The project, for which Associate Professor Dr. Mehmet Kürşat Şahin of Hacettepe University serves as the principal investigator in Turkey, has been awarded funding under the joint call of TÜBİTAK–Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia.
Associate Professor Dr. Mehmet Kürşat Şahin from the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science at Hacettepe University, as the Turkish principal investigator, and Professor Dr. David Tarkhnishvili from Ilia State University, as the Georgian principal investigator, secured support under the TÜBİTAK–Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation (SRNSFG) 2555 joint call.
Regarding the project titled “Ecological Niche Shifts and Holistic Adaptation in Sympatric and Allopatric Caucasian Rock Lizards: Multi-dimensional Analysis of Thermoregulation, Microbiome, Diet, and Whole Genomes,” Associate Professor Dr. Şahin shared the following:
“This project addresses a critical question for biodiversity conservation: How do species sharing the same habitat (sympatric) differ over time from populations living in separate regions (allopatric), and at which biological levels can these differences be observed?”
The research will begin with simultaneous fieldwork conducted in Turkey and Georgia. The data collected from the field—including species’ thermoregulation preferences, microbiome and diet analysis from fecal samples via DNA metabarcoding, and whole-genome resequencing at the individual level—will be analyzed within a holistic framework. This approach is expected to reveal not only where the ecological niche exists but also how it functions across multiple dimensions.
Over the 24-month duration of the study, the simultaneous field investigations in Turkey and Georgia aim to examine ecological niche shifts in Caucasian rock lizards through thermoregulation, microbiome, diet (DNA metabarcoding), and whole-genome analyses in a comprehensive manner. The project plans include reciprocal researcher visits and the organization of an international workshop, while synchronized scientific activities will also be carried out with the Czech Academy of Sciences.
The Highest-Budget Herpetology Project in Turkey
Highlighting the significance of the project, Associate Professor Dr. Şahin stated:
“With a budget of 3,134,619.00 TRY and a duration of 24 months, this project represents the highest-budget herpetology project in our country to date. The project also provides significant opportunities for young researchers: it will offer 24-month scholarships for master’s and PhD students, enabling them to actively participate in all stages of the research, from fieldwork to laboratory analysis. We anticipate that the findings will shed light on the adaptation strategies of species in biologically critical regions such as the Caucasus, and in the short term, will result in publications in internationally high-impact journals.”
