Collaborative Research: Stepping Stones Across the Atlantic: Co-evolution and Dispersal of Deep-Water Corals and Their Associates on NW Atlantic Seamounts

深海海底山为其他远洋领域的底栖生物提供了栖息地。距离、物理海洋学和海山动物生活史策略相结合，使海山成为“海中的岛屿”。这些水下岛屿为研究海洋环境中的进化、地方性和物种形成提供了模型系统，就像新兴海洋岛屿被用来研究陆地环境中的这些过程一样。研究人员将通过系统发育和系统地理研究，确定和阐明四对海山珊瑚和脚底副种的共同进化关系和扩散过程的程度。该项目的具体目标是解决新英格兰和角角上升海底山是否促进亚种的形成，正如地理上孤立的栖息地所期望的那样；这些海底山是否含有珊瑚和相关的动物，它们的种群是孤立地进化的，而不是广泛迁徙的；以及珊瑚及其相关物种是否在同步进化，因此是否受到相同的扩散路线和能力的控制。研究人员将对这些数据进行解释，以发展进一步的假设，以理解水文学、生命史、海洋环流和共同进化过程作为多样化机制的作用。这项研究将提供一种机制来观察形成（并继续形成）海洋动物迁徙速度和进化途径的过程，最终解释现代深海生物地理生物多样性模式。更广泛的影响将应用于了解对深海种群潜在的人为干扰。目前，世界各地的海山都受到破坏性渔业活动的威胁，这强调了需要更好地了解影响这些栖息地中不具特征物种的过程。该项目将提供博士后培训和研究生支持，包括在麻省理工学院/WHOI联合研究生项目中开发研究生水平的主题课程。该项目还包括建立西北大西洋海底山的动物指南（和数据库），丰富了高清图像、生态和分布描述、水深图以及深海海底山生物多样性的进化含义。本纲要将分发给学童、教育工作者和管理人员。

Deep-sea seamounts provide benthic habitat in otherwise pelagic realms. Distance, physical oceanography, and life history strategies of seamount fauna combine to make seamounts "islands in the sea." These submerged islands provide model systems to study evolution, endemism, and speciation in the marine environment, just as emergent oceanic islands have been used to study these processes in the terrestrial environment. The investigators will identify and elucidate the extent of co-evolutionary relationships and dispersal processes of four pairs of seamount coral and epifaunal associate species through phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies. The specific objectives of the project are to address whether the New England and Corner Rise Seamounts are promoting the formation of sub-species, as expected for geographically-isolated habitats; whether these seamounts contain coral and associated fauna whose populations are evolving in isolation as opposed to widespread migrations; and whether corals and their associated species are evolving in tandem, and so are being governed by the same dispersal routes and capabilities. The investigators will interpret these data to develop further hypotheses directed at understanding the roles of hydrography, life history, oceanic circulation and co-evolutionary processes as mechanisms of diversification. This research will provide a mechanism to view the processes that shaped (and continue to shape) the migratory rates and evolutionary pathways of marine fauna that ultimately explains modern biogeographic biodiversity patterns in the deep sea. The broader impacts will have application to understanding potential anthropogenic disturbance on deep-sea populations. Seamounts around the world are currently threatened by destructive fishery practices emphasizing the need for greater understanding of the processes affecting uncharacterized species in these habitats. The project will provide postdoctoral training and graduate student support, including the development of graduate-level topics courses within the Joint MIT/WHOI graduate program. The project also includes construction of a faunal guide (and database) of the Northwest Atlantic Seamounts, enriched with high-definition images, ecological and distribution descriptions, bathymetric maps, and evolutionary implications for the diversity of life on the deep-sea seamounts. This compendium will be disseminated to school children, educators, and managers.