Morphological and molecular comparison between the algae diversity and distribution of the South Shetland Islands, Antarctic and the Magellan Region, Chile.

• Grant number: 24/21307-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 22, 2025
• End date: April 21, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Plant Taxonomy
• Principal Investigator: Mariana Cabral de Oliveira
• Grantee: Helena Miglioranzi Fraga
• Supervisor: Andres Omar Mansilla Munoz
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad De Magallanes, Campus Norte, Chile
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/06740-8 - Macroalgae diversity and distribution in Deception and King George Islands (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) based on DNA Barcodes, BP.IC

Abstract

The Antarctic Continent is affected by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and has extreme weather, despite that, it is not completely isolated. As an example, this continent has an important association with the Mangellian region of South America, in such a way that these two places were connected when the Gondwana Continent existed. Although being now separated by the Drake Passage, flow of organisms occurs between these regions through ACC eddies, kelp rafts, ships, and other vectors. Concerning the macroalgae, the ACC, most of the time, acts as a biogeographic barrier against the exchange of these organisms between these two regions, but bypasses can happen through long distance rafting promoted by that same current. Equally important are the recent molecular studies about these organisms, showing that species once considered the same for both places, when compared through molecular analysis, are shown to be different. Considering that, This project aims to collect macroalgae from the Magellan region that are taxonomically identified as the same species or as closely related species to the ones collected in the South Shetlands close to the Antarctic Peninsula on the other side of the Drake passage during OPERANTAR XLI, with the purpose of comparing these organisms by morphological and molecular analysis to investigate the species flow between both regions. This work will also contribute to the knowledge of possible breaks in the ACC barrier and for the understanding of the seaweed biodiversity in both regions.