Description du projet
Comment les oiseaux d’Amazonie survivent-ils à une exposition sublétale au mercure
Le mercure est un élément naturel présent dans l’air, l’eau et le sol. Une exposition au mercure (même en petites quantités) peut causer de graves problèmes de santé et constitue une menace pour le développement de l’enfant dans l’utérus et pendant son enfance. L’Organisation mondiale de la santé considère le mercure comme l’un des dix produits ou groupes de produits chimiques qui constituent une source de préoccupation majeure pour la santé publique. Le projet AMAZON_MERCURY, financé par l’UE, étudiera l’impact de la pollution environnementale d’origine humaine par le mercure qui se bioaccumule dans les écosystèmes aquatiques et cause des dommages neurologiques, physiologiques, immunologiques et reproductifs à la faune. Plus précisément, il se concentrera sur les changements évolutifs induits par l’exposition à long terme à la pollution au mercure dans les populations sauvages d’importants bio-indicateurs aviaires en Amazonie en utilisant de puissantes analyses génomiques avancées.
Objectif
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.
Champ scientifique
Not validated
Not validated
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgenetics
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrytransition metals
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental scienceshydrologylimnology
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinateur
1165 Kobenhavn
Danemark