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

毫米级的硫化氢浓度和几乎没有氧气使甲烷渗入沉积物成为地球上最有毒的环境之一，但后生动物组合仍然存在于这样的环境中。在太平洋西北上坡覆盖着微生物席的渗漏中，这些组合几乎完全由多毛类多毛类组成。在俄勒冈州和加利福尼亚州边缘氧气含量最低的区域内的渗漏处，PI已经识别出多达17种共生的珊瑚物种，其中包括10种单一属。PI假设，这个环节动物群通过对低氧和高硫化物浓度的特殊耐受，找到了一套只有它自己能够利用的生态位，因此在没有捕食者和竞争对手的情况下经历了进化的释放。PI建议使用这种背叶组合作为一个模型系统，用来研究后生动物群落如何在极端硫化物条件下进化和适应。通过将生态特征绘制到系统发育框架上，生物多样性指数将确定生态、生理、生活史和进化史之间的相关性，以帮助阐明极端胁迫下物种形成的机制。PI们预计，背叶多毛类最终将为极端微生物的综合研究提供一个极好的后生动物模型。由加利福尼亚州COSEE(海洋科学教育卓越中心)推动的伙伴关系将使私人投资机构能够开展严格的教育和外联工作。新的发现将被纳入海洋研究所目前由美国国家科学基金会资助的海底科学项目(ISE#0229063)。

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.