BiodivERsa3

BiodivERsA3 – Consolidating the European Research Area on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a project funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Program which brings together a network of 26 public funding agencies from 18 European countries that provide specific amounts for scientific research in the field of biodiversity.

Within the framework of this network, a call for proposals for scientific projects was launched, entitled: “Understanding and managing biodiversity dynamics to improve ecosystem functioning and delivery of ecosystem services in a global change context: the cases of (1) soils and sediments, and (2) river-land- and sea-scape “with an overall budget of 33 million euros.

In this call, 132 applications were submitted from researchers of 31 countries. The Azorean researchers responded to the challenge by submitting 9 applications, a high number in proportion to other countries and regions involved in the call with the largest number of researchers.

The FRCT co-financed the regional teams from two projects approved, in the total amount of € 154 00:

• BIOINVENT – Generic bio-inventory of functional microbial diversity in permanent grassland ecosystems across management and climate gradients. Regional researcher in charge Luis Silva, member of the Center for Research on Biodiversity and Genetic Resources – Polo of the Azores, CIBIO-Açores.
• MARFOR – Functional Variability and Dynamics of Responses of Marine Forests to Global Change. Regional researcher in charge João Gonçalves of the IMAR-Azores Regional Research Institution;