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Marine phylogeographic structuring during climate change: the signature of leading and rear edge of range shifting populations

Summary information

Funding:MarinERA ERA-NET project
Ec contribution:915987
Start date:2009-01-01
End date:2011-12-31
Duration:36 months
Coordinator:Vitor Almada (valmada@ispa.pt)
Organisation:Institute for Applied Psychology - Portugal
Project name:Marine phylogeographic structuring during climate change: the signature of leading and rear edge of range shifting populations
Project summary:The Marine phylogeographic structuring during climate change project aims to monitor, sample and genotype a number of target species, in predetermined rocky-shore stations in the Mediterranean and along West Europe, with special attention to species having distributional limits within this area.

The approach is to:
• use both mitochondrial and nuclear markers as well as standard phylogeographic, historical demographic and food web related tools to compare the patterns detected in retreating edges and leading edges of cold temperate and warm water organisms respectively;
• search for changes in distributional records that might suggest changes in abundance during the study period;
• investigate the trophic ecology of each target species in order to detect trophodynamic changes and adaptations along the latitudinal gradient.

Apart from the main objectives this study will help to define the geographical limits of populations that are distinct, thus assisting policy makers to develop conservation schemes and marine protected areas.