The unique cold-adapted ecosystems of the Southern Ocean are threatened by rapid environmental change and increasing anthropogenic impact. Marine protected areas (MPAs), areas of ocean where human activities are limited or prohibited, have been increasingly promoted as a tool for mitigating ocean threats and conserving biodiversity. National governments and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is progressing towards establishing a representative network of MPAs in the Southern Ocean. Connectivity is now widely recognized to be a crucial variable for the design and management of MPA networks through the effects that movements of individuals and genes have on population viability, metapopulation persistence, and resilience to disturbance. The understanding of connectivity patterns is required to prioritize the allocation of conservation effort towards, for instance, areas acting as central connection nodes in a network of MPAs. The COPE project aims to advance the understanding of genetic connectivity and adaptation in key benthic and pelagic Antarctic organisms (crustaceans and actinopterygian fishes) using population genomic approaches (ddRAD sequencing). Thousands of genomic variants were used in two model genera, the Charcotia amphipod and the Trematomus fishes, to provide estimates of neutral and adaptive genetic variation and structure at different trophic levels and at a circumpolar scale. The results of the COPE project will contribute to our understanding of the spatial and functional distribution of biological variation in the Southern Ocean, required to develop suitable management and conservation strategies through CCAMLR.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
