Evolution of Planktonic Gastropods in an Acidifying Ocean
Informations
- Funding country
Netherlands- Acronym
- PLANKGAS
- URL
- -
- Start date
- 11/30/2016
- End date
- -
- Budget
- -
Fundings
| Name | Role | Start | End | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vernieuwingsimpuls Vidi 2015 ALW | Grant | 11/30/2016 | - | - |
Abstract
The oceans are becoming more acidic as they absorb rising levels of CO2 from the atmosphere at geologically unprecedented rates. Understanding the impact of these changes on marine biodiversity is top priority for scientists, managers and policy makers. Planktonic gastropods, and more specifically pteropods, have been the subject of intense research into the effects of ocean acidification (OA) and are proposed as bioindicators to monitor the impacts of global change on open ocean ecosystems. However, as most research has focused on ecological responses of these organisms to OA on very short time scales, we know little about their evolutionary potential. If planktonic gastropods can adaptively respond to changes in their environment, they may be more resilient to changes in ocean chemistry than currently thought. The aims of this proposal are twofold: A) I will examine past responses to OA in two independent groups of planktonic gastropods (pteropods and heteropods); B) I will gain predictive understanding of the potential of pteropods to adapt to changing ocean conditions. For part A, I will use a phylogenomics approach to obtain a robust phylogeny to examine the evolution of planktonic gastropods and identify genes involved in biomineralization. By comparing the fossil-calibrated species tree to respective gene trees, I will assess past adaptations to a planktonic lifestyle as well as past changes in ocean chemistry. Part B will focus on four pteropod species sampled along latitudinal transects in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans with spatially variable ocean carbonate conditions. The combined analysis of phenotypic and genomic variation within populations provides a tractable approach to study the adaptive potential in these organisms. The proposed research will provide general insight into the processes that maintain diversity in open ocean environments and will help make better and more realistic predictions of the consequences of global change.