Collaborative Research - Metazoan Life at Extreme Sulfide Concentrations: The ecology and evolution of Dorvilleidae at methane seeps

毫摩尔H2S浓度和几乎没有氧气使甲烷渗漏沉积物成为地球上最有毒的环境之一，但后生动物组合在这种环境中持续存在。在微生物垫覆盖的渗漏上斜坡的太平洋西北部，这些组合是由几乎完全dorvilleid多毛类。在位于俄勒冈州和加州边缘的氧气最低限度区域内的渗漏处，PI已经确定了多达17种共存的dorvilleid物种，其中包括10种单一属。PI假设，这种环节动物群体，通过对低氧和高硫化物浓度的特殊耐受性，已经找到了一套自己能够利用的生态位，因此在没有捕食者和竞争者的情况下经历了进化释放。PI建议使用这个dorvilleid组合作为一个模型系统，调查后生动物群落如何演变和适应极端硫化物条件。通过将生态特征映射到系统发育框架上，PI将确定生态学，生理学，生活史和进化史之间的相关性，以帮助阐明极端压力下的物种形成机制。PI预计，dorvilleid多毛类动物最终将提供一个极好的后生动物模型的综合极端微生物的研究。由加州COSEE（海洋科学教育卓越中心）促成的伙伴关系将使PI能够进行严格的教育和推广工作。新的发现将被纳入海洋研究所当前NSF资助的海底科学项目（伊势#0229063）的一部分。

Millimolar H2S concentrations and the near absence of oxygen make methane seep sediments one of the most toxic environments on earth, yet metazoan assemblages persist in such settings. In microbial-mat covered seeps on the upper slopes of the Pacific Northwest, these assemblages are comprised nearly exclusively of dorvilleid polychaetes. At seeps located within the oxygen minimum zone off the Oregon and California margins the PIs have identified up to 17 co-occurring dorvilleid species, including 10 in a single genus. The PIs hypothesize that this annelid group, through exceptional tolerance to low oxygen and high sulfide concentrations, has found a suite of niches which it alone has been able to exploit, and as a result has experienced evolutionary release in the absence of predators and competitors. The PIs propose to use this dorvilleid assemblage as a model system with which to investigate how metazoan communities evolve in and adapt to extreme sulfide conditions. By mapping ecological features onto a phylogenetic framework, the PIs will identify correlations among ecology, physiology, life history and evolutionary history that help elucidate the mechanisms of speciation under extreme stress. The PIs anticipate that dorvilleid polychaetes will ultimately provide a superb metazoan model for integrated extremophile research. A partnership facilitated by California COSEE (Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence) will allow the PIs to pursue a rigorous education and outreach effort. Emerging findings will be incorporated as part of a current NSF-funded Sea Floor Science project (ISE #0229063) at the Ocean Institute.