns in early, mid and late life; and b) duration, i.e. whether the impact of drinking accumulates over time.
3. To test the bidirectional associations between health and changes in consumption over the life-course in order to estimate the relative importance of these effects and to determine the dominant temporal direction.
4. To explore mechanisms and pathways through which drinking trajectories affect health and functioning in later life and to examine the role played by potential effect modifiers of the association between drinking and poor health.
Several large, longitudinal cohort studies from European countries with repeated measures of alcohol consumption will be combined and analysed to address the aims. A new team will be formed consisting of the PI, a Research Associate and two PhD students. Dissemination will be through journals, conferences, and culminating in a one-day workshop for academics, practitioners and policy makers in the alcohol field.
Max ERC Funding
1 032 815 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
Project acronym BALDWINIAN_BEETLES
Project "The origin of the fittest: canalization, plasticity and selection as a consequence of provisioning during development"
Researcher (PI) Rebecca Kilner
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2012-StG_20111109
Summary "A major outstanding challenge for evolutionary biology is to explain how novel adaptations arise. We propose to test whether developmental plasticity initiates evolutionary change in morphological, behavioural and social traits, using laboratory experiments, fieldwork and comparative analyses.
Using burying beetles Nicrophorus spp as our model experimental system, we shall:
1) Test whether variation in parental provisioning during development induces correlated phenotypic change in adult body size and a suite of life history traits; whether these phenotypic changes can be genetically accommodated under experimental evolution (the Baldwin Effect); and whether changes induced by experimental evolution mimic natural variation in adult body size and life history strategy among Nicrophorus species;
2) Test whether parental provisioning has a canalizing effect on the developmental environment, potentially storing up cryptic genetic variation which might then be released as random new phenotypes, if offspring are exposed to a new developmental environment;
3) Investigate whether developmental trade-offs, induced by under-provisioning from parents, provide the first step towards the evolution of a novel interspecific mutualism. Is a second species recruited in adulthood to carry out the function of a structure that was under-nourished during development?
4) Using comparative analyses of data from the literature on insects, frogs, birds and mammals, we shall test whether the evolution of parental provisioning in a given lineage is positively correlated with the number of species in the lineage.
Our proposal is original in focusing on developmental plasticity induced by variation in parental provisioning. Given the diverse and numerous species that provision their young, including several whose genomes have now been sequenced, this potentially opens up a rich new area for future work on the developmental mechanisms underlying evolutionary innovations."
Summary
"A major outstanding challenge for evolutionary biology is to explain how novel adaptations arise. We propose to test whether developmental plasticity initiates evolutionary change in morphological, behavioural and social traits, using laboratory experiments, fieldwork and comparative analyses.
Using burying beetles Nicrophorus spp as our model experimental system, we shall:
1) Test whether variation in parental provisioning during development induces correlated phenotypic change in adult body size and a suite of life history traits; whether these phenotypic changes can be genetically accommodated under experimental evolution (the Baldwin Effect); and whether changes induced by experimental evolution mimic natural variation in adult body size and life history strategy among Nicrophorus species;
2) Test whether parental provisioning has a canalizing effect on the developmental environment, potentially storing up cryptic genetic variation which might then be released as random new phenotypes, if offspring are exposed to a new developmental environment;
3) Investigate whether developmental trade-offs, induced by under-provisioning from parents, provide the first step towards the evolution of a novel interspecific mutualism. Is a second species recruited in adulthood to carry out the function of a structure that was under-nourished during development?
4) Using comparative analyses of data from the literature on insects, frogs, birds and mammals, we shall test whether the evolution of parental provisioning in a given lineage is positively correlated with the number of species in the lineage.
Our proposal is original in focusing on developmental plasticity induced by variation in parental provisioning. Given the diverse and numerous species that provision their young, including several whose genomes have now been sequenced, this potentially opens up a rich new area for future work on the developmental mechanisms underlying evolutionary innovations."
Max ERC Funding
1 499 914 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-11-01, End date: 2017-10-31
Project acronym CARBONSINK
Project Life beneath the ocean floor: The subsurface sink of carbon in the marine environment
Researcher (PI) Alexandra Turchyn
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE10, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary "One prominent idea for mitigating global climate change is to remove CO2 from the atmosphere by storing it in fluids in the natural environment; for example dissolved within sediments below the ocean floor or in oceanic crust. This carbon sequestration is popular because it would allow us to place carbon into semi-permanent (on human timescales) storage, ‘buying time’ to wean us from our dependence on carbon-based energy sources. Application of such a mitigation technique presumes knowledge of what will happen to carbon when it is dissolved in various environments. Studies of naturally produced excess dissolved CO2 are, however, equivocal; this lack of knowledge represents a huge deficit in our comprehension of the global carbon cycle and specifically the processes removing carbon from the surface of the planet over geological timescales.
This proposal will resolve the sink for CO2 within marine sediments and oceanic crust. Beneath much of the ocean floor exists the ‘deep biosphere’, microbial populations living largely in the absence of oxygen, consuming organic carbon that has fallen to the sea floor, producing a large excess of dissolved inorganic carbon. This dissolved inorganic carbon can diffuse back to the ocean or can precipitate in situ as carbonate minerals. Previous attempts to quantify the flux of carbon through the deep biosphere focused mostly on studies of sulfur and carbon, and these studies cannot reveal the fate of the produced inorganic carbon. I propose a novel approach to constrain the fate of carbon through the study of the subsurface calcium cycle. Calcium is the element involved in precipitating carbon as in situ carbonate minerals and thus will directly provide the required mass balance to determine the fate of CO2 in the marine subsurface. This mass balance will be achieved through experiments, measurements, and numerical modeling, to achieve the primary objective of constraining the fate of carbon in submarine environments."
Summary
"One prominent idea for mitigating global climate change is to remove CO2 from the atmosphere by storing it in fluids in the natural environment; for example dissolved within sediments below the ocean floor or in oceanic crust. This carbon sequestration is popular because it would allow us to place carbon into semi-permanent (on human timescales) storage, ‘buying time’ to wean us from our dependence on carbon-based energy sources. Application of such a mitigation technique presumes knowledge of what will happen to carbon when it is dissolved in various environments. Studies of naturally produced excess dissolved CO2 are, however, equivocal; this lack of knowledge represents a huge deficit in our comprehension of the global carbon cycle and specifically the processes removing carbon from the surface of the planet over geological timescales.
This proposal will resolve the sink for CO2 within marine sediments and oceanic crust. Beneath much of the ocean floor exists the ‘deep biosphere’, microbial populations living largely in the absence of oxygen, consuming organic carbon that has fallen to the sea floor, producing a large excess of dissolved inorganic carbon. This dissolved inorganic carbon can diffuse back to the ocean or can precipitate in situ as carbonate minerals. Previous attempts to quantify the flux of carbon through the deep biosphere focused mostly on studies of sulfur and carbon, and these studies cannot reveal the fate of the produced inorganic carbon. I propose a novel approach to constrain the fate of carbon through the study of the subsurface calcium cycle. Calcium is the element involved in precipitating carbon as in situ carbonate minerals and thus will directly provide the required mass balance to determine the fate of CO2 in the marine subsurface. This mass balance will be achieved through experiments, measurements, and numerical modeling, to achieve the primary objective of constraining the fate of carbon in submarine environments."
Max ERC Funding
1 945 695 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-12-01, End date: 2017-11-30
Project acronym CDREG
Project Carbon dioxide regulation of Earth’s ecological weathering engine: from microorganisms to ecosystems
Researcher (PI) David Beerling
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120314
Summary CDREG develops the major new Earth system science research hypothesis that tectonic-related variations in Earth’s atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]a) drive negative ecological feedbacks on terrestrial silicate weathering rates that stabilise further [CO2]a change and regulate climate. This paradigm-changing hypothesis integrates ecological and abiotic controls on silicate weathering to understand how terrestrial ecosystems have shaped past Earth system dynamics. The proposed ecological feedbacks are mechanistically linked to the extent and activities of forested ecosystems and their symbiotic fungal partners as the primary engines of biological weathering.
CDREG’s core hypothesis establishes an exciting cross-disciplinary Research Programme that offers novel opportunities for major breakthroughs implemented through four linked hypothesis-driven work packages (WPs) employing experimental, geochemical and numerical modelling approaches. WP1 quantitatively characterises [CO2]a-driven tree/grass-fungal mineral weathering by coupling metabolic profiling with advanced nanometre scale surface metrological techniques for investigating hyphal-mineral interactions. WP2 quantifies the role [CO2]a-drought interactions on savanna tree mortality and C4 grass survivorship, plus symbiotic fungal-driven mineral weathering. WP3 exploits the past 8 Ma of marine sediment archives to investigate the links between forest to savanna transition, terrestrial weathering, fire, and climate in Africa. WP4 integrates findings from WP1-3 into a new Earth system modelling framework to rigorously investigate the biogeochemical feedbacks of [CO2]a-regulated ecological weathering on [CO2]a via marine carbonate deposition and organic C burial.
The ultimate goal is to provide a new synthesis in which the role of [CO2]a in regulating the ecological weathering engine across scales from root-associated microorganisms to terrestrial ecosystems is mechanistically understood and assessed.
Summary
CDREG develops the major new Earth system science research hypothesis that tectonic-related variations in Earth’s atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]a) drive negative ecological feedbacks on terrestrial silicate weathering rates that stabilise further [CO2]a change and regulate climate. This paradigm-changing hypothesis integrates ecological and abiotic controls on silicate weathering to understand how terrestrial ecosystems have shaped past Earth system dynamics. The proposed ecological feedbacks are mechanistically linked to the extent and activities of forested ecosystems and their symbiotic fungal partners as the primary engines of biological weathering.
CDREG’s core hypothesis establishes an exciting cross-disciplinary Research Programme that offers novel opportunities for major breakthroughs implemented through four linked hypothesis-driven work packages (WPs) employing experimental, geochemical and numerical modelling approaches. WP1 quantitatively characterises [CO2]a-driven tree/grass-fungal mineral weathering by coupling metabolic profiling with advanced nanometre scale surface metrological techniques for investigating hyphal-mineral interactions. WP2 quantifies the role [CO2]a-drought interactions on savanna tree mortality and C4 grass survivorship, plus symbiotic fungal-driven mineral weathering. WP3 exploits the past 8 Ma of marine sediment archives to investigate the links between forest to savanna transition, terrestrial weathering, fire, and climate in Africa. WP4 integrates findings from WP1-3 into a new Earth system modelling framework to rigorously investigate the biogeochemical feedbacks of [CO2]a-regulated ecological weathering on [CO2]a via marine carbonate deposition and organic C burial.
The ultimate goal is to provide a new synthesis in which the role of [CO2]a in regulating the ecological weathering engine across scales from root-associated microorganisms to terrestrial ecosystems is mechanistically understood and assessed.
Max ERC Funding
2 271 980 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-06-01, End date: 2018-05-31
Project acronym COEVOCON
Project Coevolution of bacteria and conjugative plasmids
Researcher (PI) Michael Brockhurst
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2012-StG_20111109
Summary Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a fundamental process of bacterial evolution, accelerating adaptation to novel environments and providing access to new ecological niches. However, two of the three mechanisms of HGT, transduction and conjugation, both rely on semi-autonomous vectors (lysogenic phages and conjugative plasmids, respectively), creating the potential for coadaptation between microbe and vector. I here focus on conjugative plasmids. These encode their own replication and transfer, and as such are capable of pursuing their own fitness interests, which need not be aligned with those of their bacterial host. My thesis is that bacterial adaptation by conjugation must therefore be viewed as a co-evolutionary, rather than simply an evolutionary process as achieved to date. In this proposal I take an experimental evolution approach to derive an empirically founded understanding of bacteria-plasmid coevolutionary processes. In particular, I focus on the effects (on the pattern and process of bacteria-plasmid coevolution) of ecological variables identified in population models as crucial to the persistence of conjugative plasmids: environmental heterogeneity, spatial structure, and between-species transfer. Drawing on coevolutionary theory, I highlight that the ecological conditions expected to favour plasmid persistence may often drive the breakdown of bacteria-plasmid coadaptation. Additionally, I will determine the consequences of bacteria-plasmid coevolution for the structuring of microbial communities.
Summary
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a fundamental process of bacterial evolution, accelerating adaptation to novel environments and providing access to new ecological niches. However, two of the three mechanisms of HGT, transduction and conjugation, both rely on semi-autonomous vectors (lysogenic phages and conjugative plasmids, respectively), creating the potential for coadaptation between microbe and vector. I here focus on conjugative plasmids. These encode their own replication and transfer, and as such are capable of pursuing their own fitness interests, which need not be aligned with those of their bacterial host. My thesis is that bacterial adaptation by conjugation must therefore be viewed as a co-evolutionary, rather than simply an evolutionary process as achieved to date. In this proposal I take an experimental evolution approach to derive an empirically founded understanding of bacteria-plasmid coevolutionary processes. In particular, I focus on the effects (on the pattern and process of bacteria-plasmid coevolution) of ecological variables identified in population models as crucial to the persistence of conjugative plasmids: environmental heterogeneity, spatial structure, and between-species transfer. Drawing on coevolutionary theory, I highlight that the ecological conditions expected to favour plasmid persistence may often drive the breakdown of bacteria-plasmid coadaptation. Additionally, I will determine the consequences of bacteria-plasmid coevolution for the structuring of microbial communities.
Max ERC Funding
1 233 610 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym DrugE3CRLs
Project Probing Druggability of Multisubunit Complexes:
E3 Cullin RING Ligases
Researcher (PI) Alessio Ciulli
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS7, ERC-2012-StG_20111109
Summary This proposal is centred on the development and application of chemical tools to probe molecular recognition of multiprotein complexes. Although much effort has been devoted to targeting protein-protein interactions using small molecules, these have focused to date on individual gene products or truncated domains, which however do not reflect the physiological organization and activity of many functional proteins. Few successes have been achieved, yet many of the key physical determinants of druggability of surfaces within native protein complexes have remained elusive. The aim of this project is to shed light upon this problem by chemically interrogating biological systems that rely on several subunits working in concert rather than on single proteins working alone. As model system we will investigate the Cullin RING Ligases (CRLs), the largest superfamily of multisubunit E3 ligases in humans. These enzymatic machines are responsible for the recognition, poly-ubiquitination and targeting of substrate proteins to the proteasome for degradation. Many members of this family have crucial roles in cellular physiology and homeostatis, are implicated in a wide range of diseases and are attractive targets for drug discovery. Two interdependent lines of enquiry will be followed. First, we will screen for and elucidate the binding of small molecular fragments and short peptides to identify new druggable surfaces and interfaces on CRLs and their components. Second, we will exploit the nature of the interactions to develop novel chemical probes of CRLs. As the probes are selected and optimised for binding rather than for a particular functional outcome, diverse mechanisms of action are envisaged beyond conventional disruption of the interaction. The successes of this interdisciplinary research will provide a step change in how we interrogate protein-protein interactions of functional and pathological pathways with impact in many areas of chemical biology and drug discovery.
Summary
This proposal is centred on the development and application of chemical tools to probe molecular recognition of multiprotein complexes. Although much effort has been devoted to targeting protein-protein interactions using small molecules, these have focused to date on individual gene products or truncated domains, which however do not reflect the physiological organization and activity of many functional proteins. Few successes have been achieved, yet many of the key physical determinants of druggability of surfaces within native protein complexes have remained elusive. The aim of this project is to shed light upon this problem by chemically interrogating biological systems that rely on several subunits working in concert rather than on single proteins working alone. As model system we will investigate the Cullin RING Ligases (CRLs), the largest superfamily of multisubunit E3 ligases in humans. These enzymatic machines are responsible for the recognition, poly-ubiquitination and targeting of substrate proteins to the proteasome for degradation. Many members of this family have crucial roles in cellular physiology and homeostatis, are implicated in a wide range of diseases and are attractive targets for drug discovery. Two interdependent lines of enquiry will be followed. First, we will screen for and elucidate the binding of small molecular fragments and short peptides to identify new druggable surfaces and interfaces on CRLs and their components. Second, we will exploit the nature of the interactions to develop novel chemical probes of CRLs. As the probes are selected and optimised for binding rather than for a particular functional outcome, diverse mechanisms of action are envisaged beyond conventional disruption of the interaction. The successes of this interdisciplinary research will provide a step change in how we interrogate protein-protein interactions of functional and pathological pathways with impact in many areas of chemical biology and drug discovery.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 904 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-05-01, End date: 2018-04-30
Project acronym EVOGENO
Project Dissecting the genetic basis of divergent and convergent evolution: From individuals to species radiations
Researcher (PI) Stephen James Rossiter
Host Institution (HI) QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2012-StG_20111109
Summary Advances in genomics offer new opportunities for identifying loci that behave unusually against a background of neutral variation. Detecting divergent sites among related individuals and taxa can shed light on the process of adaptive divergence, from non-random mating to the establishment of reproductive barriers. Conversely, identifying convergent sites among unrelated taxa can offer insights into deeper level ecological radiations. This project will study genes underpinning evolutionary divergence at several stages. Discovering genome-wide ‘gene outliers’ presents enormous challenges. I argue these can be overcome by combining and applying phylogenetic and evolutionary analyses with deep sequencing to exceptional study systems. Among mammals, bats are unique in having independently evolved laryngeal echolocation and nectarivory, both implicated in their unparalleled adaptive radiation. We will (i) use a novel phylogenomic approach to identify genes under convergent and divergent selection associated with acoustic and dietary diversification. (ii) We will then discover additional loci implicated in diverging incipient sympatric taxa that have undergone recent dramatic call frequency shifts. (iii) We will identify genome-wide loci that show anomalous divergence and non-random combinations between faithfully breeding pairs of bats in a population where outbreeding increases fitness. These complementary studies will produce a database of candidate loci implicated in ecological divergence. We will then verify and synthesize our results by screening the genes in a taxonomically wider range of species. We hope to provide a comprehensive assessment of the relative numbers and importance of different types of loci in multiple stages of evolutionary divergence in a mammalian system. As such these results will significantly extend the current frontier of our knowledge about how new taxa form.
Summary
Advances in genomics offer new opportunities for identifying loci that behave unusually against a background of neutral variation. Detecting divergent sites among related individuals and taxa can shed light on the process of adaptive divergence, from non-random mating to the establishment of reproductive barriers. Conversely, identifying convergent sites among unrelated taxa can offer insights into deeper level ecological radiations. This project will study genes underpinning evolutionary divergence at several stages. Discovering genome-wide ‘gene outliers’ presents enormous challenges. I argue these can be overcome by combining and applying phylogenetic and evolutionary analyses with deep sequencing to exceptional study systems. Among mammals, bats are unique in having independently evolved laryngeal echolocation and nectarivory, both implicated in their unparalleled adaptive radiation. We will (i) use a novel phylogenomic approach to identify genes under convergent and divergent selection associated with acoustic and dietary diversification. (ii) We will then discover additional loci implicated in diverging incipient sympatric taxa that have undergone recent dramatic call frequency shifts. (iii) We will identify genome-wide loci that show anomalous divergence and non-random combinations between faithfully breeding pairs of bats in a population where outbreeding increases fitness. These complementary studies will produce a database of candidate loci implicated in ecological divergence. We will then verify and synthesize our results by screening the genes in a taxonomically wider range of species. We hope to provide a comprehensive assessment of the relative numbers and importance of different types of loci in multiple stages of evolutionary divergence in a mammalian system. As such these results will significantly extend the current frontier of our knowledge about how new taxa form.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 914 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym FASTER
Project "Fundamental Studies of the Sources, Properties and Environmental Behaviour of Exhaust Nanoparticles from Road Vehicles"
Researcher (PI) Roy Harrison
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE10, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary "Despite intensive abatement efforts, airborne particulate matter remains a major public health issue with costs across the European Union estimated at 600 billion euros in 2005. Road traffic remains one of the major sources of particulate matter, and diesel emissions are by far the largest source of atmospheric nanoparticles in urban areas. Semi-volatile organic compounds emitted largely in the condensed matter phase are a major component of diesel emissions, and as primary particles are advected from their road traffic source, the semi-volatile compounds vaporise and are oxidised, forming a greater mass of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). However, the semi-volatile compounds are extremely poorly characterised as they are not resolved by traditional gas chromatographic methods, presenting an unresolved complex mixture (UCM). For this reason, despite being a major precursor of SOA, such compounds are often poorly represented or completely omitted from atmospheric chemistry-transport models. This proposal is concerned with applying new two dimensional gas chromatographic methods to characterisation of the UCM at a molecular level which will be followed by studies of the physico-chemical properties of representative components of the semi-volatile emissions. The very abundant nucleation nanoparticle mode of diesel emissions is comprised almost entirely of semi-volatile organic material and hence these particles are progressively lost from the atmosphere by evaporation. Until now, there has been insufficient knowledge of the properties of the semi-volatile components to model this behaviour reliably. Such processes will be quantified through both controlled laboratory studies and carefully designed field measurements. Numerical models on both a street canyon and a neighbourhood (5x5 km) scale will be developed to simulate the key processes, such that spatial patterns and size distributions will be predicted, and compared with independent measurements."
Summary
"Despite intensive abatement efforts, airborne particulate matter remains a major public health issue with costs across the European Union estimated at 600 billion euros in 2005. Road traffic remains one of the major sources of particulate matter, and diesel emissions are by far the largest source of atmospheric nanoparticles in urban areas. Semi-volatile organic compounds emitted largely in the condensed matter phase are a major component of diesel emissions, and as primary particles are advected from their road traffic source, the semi-volatile compounds vaporise and are oxidised, forming a greater mass of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). However, the semi-volatile compounds are extremely poorly characterised as they are not resolved by traditional gas chromatographic methods, presenting an unresolved complex mixture (UCM). For this reason, despite being a major precursor of SOA, such compounds are often poorly represented or completely omitted from atmospheric chemistry-transport models. This proposal is concerned with applying new two dimensional gas chromatographic methods to characterisation of the UCM at a molecular level which will be followed by studies of the physico-chemical properties of representative components of the semi-volatile emissions. The very abundant nucleation nanoparticle mode of diesel emissions is comprised almost entirely of semi-volatile organic material and hence these particles are progressively lost from the atmosphere by evaporation. Until now, there has been insufficient knowledge of the properties of the semi-volatile components to model this behaviour reliably. Such processes will be quantified through both controlled laboratory studies and carefully designed field measurements. Numerical models on both a street canyon and a neighbourhood (5x5 km) scale will be developed to simulate the key processes, such that spatial patterns and size distributions will be predicted, and compared with independent measurements."
Max ERC Funding
2 394 959 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-04-01, End date: 2018-03-31
Project acronym FORESTPRIME
Project Predicting carbon release from forest soils through priming effects: a new approach to reconcile results across multiple scales
Researcher (PI) Emma Jane Sayer
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTER
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE10, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Feedbacks between plants and soil under environmental change are likely to have a significant impact on ecosystem carbon cycling. Recent work has shown that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have enhanced tree growth in forests. However these increases in growth can also cause ‘priming effects’ whereby microbial degradation of soil organic matter is stimulated by fresh carbon inputs, such as plant litter, releasing additional carbon from the soil. Given that forest soils represent the largest terrestrial carbon pool, priming effects could cause a major release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Despite their potential importance in ecosystem carbon dynamics under environmental change, the processes and mechanisms underlying priming effects are still poorly understood. This is in part due to the enormous disparities in the experimental scales and methods required to study microbial processes vs. ecosystem carbon dynamics and the difficulties in extrapolating the results of laboratory studies to the ecosystem level. This project will significantly advance our understanding of the role of priming effects in forest carbon dynamics in different forest types and reconcile the experimental problems of scale using multidisciplinary nested studies across multiple scales. The nested design will explicitly test the validity of extrapolations made at one scale to predict effects at another. The ultimate aim is to allow the extrapolation of results from small-scale studies of priming to the ecosystem level for a wide range of forests. The results will establish this fundamentally new approach as a widely applicable method in the study of plant-soil feedbacks. This research will provide the first comprehensive comparative dataset on priming effects across forests worldwide and form the solid basis for their inclusion in model predictions of forest carbon cycling under future global change.
Summary
Feedbacks between plants and soil under environmental change are likely to have a significant impact on ecosystem carbon cycling. Recent work has shown that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have enhanced tree growth in forests. However these increases in growth can also cause ‘priming effects’ whereby microbial degradation of soil organic matter is stimulated by fresh carbon inputs, such as plant litter, releasing additional carbon from the soil. Given that forest soils represent the largest terrestrial carbon pool, priming effects could cause a major release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Despite their potential importance in ecosystem carbon dynamics under environmental change, the processes and mechanisms underlying priming effects are still poorly understood. This is in part due to the enormous disparities in the experimental scales and methods required to study microbial processes vs. ecosystem carbon dynamics and the difficulties in extrapolating the results of laboratory studies to the ecosystem level. This project will significantly advance our understanding of the role of priming effects in forest carbon dynamics in different forest types and reconcile the experimental problems of scale using multidisciplinary nested studies across multiple scales. The nested design will explicitly test the validity of extrapolations made at one scale to predict effects at another. The ultimate aim is to allow the extrapolation of results from small-scale studies of priming to the ecosystem level for a wide range of forests. The results will establish this fundamentally new approach as a widely applicable method in the study of plant-soil feedbacks. This research will provide the first comprehensive comparative dataset on priming effects across forests worldwide and form the solid basis for their inclusion in model predictions of forest carbon cycling under future global change.
Max ERC Funding
1 694 796 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-12-01, End date: 2018-05-31
Project acronym GEM-TRAIT
Project GEM-TRAIT: The Global Ecosystems Monitoring and Trait Study: a novel approach to quantifying the role of biodiversity in the functioning and future of tropical forests
Researcher (PI) Yadvinder Singh Malhi
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE10, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary "This proposal directly addresses one of the great challenges in Earth system science: how will the terrestrial biosphere respond to global atmospheric change and, more specifically, how does the biodiversity of the biosphere moderate or affect that response? This proposal focuses on tropical forests. We are currently unable to understand how tropical forests will respond to climate change because there is (i) a data-deficit: we simply do not have the data to understand the relationship between tropical forest diversity and ecosystem science; and (ii) a theory-deficit: we have not developed an adequate and quantitative theoretical framework to relate functional biodiversity to ecosystem function. This proposal will directly address both these deficits.
Firstly, I will build a unique global tropical ecosystems monitoring network (GEM), that will measure in comprehensive detail the structure, productivity and metabolism of 47 tropical forest sites over a globally synchronous 2.5 year period. In addition, I will develop a large dataset of functional diversity by collecting functional traits of leaves and wood.
Secondly, the theory deficit will be addressed by drawing on the recent development of a novel mathematical formalism that links biodiversity to ecosystem function. This formalism focuses on the distribution of traits within an ecosystem, links this distribution to ecosystem function, and develops predictions of how the shape of the distribution is controlled by environment, biological interactions and previous states of the ecosystem. I will further develop this theory, test its predictions against my unique field data, and ultimately use it to develop a new biodiversity-focussed way of representing tropical forests in ecosystem and Earth system models. This new approach used to answer questions such as: how does the functional diversity of tropical forests affect their resilience to climate change, and how will this diversity respond to atmospheric change?"
Summary
"This proposal directly addresses one of the great challenges in Earth system science: how will the terrestrial biosphere respond to global atmospheric change and, more specifically, how does the biodiversity of the biosphere moderate or affect that response? This proposal focuses on tropical forests. We are currently unable to understand how tropical forests will respond to climate change because there is (i) a data-deficit: we simply do not have the data to understand the relationship between tropical forest diversity and ecosystem science; and (ii) a theory-deficit: we have not developed an adequate and quantitative theoretical framework to relate functional biodiversity to ecosystem function. This proposal will directly address both these deficits.
Firstly, I will build a unique global tropical ecosystems monitoring network (GEM), that will measure in comprehensive detail the structure, productivity and metabolism of 47 tropical forest sites over a globally synchronous 2.5 year period. In addition, I will develop a large dataset of functional diversity by collecting functional traits of leaves and wood.
Secondly, the theory deficit will be addressed by drawing on the recent development of a novel mathematical formalism that links biodiversity to ecosystem function. This formalism focuses on the distribution of traits within an ecosystem, links this distribution to ecosystem function, and develops predictions of how the shape of the distribution is controlled by environment, biological interactions and previous states of the ecosystem. I will further develop this theory, test its predictions against my unique field data, and ultimately use it to develop a new biodiversity-focussed way of representing tropical forests in ecosystem and Earth system models. This new approach used to answer questions such as: how does the functional diversity of tropical forests affect their resilience to climate change, and how will this diversity respond to atmospheric change?"
Max ERC Funding
2 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-05-01, End date: 2018-04-30
