Analyse the morphological diversity of a species of marine snail
This is a suggestion for a Degree Project for Bachelor's and Master's levels at the Department of Marine Sciences. Degree projects at the Department of Marine Sciences are done independently and must be written and assessed individually.
Subject: Marine biology/morphology/GIS
Suitable level and length: Masters (6 months – 1 year)
Suitable time period: Autumn 2022 – Spring 2023
Supervisors: James Reeve, Prof. Kerstin Johannesson
Location: Tjärnö marine laboratory or Gothenburg
Project description
Analyse shells using multivariate statistics from snails collected across the whole North Atlantic to find clusters in the data that could indicate ecotypes.
Then explore possible environmental conditions that through natural selection and direct environmental influences on gene expression (plasticity) could explain differences, using observations from field notes and GIS analysis.
Background
Species are often sub-grouped into ‘ecotypes’ based on common sets of features found in certain environments. These traits are inherited, suggesting that ecotypes are locally adapted.
Littorina saxatilis is a highly diverse species that has been grouped into four distinct ecotypes found in different intertidal habitats However, this grouping was done 30 years ago, based mostly on observations of a few snails per site and without sophisticated statistical analysis.
With new technology, these ecotypes can now be tested with more refined analysis and larger datasets.
Contact
If you are interested, please contact James Reeve for more details:
Email: James Reeve