SGER: Phylogency, Reproductive Mode, and Parasitism in Antarctic Cidaroid Sea Urchins

南极生物群的起源仍然不确定。自从南极洲从澳大利亚分离出来4000万年以来，浅水、环绕南极的栖息地一直与世界其他地区隔绝。随着2500万年前南极洲与南美洲的分离，以及南极绕极洋流和极地锋区的形成，南极生物群与世界其他海洋的隔离接近完成。唯一的例外是深海，它被冰冷的、下沉的南极底水所补充。许多南极物种是南极特有物种，与深海物种有明显的亲缘关系。关于南极生物群的一个主要问题是，深海生物是在被隔离和冷却后入侵并辐射到南极底栖生物中，还是南极生物群是深海生物和南极物种入侵深海的避难所和/或来源。这项研究将集中在杀戮类海胆，作为国际南极深海生物多样性计划的一部分，将在德国南极计划的研究船Polarstein上进行。邮轮将在斯科舍省和韦德尔海进行。从南极陆架到邻近深海海底收集的材料将构成系统发育分析的基础，以帮助解决这类生物的起源问题。研究还将包括对幼虫发育的关注，这在一些物种中是未知的。最后，将对一种出现在南极某些种类的虫类脊椎上的类真菌寄生虫进行检查，以便将这种寄生虫归入公认的较高分类类别，并为了解它如何影响棘突发育打开可能性。该项目将提供有关世界海洋未被充分研究的部分的新信息，并将有助于世界生物多样性的研究。

The origin of Antarctic biota remains uncertain. Shallow-water, circum-antarctic habitats have been isolated from the rest of the world since Antarctica separated from Australia forty million years. With the separation of Antarctica from South American 25 million years ago, and the inception of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the Polar Frontal zone, the isolation of the Antarctic biota from the rest of the world's oceans was nearly complete. The exception is the deep sea, which is replenished by cold, sinking Antarctic bottomwater. Many Antarctic species are endemic with apparent affinities to species in the deep sea. A major question about the Antarctic biota is whether deep-sea organisms invaded and radiated into the Antarctic benthos after it was isolated and cooled or the Antarctic biota is a refugium and/or source of deep-sea organisms and Antarctic species invaded the deep sea. This research will focus on cidaroid sea urchins, as part of an international Antarctic deep-sea biodiversity program to be conducted on the German Antarctic program's research vessel Polarstern. The cruise will be conducted in the Scotia and Weddell Seas. Material collected from the Antarctic shelf to the floor of the adjacent deep sea will form the basis for a phylogenetic analysis to help resolve origin of this group of organisms. Studies will also include a focus on larval development, which is unknown in some species. Finally, an examination of a fungus-like parasite which occurs on the spines of some species of Antarctic cidaroids, will be conducted in order to place this parasite into a recognized higher taxonomic category, and to open the possibility for understanding how it influences echinoid development. This project will provide new information on a understudied part of the world's ocean and will contribute to the study of the world's biodiversity.