Biogeography and community structure in mussel beds at Pacific hydrothermal vents

知识价值。要求资助继续进行与热液喷口有关的生物的群落结构和生物地理分析。迄今为止完成的工作已经获得了一种独特的、定量的多样性评估，以及在东太平洋凸起和大西洋中脊的喷口和渗漏贻贝床之间的相似性和差异性。这些样品提供了丰富的背景，可以解释东部微板块（38S）以南地区以及劳和斐济弧后盆地贻贝床的动物组成和结构。标本将使用我们的标准装置从3个原生地的两个离散的贻贝床上收集。样本收集后，将根据我们实验室建立的标准程序进行处理，并在威廉玛丽学院保存的大量凭证的帮助下进行鉴定，必要时还会得到分类学专家的帮助。适当保存的分类样本子集将用于分子分析，这将与R. Vrijenhoek合作进行。分子分析将集中在需要测试隐种或表型可塑性的分类群上，并选择Vrijenhoek和Van Dover感兴趣的其他分类群，除了Vrijenhoek单独资助分析的分类群（主要是管虫，贻贝，螃蟹，蛤蜊）。所提出的群落结构和动物群分析将有助于我们了解太平洋盆地内喷口动物的进化联盟程度，以及潜在的扩散障碍或渠道。这项工作特别有趣，因为研究地点被战略性地选择，以解决与邻近弧后盆地系统的隔离程度有关的生物地理学问题，这些弧后动物群与海洋中脊（38度）最南部已知的文特动物群的关系，以及这些动物群和地点之间的关系已经在东太平洋隆起的复活节微板块北部研究过。更广泛的影响。许多本科生和研究生将从参与实地项目和样本分析中受益。研究的各个方面都被纳入了pi的本科和研究生教学。调查结果将发表在专业文献中，并通过网络资源和私家侦探及其学生的公开讲座向公众提供。

Intellectual Merit. Funding is requested to continue community structure andbiogeographic analysis of organisms associated with hydrothermal vents. Workcompleted to date has led to the acquisition of a unique, quantitative assessment ofdiversity and faunal similarities and differences among vent and seep mussel beds fromvent sites along the East Pacific Rise and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and seep sites in theAtlantic and Gulf of Mexico. These samples provide a rich context within which tointerpret the faunal composition and structure in mussel beds in an area south of theEaster Microplate (38S) and in the Lau and Fiji back-arc basins. Specimens will becollected using our standard gear from two discrete mussel beds at each of the 3 primarysites. Once collected, samples will be processed using the standard protocol establishedin our lab, and identified with the help of the extensive voucher collection maintained atThe College of William & Mary, and with the aid of taxonomic specialists as necessary.A subset of appropriately preserved sorted samples will be made available for molecularanalyses, which will be undertaken in collaboration with R. Vrijenhoek. Molecularanalyses will focus on taxa where there is a need to test for cryptic species or phenotypicplasticity and selected other taxa of interest to Vrijenhoek and Van Dover, in addition tothe suite of taxa that Vrijenhoek is separately funded to analyze (primarily tubeworms,mussels, crabs, clams). The proposed community structure and faunistic analyses willcontribute to our understanding of the degree of evolutionary alliance of vent faunaswithin the Pacific Ocean basin and to potential barriers or conduits to dispersal. Thework is of particular interest because the study sites have been strategically chosen toaddress biogeographic issues relating to the degree of isolation of adjacent back-arc basinsystems, the relationship of these back-arc faunas to the most-southern-known ventfaunas on the mid-ocean ridge (at 38S), and the relationships among these faunas andsites already studied north of the Easter Microplate on the East Pacific Rise.Broader Impact. Numerous undergraduates and graduate students will benefit fromparticipation in field programs and analysis of samples. Aspects of the research areincorporated into the PIs undergraduate and graduate teaching. Results will be publishedin the professional literature and will be made available to the public through web-basedresources and through public lectures by the PI and her students.