DSM.GBPP.LT

"Dispersal and Speciation in Micrometazoans. Geographic Barriers, Phylogeography and Phylogeny in Limnoterrestrial Tardigrades"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Micrometazoans could be an intermediate status, in terms of speciation process, between larger animals (above 2 mm), because they have multicelullar conditions, and unicellular organisms, since they share habitats, resources, small size, and some biological aspects. Morphological and molecular information, needed for speciation approaches, are complementary data for population genetic, biodiversity and phylogenetic analyses among different taxonomic levels. The “Everything is Everywhere” hypothesis assumed for unicellular organisms to have wider distributions than larger animals, and more restricted distributions are explained by environmental selection, being historical events irrelevant (opposite to larger animals where are explained by historical together with ecological events). We will test speciation processes hypothesis (such as Everything is Everywhere) in micrometazoans studying Tardigrada phylum. Tardigrades are multicellular organisms phylogenetically closely related with larger animals, but with microscopic sizes (under 2 mm even hydrated/active forms), dormant stages easily dispersed, and high population numbers (like unicellular organisms). We will study patterns and processes in two environments (terrestrial and freshwater) with different dispersal ways, ecological conditions and habitat patch connections to understand speciation in Tardigrada. We will analyze with morphological and molecular information: (1) genetic populations of wide distributed species in both slopes of ancient mountains (older than tardigrade fossil record) in central Iberian Peninsula and at different elevation points along rivers within the area, (2) biodiversity patterns related with environmental, phylogenetic and taxonomic features, (3) influence of geographic barriers on population genetic structure and biodiversity patterns, and (4) phylogenetic relationships at high taxonomic levels (needed for lower taxonomic levels) since its lack of information for tardigrades.'