“Our work constitutes an unprecedented assessment of the processes of speciation, hybridization and introgression in marine ecosystems and the results we achieve will allow us to better understand the evolutionary and ecological processes that maintain marine biodiversity and the general patterns of molecular evolution.” This is how Campus do Mar researcher Iria Fernández Silva, head of the Marine Genomics line, describes the research project she has just started, a work for which she has just received a grant of 60,000 euros from the State Program for the Promotion of Scientific and Technical Research of Excellence.
Under the heading Speciation and hybridization in marine fish: combining genomics, ecology and behavioral studies in the face of global change, the project is being carried out by a multidisciplinary team that includes researchers from the universities of Vigo, Berkeley (United States), Ryukyus (Japan), Curtin (Australia) and the California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco), where Fernández, a researcher at the University’s Phylogenomics Laboratory, has been developing her activity in recent years as a beneficiary of a Marie Curie grant. “We are going to use a cutting-edge research methodology, in which genomics is combined with ecological and behavioral studies,” explains the researcher, who also emphasizes the importance of studying this type of process “to understand how biodiversity is generated and learn to protect it.”
Field observations on coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans
The objective of this project is to study speciation in marine fish, “an evolutionary process by which new species are formed, usually from a single one that fragments,” and hybridization, “when two generally close species come into contact and reproduce with each other.” To achieve this, they will study a complex of dwarf angelfish (genus Centropyge) that live in the coral reefs of the Indian and Pacific oceans, species that are very similar to each other but that are distinguished by their striking colors.
Why dwarf angelfish and not others? The researcher explains that this genus of fish has a great diversity of species that are distinguished by their colors, a “very interesting” aspect, since color is commonly used by coral reef fish to recognize individuals of the same species during mating. “Specifically, we are focusing on three species of dwarf angelfish that are related but differ in their colors, that we know hybridize in places where they overlap, and that have hybridized during their evolutionary history.
“We want to study their use of space, their behavior and their genomes”
We want to study their use of space, their behavior and their genomes to know what keeps them apart, what leads them to hybridize, and to better understand the impact of hybridization and speciation on their genomes”, emphasizes Fernández, who emphasizes that although they will focus on the study of these fish, the conclusions of the work will allow us to understand more about these processes in marine species in general. First, the genome of the dwarf angelfish C. vrolikiii will be sequenced, which will serve as a reference and, later, the complete genomes of individuals of the parental species in areas where there has been no overlap (“to represent pure types”) and hybridization areas will be sequenced at low depth.
To carry out the work, field observations will be carried out to study the ecological and behavioral mechanisms leading to the establishment of hybrid populations and the role of taxa of hybrid origin in ecosystems. There will be field observations in Micronesia and Vanuatu, in the Pacific, and also on Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, where there are numerous hybrid populations of this type of fish.
Return to Galicia after six years of international experience
Santiaguesa, with a degree in Biochemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid, Iria Fernández Silva has been linked to the University of Vigo since 2011, when she contacted the Phylogenomics research group, led by professor David Posada, to work together on the application for a Marie Curie project, a program with which the European Union finances the stay of young researchers in non-EU countries. “We achieved it and since then I have been working with the Phylogenomics group since 2013, most of the time developing my activity in San Francisco, at the California Academy of Sciences”, explains Fernández.
After this time in California, to which are added different international experiences previously lived, she has just returned to Galicia hired by Campus do Mar –thanks to the European FellowSea call, aimed at hiring postdoctoral research staff with more than four years of experience-. “I have been away for six years. For me, returning is an extraordinary opportunity to be able to apply the knowledge acquired to the study of Galician ecosystems, interact with Galician researchers and learn more about Galicia”, explains the researcher, to which she adds that she is also very keen to do outreach work, since much of her research in recent years has focused on studying the fauna of coral reefs which are extremely diverse and fragile and largely unknown in Galicia. “I am very keen to work in environmental education and awareness, which I believe is very necessary in Galicia and, of course, from a personal point of view, it is also very gratifying to be close to my family”, concludes the researcher.
Source: duvi
