SGER: Phylogency, Reproductive Mode, and Parasitism in Antarctic Cidaroid Sea Urchins

南极生物群的起源仍然不确定。自南极洲与澳大利亚分离4000万年以来，浅水、环南极洲的栖息地一直与世界其他地区隔绝。随着2500万年前南极洲从南美洲分离，以及南极绕极流和极地锋区的出现，南极生物群与世界其他海洋的隔离几乎完成。唯一的例外是深海，它是由寒冷的，下沉的南极底层水补充。许多南极物种是特有的，与深海物种有明显的亲缘关系。南极生物群的一个主要问题是深海生物是否在被隔离和冷却后入侵并辐射到南极底栖生物中，或者南极生物群是深海生物和南极物种入侵深海的避难所和/或来源。这项研究将集中在类囊海胆，作为国际南极深海生物多样性计划的一部分，将在德国南极计划的研究船Polarstern上进行。巡航将在斯科舍和威德尔海进行。从南极大陆架到邻近深海海底收集的材料将构成系统发育分析的基础，以帮助解决这类生物的起源问题。研究还将包括关注幼虫发育，这在一些物种中是未知的。最后，一种真菌样的寄生虫，发生在一些物种的南极cidaroids的刺，将进行检查，以将这种寄生虫到一个公认的更高的分类类别，并打开了解它如何影响海胆发育的可能性。该项目将提供关于世界海洋一个未得到充分研究的部分的新信息，并将有助于世界生物多样性的研究。

The origin of Antarctic biota remains uncertain. Shallow-water, circum-antarctic habitats have been isolated from the rest of the world since Antarctica separated from Australia forty million years. With the separation of Antarctica from South American 25 million years ago, and the inception of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the Polar Frontal zone, the isolation of the Antarctic biota from the rest of the world's oceans was nearly complete. The exception is the deep sea, which is replenished by cold, sinking Antarctic bottomwater. Many Antarctic species are endemic with apparent affinities to species in the deep sea. A major question about the Antarctic biota is whether deep-sea organisms invaded and radiated into the Antarctic benthos after it was isolated and cooled or the Antarctic biota is a refugium and/or source of deep-sea organisms and Antarctic species invaded the deep sea. This research will focus on cidaroid sea urchins, as part of an international Antarctic deep-sea biodiversity program to be conducted on the German Antarctic program's research vessel Polarstern. The cruise will be conducted in the Scotia and Weddell Seas. Material collected from the Antarctic shelf to the floor of the adjacent deep sea will form the basis for a phylogenetic analysis to help resolve origin of this group of organisms. Studies will also include a focus on larval development, which is unknown in some species. Finally, an examination of a fungus-like parasite which occurs on the spines of some species of Antarctic cidaroids, will be conducted in order to place this parasite into a recognized higher taxonomic category, and to open the possibility for understanding how it influences echinoid development. This project will provide new information on a understudied part of the world's ocean and will contribute to the study of the world's biodiversity.