Award Abstract # 0726382
Evolution in deep-sea molluscs

NSF Org: OCE
Division Of Ocean Sciences
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF MASS AT BOSTON
Initial Amendment Date: September 4, 2007
Latest Amendment Date: September 4, 2007
Award Number: 0726382
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: David Garrison
OCE
 Division Of Ocean Sciences
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: September 15, 2007
End Date: August 31, 2011 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $592,140.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $592,140.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2007 = $592,140.00
History of Investigator:
  • Ron Etter (Principal Investigator)
    ron.etter@umb.edu
  • Michael Rex (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Massachusetts Boston
100 WILLIAM T MORRISSEY BLVD
DORCHESTER
MA  US  02125-3300
(617)287-5370
Sponsor Congressional District: 08
Primary Place of Performance: University of Massachusetts Boston
100 WILLIAM T MORRISSEY BLVD
DORCHESTER
MA  US  02125-3300
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
08
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): CGCDJ24JJLZ1
Parent UEI: CGCDJ24JJLZ1
NSF Program(s): BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY,
OCE SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Primary Program Source: app-0107 
Program Reference Code(s): 1650, 9117, 9169, EGCH
Program Element Code(s): 165000, 541800
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

The deep-sea supports one of the most diverse and unique marine communities, the evolutionary and historical development of which are virtually unknown. This research project will contribute very significantly to answering the two most basic questions about evolutionary diversification in this vast environment: Where does it occur, and how? It will also create a solid conceptual and methodological context for future evolutionary studies in the deep sea.

In this project, the investigators have developed a deep-sea sampling program to address three main hypotheses about evolution in the deep sea that have emerged from their previous work. 1) The depth differentiation hypothesis suggesting population divergence decreases with depth. 2) The strong break in population structure at 3300 m may represent an unrecognized phylogeographic barrier. 3) Abyssal populations may be sinks that suffer chronic local extinction from being too rare to mate successfully, and are maintained by continued immigration from more abundant bathyal source populations. The investigators will test each of these hypotheses using deep-sea protobranch bivalves and multiple independent loci. Nuclear loci are essential as independent measures of population structure, gene flow and historical influences, but are also critical to establish whether some of the remarkable divergences we have documented represent cryptic species. The primary focus of this project is to collect the samples and develop nuclear markers from those samples that are sufficiently variable in deep-sea protobranchs to test each of the hypotheses and distinguish intra versus interspecific variation.

The source-sink hypothesis of abyssal biodiversity is the most synthetic and comprehensive explanation of large-scale patterns of species diversity in the deep ocean. If proven correct by the proposed study of population genetic structure, it will greatly simplify our understanding of both evolutionary and ecological causes of species diversity patterns.

Broader impacts of the research program include training for undergraduate and graduate students and public school teachers. UMass-Boston students and faculty have outstanding opportunities to be directly involved in science education and public outreach at all levels. The biology Department has NSF-Research Experiences for Undergraduate and NSF-Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology grants oriented toward underrepresented minorities. The campus has a Boston Science Partnership Grant to upgrade high school science curricula and a Center of Ocean Science Education Excellence to foster public awareness of ocean science. The research also has broad relevance for conservation and sustainable development of the deep-sea ecosystem. Genetic population structure is a crucial component of biodiversity, and has important implications for extinction potential from deep-sea exploitation.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Etter, R.J., E.E. Boyle, A. Glazier, R. M. Jennings, E. Dutra, and M. R. Chase. "Phylogeography of a pan-Atlantic abyssal protobranch bivalve: Implications for evolution in the deep Atlantic." Molecular Ecology , v.20 , 2011 , p.829
Jennings R.J. and Etter R.J. "Exon-Primed, Intron-Crossing (EPIC) loci for five nuclear genes in deep-sea protobranch bivalves: primer design, PCR protocols, and locus utility." Molecular Ecology Resources , 2011 DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2011.03038.x.
Rex, M.A., C.T. Stuart, R.J. Etter and C.R. McClain "Biogeography of the deep-sea gastropod Oocorys sulcata Fischer, 1883." British Journal of Conchology , v.40 , 2010 , p.287
Stuart, C. T. and M. A. Rex "Bathymetric patterns of deep-sea gastropod species diversity in 10 basins of the Atlantic Ocean and Norwegian Sea" Marine Ecology , v.30 , 2009 , p.164
Stuart, C. T. and M. A. Rex "Bathymetric patterns of deep-sea gastropod species diversity in 10 basins of the Atlantic Ocean and Norwegian Sea" Marine Ecology , v.30 , 2009 , p.164
Stuart, C.T., P. Martinez Arbizu, C.R. Smith, T. Molodtsova, A. Brandt, R.J. Etter, E. Escobar-Briones, M.-C. Fabri and M.A. Rex "CeDAMar global database of abyssal biological sampling" Aquatic Biology , v.4 , 2008 , p.143

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