Genomic signatures of neutral and adaptive microevolutionary processes in Fragilariopsis kerguelensis, a main silicate sinker of the Southern Ocean

该项目的最初目的是验证一个假设，即南大洋的纬度环境梯度可能导致了浮游植物物种Fragilariopsis kerguelensis的种群基因组和适应性突变的发展。为了解决这一假设，我们选择了基因组和表型相结合的方法。我们在项目运行时间的前半段获得的结果强有力地表明，我们的项目的目标分类群至少由三个迄今为止被忽视的（半）隐物种组成。这给工作带来了不可预见的挑战，但也带来了新的可能性。我们现在可以处理适应性分化过程，无论是在物种边界出现的情况下，还是在种群之间存在基因交换的情况下，没有物种边界的情况下。该项目的扩展将使我们能够在两个层面上解决本地适应问题，并重新关注最初设想的种内适应问题。

The original aim of the project was to test the hypothesis that the latitudinal environmental gradients of the Southern Ocean might have led to the development of population genomic and adaptive clines in a phytoplankton species, the diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis. To address this hypothesis, we chose a combined genomic and phenotypic approach. The results we obtained during the first half of the project run time give a strong indication that the target taxon of our project consists of at least three, so far overlooked (semi-)cryptic species. This brings unforeseen challenges but also novel possibilities into the work. We can now address adaptive differentiation processes both in a case when they were accompanied by the emergence of species boundaries, as well as without the latter, in the presence of gene exchange between populations. The extension of the project will enable us to address the topic of local adaptation at both levels, and to re-focus on the originally envisaged topic of intraspecific adaptation.