Description
There is a growing awareness of a hidden diversity (cryptic species) within many of the marine animal groups. The polychaete annelids are among the most common organisms in the benthic environment and are very common world-wide. Hidden diversity among such dominating group could have large impact upon all estimates on global and/or regional diversity. Additionally, a solid knowledge of a hidden diversity is also of a major importance for evaluation of changes, which are currently observed, in distributional patterns due to climate change. Currently, there are major changes occurring in the Nordic Seas due to changes in temperature and it is extremely important to have key elements known in that puzzle. The main objective is to explore the hidden diversity, both at the morphological level and seen in molecular genetics, in polychaetes in the Nordic Seas. The main beneficiaries of the project will be the scientific community. Project promoter, University of A Coruña, Dr. Parapar is very well known for his excellent studies on polychaetous annelids, in particular on oweniid and thrichobranchid polychaetes. His publications are of the highest quality. The donor partner, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and the partners, the University of Iceland 's Research Centre and Icelandic Institute of Natural History are very skillful in sampling and handling of the specimens. Their facilities in Sandgerði/Trondheim are excellent for sampling the oweniids and for the first part of the taxonomic studies. A study of this nature would be impossible to approach without the cooperation of the people and institutions involved and indicated above. AII parties involved will collaborate in the development of the work and will be co - authors of the publications will be made from the obtained results.
Summary of project results
The main aim of this project was to assess the hidden diversity occurring in the polychaete genera Myriochele Delle Chiaje, 1867 and Myrioglobula Hartman, 1967 using both morphological and molecular methods. The knowledge, as deep as possible of the marine benthic fauna, is becoming increasingly necessary for a good management and sustainability of marine natural resources. Until recent years, the taxonomic study of the species and their identification, facused almost exclusively on the study of external morphology, and in some cases, e. g. flatworms, aplacophoran molluscs, nemertines, etc., also in their internal anatomy. At the NTNU the grantee had the opportunity to study, among others, 66 lots from the Norwegian coast, containing 123 vials and more than 1,000 specimens of Oweniidae. Given the special characteristics of this family, in which, to be identified, the fragile individuals must be extracted from the tubes one by one; this make that the exact number of specimens is sometimes difficult to discern. Curiously, all specimens identified with this name in the collections of the NTNU, really belong to different taxa. The species named Galathowenia af. fragilis, is also very interesting because it could correspond to a yet undescribed species. These specimens are currently in the grantee’s lab for a more in depth study. At the UIRCS the grantee studied more than 3,600 specimens included 517 vials collected during the BIOICE campaigns around lceland. He not only studied the species belonging to the family Oweniidae, but also material belonging to other polychaete families previously studied by him and published in previous years. The material corresponding to M. islandica is of great value, given the limited available number of specimens of this recently described species. These new specimens confirm the presence of the taxon in waters south of lceland. The material corresponding to T. shetlandica and T. bigeniculatus is also of great value given the low number of specimens available so far these newly described species. In both cases, it is the first mention after the original description, and in the case of T. shetlantica, it is found for the first time in lcelandic waters. Such studies have an undeniable impact on the field of scientific study of marine biodiversity, since, in addition to using traditional tools in the taxonomic work, they are complemented by molecular tools, which use is still not widespread enough.
Summary of bilateral results
As a result of the project, at least three scientific articles are in preparation or submitted, co-authored by the grantee and partners. Cooperation between involved researchers, both signatories of the project or not, is prior to this project, and will undoubtedly continue in the future. In this sense, there are new plans for future cooperation with some of them, discussed in Wilhelmshaven (Germany) under the lceAge programme, and also in further meetings to be held soon in Bergen (Norway) under the MAREANO project . The themes of these new collaborations will also have to do with polychaete taxonomy, and the work area will be also the Norwegian coast, and probably other geographical areas.