Widespread intra-specific genetic homogeneity of coastal Antarctic benthic foraminifera

Abstract Benthic foraminifera are a major component of the Antarctic biota. Coastal foraminiferal morphospecies are widely distributed in Antarctic waters. The question is whether these morphotypes are genetically identical or, rather, they represent a cohort of cryptic species. Here, we compared ge...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Biology
Main Authors: Majewski, Wojciech, Bowser, Samuel S., Pawlowski, Jan
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2015
Subjects:
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Ross Sea
McMurdo Sound
Terra Nova Bay
Admiralty Bay
Marguerite
Rothera
Marguerite Bay
Antarc*
Polar Biology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1765-1
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-015-1765-1.pdf
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-015-1765-1/fulltext.html
http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-015-1765-1
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Summary:Abstract Benthic foraminifera are a major component of the Antarctic biota. Coastal foraminiferal morphospecies are widely distributed in Antarctic waters. The question is whether these morphotypes are genetically identical or, rather, they represent a cohort of cryptic species. Here, we compared genetically nine benthic foraminiferal morphospecies from Admiralty Bay (South Shetlands) and the western Ross Sea (McMurdo Sound, Terra Nova Bay), separated by a distance of ~4500 km. Additionally, for three of these morphospecies, we included specimens from Rothera (Marguerite Bay), which is located between the two main areas of interest. Our study, based on SSU and ITS rDNA sequence data, shows that all examined morphospecies share the same genotypes despite the presence of considerable intra-individual genetic variability.

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