Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Evolutionary history of the Antarctic marine fauna: climatic and tectonic constraints  (Evolutionary of the Antarctic marine fauna)

Outline
The abstract of my proposal is as follows:- In the face of global climate change one of the biggest questions facing mankind is what will happen to global biodiversity over the next 500 years. Gaining an improved understanding of the effect of past climate change and tectonic events on speciation, extinction and rates of evolution will help us to predict the effect that future change will have on our biodiversity. Antarctica’s unique and well known marine fauna, together with its thermal isolation and well defined climatic, tectonic and glacial history make it an ideal test case in which to study the origins and maintenance of biodiversity. Major climatic and geological events in Antarctica’s history are likely to have precipitated extinctions in Antarctic taxa, giving rise to vacant niches and providing opportunities for speciation. Such events may have also facilitated the colonisation of other areas (e.g. deep sea) from a suggested centre of origin in Antarctica. The present study will use new relaxed phylogenetic methods and birth-death processes to characterise the molecular evolutionary history of Antarctic marine biota thereby providing a means of testing the effect of major climatic and tectonic events on shaping our biodiversity. Specific objectives:- 1. To determine relative and absolute rates of molecular evolution across Antarctic marine taxa (octopus, fish, sea spiders and isopods) relative to major climatic and plate tectonic events. 2. To estimate diversification rates (speciation and extinction rates) of Antarctic marine taxa relative to major climatic and plate tectonic events. 3. To determine whether the Antarctic marine fauna has been a centre of origin for other areas, and if so, whether movement away from Antarctica has been constrained by climatic and plate tectonic events. 4. To gain a thorough understanding of the systematic and evolutionary relationships of the endemic Antarctic fauna through molecular phylogenetic approaches.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
This project will provide significant advances by characterising both rates of evolution and rates of speciation and extinction across 4 Antarctic marine taxa over the last 65 my. This will be the first project to estimate rates of speciation in the Antarctic and will determine if this can be linked to previous episodes of climate and tectonic change in Antarctica’s history. It will provide novel insight into the effects of climate change on shaping biodiversity

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
Support in terms of tissue samples of the taxa of interest and knowledge for this project has been pledged from Prof. Angelika Brandt (University of Hamburg), Dr Louise Allcock (Queen’s University Belfast) and Dr Alex Rogers, (Zoological Society of London)

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
No designated field activities

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: n/a
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
1 x ProMac computer for computational analysis. Facilities required are available though Cambridge University (Laboratory space and thermocycler for DNA amplification). A consumables budget to purchase chemicals and plasticware for DNA extraction, amplification and sequencing has been requested on the grant applications.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?

I have applied for a NERC postdoctoral fellowship to obtain funding for this research.

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
International or national endorsement has not yet been sort.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
Yes

This project is a new and autonomous project.

How will the project be organised and managed?
The proposed project is to be based at Cambridge University and funded by the NERC postdoctoral fellowship program. I would manage the project myself.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
My proposed research provides the ideal platform to help provide information and education about climate change and the loss of biodiversity to non-academics to help raise awareness and understanding of these issues. I am already a strong advocate of the communication of science to non-academic users and have provided a number of newspaper and radio interviews, as well as interviews for ABC-online and the British Antarctic Survey website. I also promote a greater understanding of science through active participation in the Census of Antarctic Marine Life initiative. I plan to continue this involvement of the communication of science to the wider community and also strengthen it through becoming involved in school visits and public lecturers to teach children, students and the wider community about the importance of climate change and maintaining our biodiversity.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
All molecular sequence data would be submitted to Genbank and therefore publicly available. As the project is being completed data would be stored and backed up on multiple computers and external hard drives at Cambridge University.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
I have applied for a NERC postdoctoral fellowship to fund this work.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
A full and detailed grant proposal is available if needed

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr Jan Strugnell
British Antarctic Survey
High Cross, Madingley Road
Cambridge
CB3 0ET
UK

Tel: (01223) 221547
Mobile: no
Fax: no
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation