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Evolutionary Island Biogeography: Origins and Maintenance of Fish Biodiversity in Marine Lakes

Project description

Biodiversity maintenance in marine lakes

For over 150 years, insular environments have served as biodiversity hotspots. Traditionally, the study of the origin and maintenance of biodiversity in islands have relied on ecological aspects of biogeography such as immigration, colonisation and extinction, whereas microevolutionary processes such as adaptation have been neglected. The combination of microevolution and island biogeography theory is a crucial step. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ADAPTIVEISLANDS project will study marine lakes – lakes situated very close to the sea and connected to it – to reveal the origin and maintenance of fish biodiversity by understanding the interaction between colonisation, extinction and adaptation. The project will compare marine lakes of similar age, size and environmental conditions, but with a different isolation level to the sea, in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.

Objective

For over 150 years, insular environments have played a key role in biological research, as they provide an explicit spatial and temporal context in which to study the processes behind biodiversity. Traditionally, the origin and maintenance of biodiversity in islands has been studied from the ecological aspects of biogeography such as immigration, colonization and extinction, while microevolutionary processes such as adaptation were ignored. Biodiversity in islands depends not only on colonization, but also on the successful establishment via biological adaptations, and on speciation. The integration of microevolution with Island Biogeography Theory (IBT) is a crucial next step. Here I propose to use marine lakes –islands of seawater surrounded by land– to shed light on the origin and maintenance of fish biodiversity by understanding the interaction between colonization, extinction and adaptation. To achieve this, I will compare marine lakes of similar ages, sizes and environmental conditions, but differing in the level of isolation to the sea, in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. First, I will examine how isolation and fish dispersal-related traits affect species diversity and composition in marine lakes. I will document marine lakes biodiversity patterns using video camera recordings and I will collate information on traits from public data repositories. Second, I will test how isolation affects colonization and extinction by documenting historic colonization-extinction dynamics (750 years before the present) using eDNA from sediment cores. Finally, I will test how isolation affects local adaptation by examining signatures of adaptation in marine lakes with different levels of connectivity to the sea using population genetics. This unique combination of study system, data, and novel analyses to integrate microevolution with IBT, will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the process responsible for the origin and maintenance of biodiversity.

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01

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Coordinator

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 203 464,32
Address
DROEVENDAALSESTEEG 4
6708 PB Wageningen
Netherlands

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Region
Oost-Nederland Gelderland Veluwe
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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