RCN: The North Atlantic Project: Historical Ecology of the Trans-Atlantic Biota

尽管北大西洋是世界上被研究得最透彻的海洋，但对其生态和进化历史的研究却缺乏协调一致的努力。这个研究协调网络将汇集生态学家、古生物学家、海洋学家和进化生物学家。该小组将特别关注许多海洋分类群，这些分类群被认为是在上新世晚期白令海峡开通后从北太平洋入侵的。这次入侵使北大西洋两岸关系密切的生物在一次盛大的自然实验中共存。虽然比较在北大西洋西北部和东北部非常不同的海岸发现的分类群的生态有很大的潜力，但很少有人这样做。该网络的主要目标是鼓励在西北和东北大西洋发现密切相关的分类群时进行跨大西洋生态和进化研究。这项研究将通过协调北大西洋动植物的数百项分子系统地理学和系统研究，将其置于历史背景中，重点是在两岸发现的分类群。这些历史分子研究将被置于海洋学、古气候学和古生物学知识的背景下。尽管对北大西洋的全面研究需要跨学科和国际合作，但目前还没有一个年度会议专门讨论这些领域的重要子集的基础研究，并由大西洋两岸的科学家参加。即使在特定领域，研究海洋动物和植物的科学家也很少互动。该网络汇集了来自北大西洋沿岸12个国家的76名科学家，并且已经对开展跨大西洋多学科合作的机会产生了相当大的兴奋。由于位于欧洲和北美之间的中心位置，北大西洋受到人类活动的强烈影响。过度捕捞和污染导致鳕鱼和龙虾等重要物种的数量锐减。由于鳕鱼和龙虾在北大西洋两岸都有近亲，通过比较两岸的种群数量，我们可以对它们的生态学有很多了解。这可以帮助解释为什么龙虾（Homarus属）在美国比在欧洲更常见。通过将这项研究置于进化的背景下，研究协调网络将检查哪些生物特征使分类群在北半球的最后一次冰期中幸存下来。这一信息将有助于解释为什么一些物种比其他物种更能抵抗当地灭绝，这将有助于保护工作。

0130275Cunningham Although the North Atlantic is the best-studied ocean in the world, there is no coordinated effort to study its ecology and evolutionary history. This research coordination network will bring together ecologists, paleontologists, oceanographers, and evolutionary biologists. In particular, the group will focus on the many marine taxa that are hypothesized to have invaded from the North Pacific following the opening of the Bering Strait in the late Pliocene. This invasion placed closely related organisms on both coasts of the North Atlantic in a grand natural experiment. Although there is great potential to compare the ecology of taxa found on the very different coasts of the NW and NE North Atlantic, this is rarely done. The major goals of this network are to encourage trans-Atlantic ecological and evolutionary research when closely related taxa are found in the NW and the NE Atlantic. This research will be placed in a historical context by coordinating literally hundreds of molecular phylogeographic and systematic studies of the North Atlantic flora and fauna, with an emphasis on taxa found on both coasts. These historical molecular studies will then be placed in the context of knowledge about oceanography, paleoclimatology, and paleontology. Although a comprehensive study of the North Atlantic requires cross-disciplinary and international cooperation, currently there is no annual meeting devoted to basic research by significant subsets of these fields and attended by scientists from both sides of the Atlantic. Even within specific fields, scientists who study marine animals and plants rarely interact. This network brings together 76 scientists from 12 countries bordering the North Atlantic, and has already generated considerable excitement at the opportunity to carry out trans-Atlantic, multi-disciplinary collaborations. Because of its central location between Europe and North America, the North Atlantic is strongly affected by human activities. Overfishing and pollution have led to population crashes in important species such as cod and lobster. Since both cod and lobster have close relatives on both coasts of the North Atlantic, there is much to learn about their ecology by comparing populations on both coasts. This can help to explain why, for example, lobsters (genus Homarus) are so much more common in America than in Europe. By placing this research in an evolutionary context, the research coordination network will examine what organismal characteristics allowed taxa to survive the last glaciations in the northern hemisphere. This information will help explain why some species are more resistant to local extinction than others, which will help in conservation efforts.