Deep-sea macroecology: integrating taxonomy, phylogeny, and function into inferences of Atlantic hydroids (Cnidaria) distribution patterns

• Grant number: 18/04257-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2018
• End date: March 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Carlos Marques
• Grantee: Marina de Oliveira Fernandez
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Diversity distribution patterns associated with bathymetric variation are related to a number of biotic and abiotic conditions which, alone, are not able to explain them. Functional traits of individuals mediate their responses to these conditions, thus affecting fitness to live in different habitats and spatial variation in species composition. Relating the distribution of organisms to their functional traits, their evolutionary histories, and the environmental conditions they inhabit helps to understand the processes that regulate diversity. This project aims to integrate geographic and bathymetric data of species, functional traits, evolutionary histories and environmental conditions in the inference of patterns and mechanisms that led to the occupation of niches by hydroids. For this, we propose: (1) to infer environmental predictors of species distribution and functional traits; (2) to characterize the biogeographic structure of the species according to their functional traits; (3) to infer geographic and bathymetric patterns of variation of taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversities and their correlations. The study will include data on the taxonomy, phylogeny and 14 functional traits of benthic hydroids from the entire Atlantic Ocean and adjacent polar seas at depths below 50 m. Niche modeling methodologies, functional biogeography, and taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity indexes will be used. By approaching the different processes that regulate the distribution patterns of hydroids, we hope to bring an integrated understanding of the ecological and evolutionary aspects of deep-sea diversity.

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FERNANDEZ, MARINA OLIVEIRA; COLLINS, ALLEN G.; GITTENBERGER, ARJAN; ROY, KAUSTUV; MARQUES, ANTONIO CARLOS. Traits and depth: What do hydroids tell us about morphology and life-history strategies in the deep sea?. GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY, v. 29, n. 5, FEB 2020. (11/50242-5, 18/04257-0, 13/10821-1)

FERNANDEZ, MARINA O.; COLLINS, ALLEN G.; MARQUES, ANTONIO C.. Gradual and rapid shifts in the composition of assemblages of hydroids (Cnidaria) along depth and latitude in the deep Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Biogeography, v. 47, n. 7, APR 2020. (15/16948-9, 18/04257-0, 11/50242-5, 13/10821-1)

MIRANDA, THAIS P.; FERNANDEZ, MARINA O.; GENZANO, GABRIEL N.; PENA CANTERO, ALVARO L.; COLLINS, ALLEN G.; MARQUES, ANTONIO C.. Biodiversity and biogeography of hydroids across marine ecoregions and provinces of southern South America and Antarctica. POLAR BIOLOGY, v. 44, n. 8, p. 1669-1689, AUG 2021. (14/24407-5, 10/06927-0, 12/21453-0, 11/50242-5, 13/10821-1, 18/04257-0)

FERNANDEZ, MARINA OLIVEIRA; JAIMES-BECERRA, ADRIAN; MARQUES, ANTONIO CARLOS. Trait-environment relationships of hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) across large spatial and environmental gradients in the Atlantic Ocean. GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY, v. N/A, p. 13-pg., 2023-01-23. (18/04257-0, 11/50242-5)