Evidence for isolated evolution of deep-sea ciliate communities through geological separation and environmental selection.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Deep hypersaline anoxic basins (DHABs) are isolated habitats at the bottom of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, which originate from the ancient dissolution of Messinian evaporites. The different basins have recruited their original biota from the same source, but their geological evolution eventually constituted sharp environmental barriers, restricting genetic exchange between the individual basins. Therefore, DHABs are unique model systems to assess the effect of geological events and environmental conditions on the evolution and diversification of protistan plankton. Here, we examine evidence for isolated evolution of unicellular eukaryote protistan plankton communities driven by geological separation and environmental selection. We specifically focused on ciliated prot

SUBMITTER: Stock A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3707832 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature