Biogeography in saline lake dinoflagellates: evolutionary jumps between limnic and marine systems

Project aim

The Vestfold Hills contains a suite of marine derived brackish to saline lakes that have simple food webs dominated by microorganisms, including dinoflagellates that are members of the phytoplankton. The lakes possess differing salinities that impact on other physcial and chemical characteristics so that the original marine creatures have been subject to differing evolutionary pressures that have resulted in the evolution of distinct strains of dinoflagellate in each lake. We will look at the degree of speciation in dinoflagellates and their ability to colonise different lake environments.