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HAVKYST-Havet og kysten

Bilat - Biodiversity of Arctic copepods: can sibling interbreeding explain confusing taxonomy in Pseudocalanus?

Awarded: NOK 0.12 mill.

The marine copepod genus Pseudocalanus consists of seven species described in the literature, which are dispersed throughout the northern temperate seas and the Arctic basin and adjoining shelf seas. These species commonly co-occur in groups of two-four s pecies, which are clearly separable, but atypical specimens occur frequently, a fact which has become increasingly evident as we have gathered data from PCR analyses on specimens from different localities. "Good" species are either reproductively isolated or separated geographically; in the ocean possibly by occurring in separate water masses at the same location. In connection with a Ph.D. project dealing with the genetic discrimination between species co-occurring in the North Norwegian coastal zones an d the Arctic, we wish to shed light on one of the mysteries surrounding these aberrant specimens; could they result from hybridization between the sibling species? If not, we will instead establish the existence of reproductive isolation, as opposed to sp atial isolation, between species pairs. To this end, we will collect abundantly available Pseudocalanus spp from North Norwegian coastal waters and the Barents Sea and perform mating experiments in the laboratory in Tromsoe.

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HAVKYST-Havet og kysten