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

深海海隆为其他大洋区域提供了海底生境。距离、物理海洋学和海山动物的生活史策略联合收割机结合在一起，使海山成为海洋中的岛屿。“这些淹没的岛屿提供了研究海洋环境中进化、特有现象和物种形成的模型系统，就像新兴的海洋岛屿被用来研究陆地环境中的这些过程一样。调查人员将通过系统发育和地理分布研究，查明和阐明四对海山珊瑚和表生动物相关物种的共同进化关系和扩散过程。该项目的具体目标是：研究新英格兰和角隆海隆是否如地理上孤立的生境所预期的那样，正在促进亚种的形成;这些海隆中是否有珊瑚和相关动物，其种群正在孤立地进化，而不是大范围迁移;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传播途径和能力的控制。研究人员将解释这些数据，以进一步发展假设，旨在了解水文学，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，以观察塑造（并继续塑造）海洋动物的迁移率和进化途径的过程，最终解释深海的现代生物多样性模式。 更广泛的影响将适用于了解潜在的人类活动对深海种群的干扰。世界各地的海隆目前受到破坏性渔业做法的威胁，强调需要更好地了解影响这些生境中未定性物种的过程。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联合研究生课程中开发研究生水平的主题课程。 该项目还包括建立一个西北大西洋海隆动物指南（和数据库），其中包括高清晰度图像、生态和分布情况说明、测深图以及深海海隆生物多样性的演变影响。该简编将分发给在校儿童、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.