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

深海海山为其他远洋领域提供了底栖生物栖息地。距离、自然海洋学和海山动物群的生活史战略结合在一起，使海山成为“海洋中的岛屿”。这些水下岛屿提供了研究海洋环境中的进化、特有和物种形成的模式系统，就像新兴的海洋岛屿被用于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系统地理研究，确定和阐明四对海山珊瑚和表观动物相关物种的共同进化关系和扩散过程的程度。该项目的具体目标是探讨新英格兰海山和角落隆起海山是否如地理上与世隔绝的栖息地预期的那样促进亚种的形成；这些海山是否包含珊瑚和相关动物，其种群是孤立进化的，而不是广泛迁徙的；珊瑚及其相关物种是否在同步进化，因此是否受到相同的扩散路线和能力的支配。研究人员将对这些数据进行解释，以制定进一步的假设，以了解水文地理学、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)海洋动物迁徙速率和进化路径的过程，最终解释深海现代生物地理生物多样性模式。更广泛的影响将应用于了解对深海种群的潜在人为干扰。世界各地的海山目前受到破坏性渔业做法的威胁，强调有必要更好地了解影响这些生境中未确定特征的物种的过程。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/世界卫生组织联合研究生项目中开发研究生级别的专题课程。该项目还包括建立西北大西洋海山动物群指南(和数据库)，其中包括高清晰度图像、生态和分布说明、水深图以及对深海海山生物多样性的进化影响。本纲要将分发给在校儿童、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.