Discerning the Ecological History of a Cyptogenic Marine Snail, Littorina Littorea

辨别隐性海洋蜗牛 Littorina Littorea 的生态历史

• 批准号: 0503932
• 负责人: James Byers
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of New Hampshire
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-01-15 至 2006-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0503932&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Discerning; Ecological; History; Cyptogenic; Marine

L. littorea is a conspicuous and ecologically dominant species in the intertidal community of New England, influencing the distribution and abundance of intertidal species through competition and heavy grazing. Despite its prominence, its biogeographic history remains unclear. L. littorea was first recorded in North America in 1840 in Pictou, Nova Scotia. Within 40 years of its establishment in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, it had spread ~1500 km southwards to New York. For over 100 years scientists have debated whether the population that invaded the northeast United States was introduced from Europe or was native to Canada and expanded its range southwards. A characteristic often used to determine whether a species is nonindigenous is a reduction in its genetic diversity (founder effects) in the introduced population compared to the native range. By genetically sequencing snail populations on both sides of the Atlantic, the PIs will discern the ecological history of L. littorea in the northeastern United States. Additionally, L. littorea is infected with at least five trophically transmitted trematode parasites within North America. Thus, the PIs will employ a novel second approach by examining the potential reduction in the genetic diversity of the parasite species themselves in the introduced region. Since parasites typically infect only a fraction of hosts, the PIs expect founder effects to be more pronounced in parasites introduced with the hosts. This study uses a multifaceted approach to resolve L. littorea.s ecological history in the nearshore community of North America. New evidence will be generated on the biogeographic origin of L. littorea by assessing the genetic diversity of L. littorea and its trematode parasites. Intellectual Merit. Not only will this project inform the ecological history of a dominant marine species, but it will also develop a powerful general approach to inform the origin of many cryptogenic species. Analyses of genetic signals of both parasites and hosts may prove to be a powerful combination in unveiling the ecological history of invasive species. Broader Impacts. This project includes support of a graduate student and several undergraduates. This project will create mentored research opportunities for undergraduates in particular by involving a student at the Shoals Marine Laboratory REU program. Results of this project will be broadly disseminated in high impact journals, presentations at scientific meetings, and a publicly available website. If results of this work are favorable they will provide ample data to allow a strong resubmission of a full proposal to NSF to support related follow-up work in this system.

斜纹夜蛾是新英格兰潮间带群落中一个显著的生态优势种，通过竞争和大量放牧影响潮间带物种的分布和丰度。尽管它的知名度很高，但它的生物地理史仍然不清楚。Littorea最早于1840年在北美新斯科舍省的Pictou被记录。在圣劳伦斯湾建立后的40年内，它向南扩展了约1500公里，一直延伸到纽约。100多年来，科学家们一直在争论入侵美国东北部的人口是从欧洲传入的，还是加拿大本土的，并向南扩大了范围。通常用来确定一个物种是否是非本土物种的一个特征是，与本土种群相比，引入种群的遗传多样性(创始人效应)有所减少。通过对大西洋两岸的蜗牛种群进行基因测序，PI将识别美国东北部的斜纹夜蛾的生态历史。此外，斜纹夜蛾在北美至少感染了五种滋养传播的吸虫寄生虫。因此，PIS将采用一种新的第二种方法，通过检查引入区域内寄生虫物种本身的遗传多样性的潜在减少。由于寄生虫通常只感染一小部分宿主，PI们预计创始人效应在与宿主一起引入的寄生虫中会更加明显。本研究采用多方面的方法来解析北美近岸群落中的斜纹夜蛾的生态史。通过评估斜纹夜蛾及其吸虫寄生虫的遗传多样性，将为斜纹夜蛾的生物地理起源提供新的证据。智力上的功绩。该项目不仅将提供优势海洋物种的生态历史信息，而且还将开发一种强大的通用方法，以了解许多隐蔽物种的起源。对寄生虫和寄主的遗传信号的分析可能被证明是揭示入侵物种生态史的有力组合。更广泛的影响。该项目包括一名研究生和几名本科生的资助。这个项目将为本科生创造有指导的研究机会，特别是通过让一名学生参与浅滩海洋实验室REU计划。该项目的成果将在影响较大的期刊、科学会议上的陈述和公开网站上广泛传播。如果这项工作的结果是有利的，他们将提供充足的数据，以便向国家科学基金会强有力地重新提交完整的提案，以支持该系统中的相关后续工作。