© 2007 The Authors Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Blackwell Publishing LtdBipolar gene flow in deep-sea benthic foraminifera
Despite its often featureless appearance, the deep-ocean floor includes some of the most diverse habitats on Earth. However, the accurate assessment of global deep-sea diversity is impeded by a paucity of data on the geographical ranges of bottom-dwelling species, particularly at the genetic level....
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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2007
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.522.4370 http://www.unige.ch/sciences/biologie/biani/msg/files/pdf/Pawlowski_etal_MolEcol_2007.pdf |
| Summary: | Despite its often featureless appearance, the deep-ocean floor includes some of the most diverse habitats on Earth. However, the accurate assessment of global deep-sea diversity is impeded by a paucity of data on the geographical ranges of bottom-dwelling species, particularly at the genetic level. Here, we present molecular evidence for exceptionally wide distribution of benthic foraminifera, which constitute the major part of deep-sea meiofauna. Our analyses of nuclear ribosomal RNA genes revealed high genetic similarity between Arctic and Antarctic populations of three common deep-sea foraminiferal species (Epistominella exigua, Cibicides wuellerstorfi and Oridorsalis umbonatus), separated by distances of up to 17 000 km. Our results contrast with the substantial level of cryptic diver-sity usually revealed by molecular studies, of shallow-water benthic and planktonic marine organisms. The very broad ranges of the deep-sea foraminifera that we examined support the hypothesis of global distribution of small eukaryotes and suggest that deep-sea biodi-versity may be more modest at global scales than present estimates suggest. |
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