Project information
Project aim
Populations rise to the challenge of changing environments through a blend of adaptation and dispersal. The signals of these processes are captured in the genetic diversity of populations and how this is structured across a species range. Such genetic diversity thus provides a useful means to understand past change and anticipate outcomes to future change. Decades of work has concerned the genetic diversity and connectivity of populations for a broad range of species across the Antarctic. Yet no study has provided a quantitative, integrated analysis of the form and extent of this genetic structure. Antarctic conservation management is thus devoid of a tool widely used elsewhere. We will address this gap, drawing together existing data on the genetic diversity of Antarctic populations and using modern analytical techniques. In doing so, we will reveal key patterns of population resilience across the region and provide policy makers with new data to assist in spatial management.
Project milestones
Summary of the project achievements 2020/21
This project has synthesised all available information from the last two decades on the spatial genetic variation of Antarctic flora and fauna, providing an invaluable tool that will be accessible to scientists and policy end users globally, and will thus be used to inform research priorities and conservation management for countless Antarctic species into the future. The database resulting from this project pulls together years of research on organisms as diverse as penguins, beetles, starfish, albatrosses, lichens and whales, and highlights several significant gaps in our knowledge of their dispersal and genetic vulnerability, as well as illuminating several patterns unique to this region of the world. Future researchers and management advisors will be able to search the database for particular species groups, habitats or biogeographic regions of interest, and the data available will help them to identify important population-level considerations. These include cases of hidden biodiversity, or genetic structure indicating discrete evolutionary significant units that should be managed independently throughout a species' range. Future research on Antarctic population connectivity will also be guided by the trends evident in the database, which makes clear which habitats and regions have been under-studied, and which genetic markers have been under-utilised to date.
Summary of the season 2019/20
Dr Helena Baird has been appointed to the project and commenced work. A discussion between all project participants to set the work in motion has taken place. Owing to the coronavirus situation, the presentation and discussions scheduled for the SCAR Open Science Conference to be held in Hobart in July/August 2020 have been cancelled because the entire meeting was called off. Nonetheless, data collection is proceeding in line with project objectives, albeit slightly more slowly owing to the working from home arrangements in place in Victoria.