Collaborative Research: Diversification in the Deep-Sea and the Evolution of Fangs, Bioluminescence, Hermaphroditism, and Marine Habitat Transitions

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All animals that have evolved in the deep sea are under similar selective pressures as a result of the environment (e.g., little to no sunlight, high atmospheric pressure). This extreme habitat has led to massive convergence in animal morphology and behavior across deep-sea organisms, including bioluminescence, enlarged fangs and gaping mouths. In this project, the investigators will build phylogenies, model the evolution of deep-sea adaptations and uncover the links between these adaptations and diversification rates in three major clades of fishes. This study integrates phylogenetic relationships based on genetic and morphological data, comparative morphology, ecology, and evolutionary biology in an effort to broaden our understanding of fishes that have evolved, thrived, and diversified in the deep sea. This research will increase our understanding of a diverse array of deep-sea evolutionary adaptations, including bioluminescent structures that are used for predation, defense, species recognition, and sexual selection. These novel morphologies and behaviors have never before been studied within the context of a robust evolutionary framework based on molecular and morphological data. The resulting hypotheses will include a temporal component based on the fossil record that will allow us to explore, for the first time, whether these specializations are having potential effects on speciation in the deep sea. This project will support the training of postdoctoral, graduate, undergraduate, and high school students in marine biology, systematics, and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas and American Museum of Natural History. Findings from this work will continue to augment a new bioluminescence exhibit created and curated by PI Sparks and co-PI Smith (Creatures of Light).