The Antarctic Circumpolar Current as a diversification trigger for deep-sea octocorals ...

• Main Authors: Dueñas, Luisa F., Tracey, Dianne M., Crawford, Andrew J., Wilke, Thomas, Alderslade, Phil, Sánchez, Juan A., Justus Liebig University Giessen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universitätsbibliothek Gießen 2016
• Subjects: Antarctic Circumpolar Current; gene flow; primnoid octocorals; Southern Ocean; deep-sea; ddc570; Antarctic; Pacific; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.22029/jlupub-8577; https://jlupub.ub.uni-giessen.de//handle/jlupub/9189

Background: Antarctica is surrounded by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), the largest and strongest current in the world. Despite its potential importance for shaping biogeographical patterns, the distribution and connectivity of deep-sea populations across the ACC remain poorly understood. In this study we conducted the first assessment of phylogeographical patterns in deep-sea octocorals in the South Pacific and Southern Ocean, specifically a group of closely related bottlebrush octocorals (Primnoidae: Tokoprymno and Thourella), as a test case to study the effect of the ACC on the population structure of brooding species. We assessed the degree to which the ACC constitutes a barrier to gene flow between northern and southern populations and whether the onset of diversification of these corals coincides with the origin of the ACC (Oligocene-Miocene boundary). Results: Based on DNA sequences of two nuclear genes from 80 individuals and a combination of phylogeographic model-testing approaches we found ...