Biogeography and community structure in mussel beds at Pacific hydrothermal vents

智力优点。需要资金来继续对与热液喷口相关的生物体进行群落结构和生物地理分析。迄今为止完成的工作已经对东太平洋隆起和大西洋中脊沿线喷口以及大西洋和墨西哥湾渗流点的喷口和渗流贻贝床的多样性和动物区系相似性和差异进行了独特的定量评估。这些样本为解释复活节微板块（38S）以南地区以及劳和斐济弧后盆地的贻贝床的动物群组成和结构提供了丰富的背景。将使用我们的标准装备从 3 个主要地点的每一个的两个离散的贻贝床采集样本。收集后，样本将使用我们实验室制定的标准协议进行处理，并在威廉玛丽学院维护的大量凭单收集的帮助下进行识别，并在必要时在分类学专家的帮助下进行识别。经过适当保存的分类样本的子集将可用于分子分析，该分析将与 R. Vrijenhoek 合作进行。分子分析将重点关注需要测试隐秘物种或表型可塑性的类群，以及 Vrijenhoek 和 Van Dover 感兴趣的其他类群，以及 Vrijenhoek 单独资助分析的一套类群（主要是管虫、贻贝、螃蟹、蛤）。所提出的群落结构和动物区系分析将有助于我们了解太平洋盆地内喷口动物群的进化联盟程度以及潜在的扩散障碍或渠道。这项工作特别令人感兴趣，因为研究地点经过战略选择，旨在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、这些弧后动物群与洋中脊（南纬38度）最南端已知的喷口动物群的关系，以及东太平洋海隆复活节微板块以北已研究过的这些动物群和地点之间的关系。更广泛的影响。许多本科生和研究生将受益于参与实地项目和样本分析。研究的各个方面都被纳入 PI 的本科生和研究生教学中。研究结果将发表在专业文献中，并将通过网络资源以及 PI 及其学生的公开讲座向公众公开。

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.