Dissertation Research: How Do Stepping-stones of Available Habitat Affect Genetic Connectivity in Neritid Snails?

论文研究：可用栖息地的垫脚石如何影响海螺的遗传连通性？

• 批准号: 0508788
• 负责人: Paul Barber
• 金额: $ 1.17万
• 依托单位: Trustees of Boston University
• 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: 2005-07-01 至 2007-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0508788&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; How; Do; Stepping

Most marine organisms are very different from terrestrial organisms in that they disperse their numerous offspring into ocean currents as tiny larvae to find a suitable place to live. A major focus of marine biology today is to try to see into this "black box" of where and how larvae disperse, as this has significant consequences for understanding and conserving marine animals and plants. The goal of this study is to better understand the role of "stepping-stones" of habitat in connecting distant populations to each other through larval dispersal. This goal will be achieved through a comparison of the population genetics of marine snail species that are able to use waterless atolls as stepping-stones to those of their close freshwater relatives that cannot. It is hypothesized that populations of the marine species will be better connected to one another than populations of freshwater species even though both have marine larvae.It has long been assumed that fisheries and populations of marine organisms were inexhaustible because they could always be replenished from elsewhere. The recent collapse of many fisheries, combined with recent studies of marine population genetics, have shown that this is not the case; larvae may often return to their birthplace, or only disperse for a short distance. If this is so, it will be important to set up marine reserves in networks so that they are close enough together to "catch" larvae that disperse from neighboring reserves in a manner that is similar to the function of terrestrial greenbelts or corridors. An understanding of how natural marine stepping-stones work will be important to this effort.

大多数海洋生物与陆地生物非常不同，因为它们将无数的后代分散到洋流中，作为微小的幼虫寻找合适的栖息地。今天海洋生物学的一个主要焦点是试图洞察幼虫在哪里以及如何扩散的“黑匣子”，因为这对理解和保护海洋动植物具有重大影响。这项研究的目的是更好地了解栖息地的“垫脚石”在通过幼虫传播将遥远的种群相互联系方面的作用。这一目标将通过将能够使用无水环礁作为垫脚石的海洋蜗牛物种的种群遗传学与不能使用无水环礁的近亲淡水蜗牛的种群遗传学进行比较来实现。据推测，海洋物种的种群之间的联系将比淡水物种的种群更紧密，尽管两者都有海洋幼虫。长期以来，人们一直认为渔业和海洋生物种群是取之不尽的，因为它们总是可以从其他地方补充。最近许多渔业的崩溃，结合最近对海洋种群遗传学的研究，表明情况并非如此；幼虫往往会回到它们的出生地，或者只在很短的距离内分散。如果是这样的话，重要的是在网络中建立海洋保护区，使它们足够近，以便以类似于陆地绿化带或走廊的功能的方式“捕捉”从邻近保护区散布的幼虫。理解天然的海洋垫脚石是如何发挥作用的，对这一努力将是重要的。