UJ study provides glimpse into early stages of species formation in the sea
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Wednesday reported findings of an international study published in “Proceedings of the Royal Society B”, substantiating that warm and cool water temperatures over a long stretch of coastline cause new species of marine fish to evolve without being isolated from similar types of fish nearby.
The findings challenge the long-held belief that new marine species can only evolve in isolated environments and provides a glimpse into the early stages of species formation in the sea.
The research suggests that currents with different temperatures, which are known to influence the distribution of species in the sea, might also drive the evolution of new species.
A research team from South Africa and Australia, led by UJ Professor Peter Teske and Flinders University Professor Luciano Beheregaray, used information from DNA to test how regional populations of coastal species of goby (ray-finned fish) are influenced by currents with different temperatures.
Goby are found along the South African coastline, which is divided into temperature-defined regions, including cool-temperate, warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical.
The team discovered that, while the goby’s regional populations are similar, they showed differences only in the genes impacted by water temperature.
“Each regional goby population is already adapted to its preferred thermal habitat, and migrants that disperse into nearby regions that are too warm or too cold will not do as well as the locals,” said Teske.
In contrast, the remainder of the genes show no identifiable differences yet.
“Over time, the remainder of the genome will ‘catch up’ with the temperature-selected genes and, even later, the new species will also change morphologically. Only then will they be recognisable without the help of genetic methods.”
The results have important implications for the management of threatened or exploited species and fish stocks around the world.
“When several very young species that already cannot live in each others’ habitats are all treated as a single species, this can result in the overfishing of locally adapted stocks, or the extinction of a rare species that has been mistaken for its more abundant neighbour,” said Beheregaray.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation