Detailed project information
| Title | : | The trans-Arctic biotic interchange: snapshots-through-time of adaptive differentiation in the bivalve genus Macoma |
| Applicant | : | Dr. ir. P.C. Luttikhuizen |
| Research institute | : | NIOZ Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Zeeonderzoek Mariene Ecologie |
| Team members | : | Dr. ir. P.C. Luttikhuizen |
| Location | : | no information available |
| Duration | : | 05/01/2007 tot 08/21/2011 |
| Strategic goal | : | Talent |
| Budget | : | Eur 159,911.00 personnel Eur 24,000.00 equipment |
| Subsidy | : | More Women Researchers as University Lecturers (MEERVOUD) |
Summary
During the last three decades, the Arctic ice cap has reduced in area by 20%, opening up coastal marine habitats in the Arctic to a rapidly growing extent. Major effects on marine biodiversity are to be expected in the very near future. A large-scale interchange of marine flora and fauna across the Arctic took place between the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans following the opening of the Bering Strait 4 to 7 million years ago. It is imperative to accelerate our efforts towards understanding the historical trans-Arctic biotic interchange in order to predict effects of its modern-day equivalent and to test these predictions over the coming decades. This project addresses this question from two angles, asking, first, what made some taxa successful trans-Arctic colonizers and others not, and second, how did trans-Arctic migration affect evolutionary adaptations? This interdisciplinary project will study ecologically relevant genetic variation by combining controlled experimental work with analysis at both the DNA (AFLP) and RNA (cDNA-AFLP) levels. As study taxon the bivalve genus Macoma is chosen because of its ecological significance as an important secondary producer and intermediate position in the food web, its excellent fossil record, the extensive earlier experience with it in ecological experiments, including laboratory rearing, and the fact that it is relatively undisturbed by human activities.
Key words: trans-Arctic migration, global climate change, ecological genomics, adaptive plasticity, population differentiation.
Products
Articles
- J Campos, KTCA Peijnenburg, J van Bleijswijk, PC Luttikhuizen, HW van der Veer (2008). Phylogeography of the common shrimp, Crangon crangon (L.) across its distribution range. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . pp. 1015-1030
- PC Luttikhuizen, J Drent (2008). Inheritance of predominantly hidden shell colours in Macoma balthica (L.) (Bivalvia: Tellinidae). Journal of Molluscan Studies. pp. 355-362
- R Dekker, PC Luttikhuizen (2010). Pseudo-cryptic species Arenicola defodiens and A. marina (Polychaeta: Arenicolidae) in Wadden Sea, North Sea and Skagerrak: morphological and molecular variation. Journal of Sea Research. pp. 17-23
