AMAZON_MERCURY · Evolutionary adaptations to mercury pollution in avian bioindicators
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-04-01 → 2024-03-31
- EU contribution
- €286,922
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Evolutionary adaptations to mercury pollution in avian bioindicators
The AMAZON_MERCURY project investigates the evolutionary changes caused by long-term exposure to mercury pollution in wild bird populations in the Peruvian Amazon using powerful genomic tools. It combines multiple fields or research (such as ecotoxicology and endocrinology) to generate new insights into the costs of environmental pollution, and the adaptations that allow surviving sublethal exposure to mercury. In the Peruvian southern Amazon, where artisanal goldmining results in contamination of the ecosystem with the toxic heavy metal mercury, understanding these processes will aid in estimating the costs to wildlife and nature, as well as to the human communities that are exposed to similar risks by being part of the same ecosystem. The findings of this study may also apply to additional areas of similar circumstances. By identifying the mechanisms by which birds cope with this long-term pollution, we can proceed to generating the means to mend these costs in humans and other species.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Anthropogenically-induced environmental pollution has had a dramatic influence on the natural world, including worldwide decreases in species richness and abundance, ecosystem homogenization, genomic modifications, and altered nutrient cycles. Particularly, human-induced environmental pollution of mercury can bioaccumulate in aquatic ecosystems and cause neurological, physiological, immunological and reproductive damage to wildlife, making it both a European, and global threat. However, the evolutionary impact of long-term exposure to mercury has yet to be studied despite evidence that exposure to mercury can negatively affect survival. Avian piscivores and insectivores, important bioindicators in highly diverse aquatic ecosystem, can be ideal for studying mercury impacts. This project will investigate the evolutionary changes induced by long-term exposure to mercury pollution in wild populations of important avian bioindicators in the Amazon using powerful advanced genomic analyses. It combines the latest Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) methods with avian ecology and evolution, ecotoxicology, immunology and endocrinology, to generate new insights into the costs of environmental pollution, and the subsequent adaptations that allow for species to survive sublethal exposure to mercury. In order to document long-term changes, historical specimens will be used to assess past genomic variation and mercury levels to be used as a baseline against which differentiating selection patterns are searched. The results will reveal the effects of anthropogenic change on important avian bioindicators and identify the missing link between causative mechanisms and phenotypes, thereby availing these methods for further research. By capitalizing on the development and application of cutting-edge genomics techniques, these findings can identify adaptive and susceptive genotypes to indicate whether selection allows for the survival of species in the face of acute environmental change.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · KOBENHAVNCoordinatorDenmark
- THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA · OaklandUnited States
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union