Molecular evidence for genetic mixing of Arctic and Antarctic subpolar populations of planktonic foraminifers

Kate F. Darling (), Christopher M. Wade, Iain A. Stewart, Dick Kroon, Richard Dingle and Andrew J. Leigh Brown
Additional contact information
Kate F. Darling: Department of Geology and Geophysics University of Edinburgh
Christopher M. Wade: Institute of Genetics, University of Nottingham
Iain A. Stewart: Department of Geology and Geophysics University of Edinburgh
Dick Kroon: Department of Geology and Geophysics University of Edinburgh
Richard Dingle: British Antarctic Survey
Andrew J. Leigh Brown: Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh

Nature, 2000, vol. 405, issue 6782, 43-47

Abstract: Abstract Bipolarity, the presence of a species in the high latitudes separated by a gap in distribution across the tropics, is a well-known pattern of global species distribution. But the question of whether bipolar species have evolved independently at the poles since the establishment of the cold-water provinces 16–8 million years ago, or if genes have been transferred across the tropics since that time, has not been addressed. Here we examine genetic variation in the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene of three bipolar planktonic foraminiferal morphospecies. We identify at least one identical genotype in all three morphospecies in both the Arctic and Antarctic subpolar provinces, indicating that trans-tropical gene flow must have occurred. Our genetic analysis also reveals that foraminiferal morphospecies can consist of a complex of genetic types. Such occurrences of genetically distinct populations within one morphospecies may affect the use of planktonic foraminifers as a palaeoceanographic proxy for climate change and necessitate a reassessment of the species concept for the group.

Date: 2000
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35011002 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:405:y:2000:i:6782:d:10.1038_35011002

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35011002

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().