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TRR 212:  A Novel Synthesis of Individualisation across Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution: Niche Choice, Niche Conformance, Niche Construction (NC3)

Subject Area Biology
Humanities
Medicine
Social and Behavioural Sciences
Term since 2018
Website Homepage
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 316099922
 
The SFB TRR-212 led to a deeper understanding of the causes of individualisation, why this leads to individualised niches and what the ensuing consequences are. We combined behaviour, ecology, evolution and philosophical concepts in an etho-eco-evo approach to develop a novel synthesis of individualisation. We have published review and opinion papers that define our concepts and ideas, and tested important assumptions and hypotheses through meta-analyses. Other reviews raised awareness within the consortium and beyond about topics such as reproducibility, transparency, and pre-registration. We identified animal personality as a crucial correlate of individualised niches. Stability over time and context was found beyond behaviour, for endocrinological and psychobiological traits. The life history of organisms contains particularly sensitive phases across taxa. However, re-shaping of phenotypes can happen even in adulthood, hence individualised niches are not constant over time. Three key mechanisms by which individualised niches arise are indeed niche choice, niche conformance, and niche construction (NC3). These mechanisms are intertwined: the separation into the four research areas of the first phase is too simplistic. We keep the original organisational structure, but we now see choice, conformance and construction as axes defining the individualised niche space and also projects. For the research agenda of the next four years, we refined our four key hypotheses (H1-H4) in line with theory and empirical evidence. Our first hypothesis, individualised niches are not constant through life (H1), will be expanded: in addition to focussing on important stages of the life cycle, we also consider (day-)time as a niche dimension for this phase. The long-term nature of many projects will facilitate research on the crucial interaction between phenotype and environment (H2), studying intra- and intergenerational effects. We will continue to focus on fitness consequences of phenotype-environment interactions (H3), and we would like to put even more emphasis on the processes leading to individualised niches. In particular, we will research how infochemicals, genetic and epigenetic variation mediate the individualisation process (H4), and how individualised niches are affected by environmental change. The integration of complex individual phenotypes with –omics approaches will be one of the key future developments in organismal biology, and this consortium aims to be a nationally and internationally recognised driver of this exciting development.In conclusion, we are on track to achieve a novel synthesis of individualisation. Our etho-eco-evo approach across species and time scales will lead to an unprecedented understanding of individualised niches. This understanding is crucial for profound insights into both ecological adjustment and evolutionary adaptation in response to a rapidly changing world.
DFG Programme CRC/Transregios

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Applicant Institution Universität Bielefeld
Co-Applicant Institution Universität Münster
Participating University Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
 
 

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