Methods for assessing biodiversity, abundance and distribution of Antarctic sea anemones

• Main Authors: Watson, L, Miller, K, Stark, J, Wapstra, E, Johnstone, G, Jarman, S
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: New Zealand Marine Science Society and Australian Marine Science Association 2016
• Subjects: Biological Sciences; Ecology; Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology); Antarctic; Southern Ocean; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://www.amsa.asn.au/2016-wellington; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/129351

Our current knowledge on Antarctic sea anemone biodiversity is poor,with less than 50% of species identified. Most species descriptionsdate back to early last century and recent work has suggested thattaxonomic uncertainty is high. One of the challenges in identificationof sea anemones biodiversity is the paucity of rigid taxonomic features.A modern approach using genetic techniques could help resolve someof these problems. We used DNA sequencing of the mitochondrialCO1 and 16S gene regions, and nuclear ITS sequence combined withgenotyping using Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) on 387individual sea anemones from the Southern Ocean and MacquarieIsland to identify and resolve taxonomic discrepancies. We found thatall three genetic markers were able to distinguish between species,although hypervariable markers such as SNPs are needed to distinguishbetween some closely related species. Understanding sea anemonebiodiversity is, however, just one part of understanding their role in theecology of the Southern Ocean. Many Antarctic sea anemones havedistributions that extend beyond depths that are accessible by SCUBAdiving, hence to study the ecology of key sea anemone species requiresalternate approaches. We used ROVs and photoquadrat surveys tounderstand sea anemone distribution and relationships with theirenvironment. These studies found that sea anemone distribution wascorrelated to ecological engineer and habitats that comprised of hardsubstrates. This combination of phylogenetic studies with distributionstudies has given us an insight into the complex relationships of theAntarctic benthic ecosystem and the role sea anemones play.