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

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

0130275 Cunningham 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.