REA EXCELLENT SCIENCE DEPARTMENT MARIE CURIE EUROPEAN COMMISSION - ANCHIALINE CAVES TO UNDERSTAND EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES (VERBANIA) (DTA.AD002.296)

Area tematica

Scienze del sistema Terra e tecnologie per l'ambiente

Area progettuale

Struttura responsabile del progetto di ricerca

Istituto di ricerca sulle acque (IRSA)

Responsabile di progetto

DIEGO FONTANETO
Telefono: 0323518300
E-mail: d.fontaneto@ise.cnr.it

Abstract

Anchialine environments represent world-wide distributed land-locked water bodies with marine origin. They are comparable to islands for terrestrial habitats as they encompass young, discrete habitats with comparable ecological conditions to the sea, thus providing independent replicates of comparable evolutionary processes. All anchialine habitats previously investigated harbor high endemism, disharmonic communities, species with unique set of troglomorphic features, and old animal lineages interpreted as living fossils. In the four research parts of this project, we will test each of these observations and the processes related to them by analyzing large data sets with both macroecological and phylogenetic methods and a broad theoretical perspective from the field of evolutionary ecology, comparative evolution and island biogeography. This will facilitate to link the ecological and evolutionary processes observed in these habitats (easy to isolate and test due to the discrete and young nature of anchialine habitats) with those affecting oceanic ecosystems, providing a tool for a deeper understanding of the marine biota.

Obiettivi

The goal of this project is to use the animal communities inhabiting anchialine environments as a model to investigate
evolutionary patterns and processes in island-like marine habitats.

Data inizio attività

01/11/2017

Parole chiave

ANCAVE

Ultimo aggiornamento: 30/04/2025