RCN: The North Atlantic Project: Historical Ecology of the Trans-Atlantic Biota

0130275坎宁安 虽然北大西洋是世界上研究得最好的海洋，但没有协调一致的努力来研究其生态和进化历史。 这个研究协调网络将汇集生态学家、古生物学家、海洋学家和进化生物学家。 特别是，该小组将重点关注许多海洋类群，这些类群被假设为在上新世晚期白令海峡开放后从北太平洋入侵。 这次入侵在北大西洋的两个海岸都放置了密切相关的生物，这是一个伟大的自然实验。虽然有很大的潜力，比较生态的分类群发现在非常不同的海岸西北和东北北大西洋，这是很少这样做。这个网络的主要目标是鼓励跨大西洋的生态和进化研究时，密切相关的类群发现在西北和东北大西洋。 这项研究将置于历史背景下，协调对北大西洋植物群和动物群的数百项分子生物地理学和系统研究，重点是在两个海岸发现的分类群。 这些历史性的分子研究将被放置在海洋学，古气候学和古生物学知识的背景下。虽然对北大西洋的全面研究需要跨学科和国际合作，但目前没有专门讨论这些领域重要分支的基础研究并由大西洋两岸科学家参加的年度会议。即使在特定领域，研究海洋动植物的科学家也很少互动。该网络汇集了来自北大西洋沿岸12个国家的76名科学家，并已对有机会开展跨大西洋多学科合作产生了相当大的兴奋。 由于北大西洋位于欧洲和北美洲之间的中心位置，它受到人类活动的强烈影响。 过度捕捞和污染导致鳕鱼和龙虾等重要物种的数量锐减。 由于鳕鱼和龙虾在北大西洋的两个海岸都有近亲，因此通过比较两个海岸的种群，可以了解它们的生态学。 这有助于解释为什么龙虾（Homarus属）在美洲比在欧洲更常见。 通过将这项研究置于进化的背景下，研究协调网络将研究是什么生物体特征允许分类群在北方的最后一次冰川中生存下来。 这些信息将有助于解释为什么有些物种比其他物种更能抵抗局部灭绝，这将有助于保护工作。

0130275Cunningham Although the North Atlantic is the best-studied ocean in the world, there is no coordinated effort to study its ecology and evolutionary history. This research coordination network will bring together ecologists, paleontologists, oceanographers, and evolutionary biologists. In particular, the group will focus on the many marine taxa that are hypothesized to have invaded from the North Pacific following the opening of the Bering Strait in the late Pliocene. This invasion placed closely related organisms on both coasts of the North Atlantic in a grand natural experiment. Although there is great potential to compare the ecology of taxa found on the very different coasts of the NW and NE North Atlantic, this is rarely done. The major goals of this network are to encourage trans-Atlantic ecological and evolutionary research when closely related taxa are found in the NW and the NE Atlantic. This research will be placed in a historical context by coordinating literally hundreds of molecular phylogeographic and systematic studies of the North Atlantic flora and fauna, with an emphasis on taxa found on both coasts. These historical molecular studies will then be placed in the context of knowledge about oceanography, paleoclimatology, and paleontology. Although a comprehensive study of the North Atlantic requires cross-disciplinary and international cooperation, currently there is no annual meeting devoted to basic research by significant subsets of these fields and attended by scientists from both sides of the Atlantic. Even within specific fields, scientists who study marine animals and plants rarely interact. This network brings together 76 scientists from 12 countries bordering the North Atlantic, and has already generated considerable excitement at the opportunity to carry out trans-Atlantic, multi-disciplinary collaborations. Because of its central location between Europe and North America, the North Atlantic is strongly affected by human activities. Overfishing and pollution have led to population crashes in important species such as cod and lobster. Since both cod and lobster have close relatives on both coasts of the North Atlantic, there is much to learn about their ecology by comparing populations on both coasts. This can help to explain why, for example, lobsters (genus Homarus) are so much more common in America than in Europe. By placing this research in an evolutionary context, the research coordination network will examine what organismal characteristics allowed taxa to survive the last glaciations in the northern hemisphere. This information will help explain why some species are more resistant to local extinction than others, which will help in conservation efforts.