The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

The roles of hybridisation, contemporary climate change, and recent range shifts on the redistribution of marine biodiversity

The roles of hybridisation, contemporary climate change, and recent range shifts on the redistribution of marine biodiversity
The roles of hybridisation, contemporary climate change, and recent range shifts on the redistribution of marine biodiversity
Global change as a result of human activities has caused unprecedented alterations to biodiversity. One consequence of such alteration is the redistribution of species. Understanding the mechanisms that determine and maintain species’ ranges is at the forefront of ecological and evolutionary research. Current drivers of the redistribution of biodiversity include natural range expansions, anthropogenic transport of species, and contemporary climate change. These can alter both species ranges and evolutionary trajectories in multiple ways. A notorious example is when changes in species distributions bring divergent genotypes into secondary contact, facilitating hybridisation. Despite each of these topics being well studied individually, there remains a dearth of research studying these factors in combination to understand how they reshape biodiversity patterns in the marine environment. It is predicted that an integrative approach studying these factors in combination would enable further understanding how they interact to affect the redistribution of biodiversity.

This thesis used a multidisciplinary approach that combined population genomic data, controlled experimental crosses of divergent genotypes, and environmental datasets to investigate the role of different factors on past, current, and future changes in species distributions. My research has shown that whilst hybridisation can be beneficial for range expansions, this is not always the case. I found evidence that some species that have spread as a result of human mediated transport have undergone secondary contacts, facilitating the colonisation of distant habitats. Conversely, other species with transoceanic distributions may be expected to undergo secondary contact due to anthropogenic transport and the presence of two native lineages, though I found no evidence that range expansion had been preceded by hybridisation. Finally, species that are able to currently hybridise may not perform as well as parental crosses under thermal stress, suggesting that under CCC, hybridisation may not be such a dominant driver of species redistribution.

Taken together, this thesis demonstrates the utility in using a multidisciplinary approach to study factors that can combine to determine species ranges. I have shown that different mechanisms can have dissimilar consequences on species ranges that can be difficult to predict, and that by studying multiple factors can one successfully disentangle the role each one plays in the redistribution of marine biodiversity.
University of Southampton
Hudson, James
13270335-45dc-4760-aec9-38270359389a
Hudson, James
13270335-45dc-4760-aec9-38270359389a
Rius, Marc
c4e88345-4b4e-4428-b4b2-37229155f68d

Hudson, James (2020) The roles of hybridisation, contemporary climate change, and recent range shifts on the redistribution of marine biodiversity. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis, 212pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

Global change as a result of human activities has caused unprecedented alterations to biodiversity. One consequence of such alteration is the redistribution of species. Understanding the mechanisms that determine and maintain species’ ranges is at the forefront of ecological and evolutionary research. Current drivers of the redistribution of biodiversity include natural range expansions, anthropogenic transport of species, and contemporary climate change. These can alter both species ranges and evolutionary trajectories in multiple ways. A notorious example is when changes in species distributions bring divergent genotypes into secondary contact, facilitating hybridisation. Despite each of these topics being well studied individually, there remains a dearth of research studying these factors in combination to understand how they reshape biodiversity patterns in the marine environment. It is predicted that an integrative approach studying these factors in combination would enable further understanding how they interact to affect the redistribution of biodiversity.

This thesis used a multidisciplinary approach that combined population genomic data, controlled experimental crosses of divergent genotypes, and environmental datasets to investigate the role of different factors on past, current, and future changes in species distributions. My research has shown that whilst hybridisation can be beneficial for range expansions, this is not always the case. I found evidence that some species that have spread as a result of human mediated transport have undergone secondary contacts, facilitating the colonisation of distant habitats. Conversely, other species with transoceanic distributions may be expected to undergo secondary contact due to anthropogenic transport and the presence of two native lineages, though I found no evidence that range expansion had been preceded by hybridisation. Finally, species that are able to currently hybridise may not perform as well as parental crosses under thermal stress, suggesting that under CCC, hybridisation may not be such a dominant driver of species redistribution.

Taken together, this thesis demonstrates the utility in using a multidisciplinary approach to study factors that can combine to determine species ranges. I have shown that different mechanisms can have dissimilar consequences on species ranges that can be difficult to predict, and that by studying multiple factors can one successfully disentangle the role each one plays in the redistribution of marine biodiversity.

Text
Hudson, James PhD Thesis June 2020 - Version of Record
Available under License University of Southampton Thesis Licence.
Download (8MB)

More information

Published date: March 2020

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 441941
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/441941
PURE UUID: 4ff37d10-f074-4614-ac0c-5182b53222b0

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 02 Jul 2020 16:35
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 08:25

Export record

Contributors

Author: James Hudson
Thesis advisor: Marc Rius

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×