Final Activity Report Summary - DIPOT (Diversity and phylogeny of Tanaidacea form southeastern Australia)
The project had four original objectives:
1. How many tanaid species inhabit the southeastern Australian region and how can they be recognised?
2. What is the origin, relationship and radiation of the Australian Tanaidacea?
3. How are these species distributed geographically and by habitat?
4. Are tanaids more diversified in the deep sea than in shallow waters?
The core of the project was a study of the diversity of tanaids inhabiting the Australian region. The group is generally poorly recognised and knowledge on those from the Australian region is just 'the tip of the iceberg'. Before the beginning of this project the list of the known tanaids from the region included 52 nominal species. During the project another 67 species were described.
A phylogenetic analysis of the superfamily Paratanaoida was undertaken using 93 species or assumed monophyletic genera. The attempts included two outgroups (Apseudes poorei and Tanais dulongi) and 93 ingroups and 83 informative characters. The results were presented during the First International Symposium entitled 'Advances in Crustacean Taxonomy' October, 2008.
Close to 500 taxonomic papers dealing with Tanaidacea have been digitized (PDF files). Together with Endnote database of the literature of the Tanaidacea (ca. 1800 entries) were published in DVD format. OCR files with the papers published before 1959 are accessible at the webpage http://peracarida.usm.edu/iwp_home.html.
The new objective was CReefs Program (Census of Coral Reefs), a project of the Census of Marine Life (CoML) initiative. The tanaids were collected during three trips: twice to Lizard Island (NE Australia, 2-22 April, 2008, 20-28 February, 2009) and once Ningaloo (WA, 5-25 June, 2008). The extensive collections of about 200 samples were made during SCUBA diving http://www.aims.gov.au/creefs/field-program.html. The samples were sorted and preliminary determined to morpho-species level in the field. So far about 110 tanaid species respectively have been listed and recorded in the CReefs database. This material will be further studied during the PhD dissertation at the University of Lodz, Poland.
1. How many tanaid species inhabit the southeastern Australian region and how can they be recognised?
2. What is the origin, relationship and radiation of the Australian Tanaidacea?
3. How are these species distributed geographically and by habitat?
4. Are tanaids more diversified in the deep sea than in shallow waters?
The core of the project was a study of the diversity of tanaids inhabiting the Australian region. The group is generally poorly recognised and knowledge on those from the Australian region is just 'the tip of the iceberg'. Before the beginning of this project the list of the known tanaids from the region included 52 nominal species. During the project another 67 species were described.
A phylogenetic analysis of the superfamily Paratanaoida was undertaken using 93 species or assumed monophyletic genera. The attempts included two outgroups (Apseudes poorei and Tanais dulongi) and 93 ingroups and 83 informative characters. The results were presented during the First International Symposium entitled 'Advances in Crustacean Taxonomy' October, 2008.
Close to 500 taxonomic papers dealing with Tanaidacea have been digitized (PDF files). Together with Endnote database of the literature of the Tanaidacea (ca. 1800 entries) were published in DVD format. OCR files with the papers published before 1959 are accessible at the webpage http://peracarida.usm.edu/iwp_home.html.
The new objective was CReefs Program (Census of Coral Reefs), a project of the Census of Marine Life (CoML) initiative. The tanaids were collected during three trips: twice to Lizard Island (NE Australia, 2-22 April, 2008, 20-28 February, 2009) and once Ningaloo (WA, 5-25 June, 2008). The extensive collections of about 200 samples were made during SCUBA diving http://www.aims.gov.au/creefs/field-program.html. The samples were sorted and preliminary determined to morpho-species level in the field. So far about 110 tanaid species respectively have been listed and recorded in the CReefs database. This material will be further studied during the PhD dissertation at the University of Lodz, Poland.