Seminario de investigación: Phylogeography of invasive earthworms in Azores and their persistence under extreme volcanic conditions.

Introductions of invasive species have dramatically increased with the global changes and trade networks and are of particular concern for the local biodiversity. I will talk on a project carried out in São Miguel island in Azores (Portugal) involving two invasive earthworm species of Asian origin: Amynthas gracilis (sexual) and A. corticis (parthenogenetic). We will see their distribution, relative success and some phylogeographic patterns based on mitochondrial data, as well as environmental preferences of their lineages.  Animals inhabiting extreme terrestrial environments provide a unique opportunity to better understand how organisms’ cope with challenges posed by multiple stressors. High abundance of A. gracilis in the Furnas geothermal field in São Miguel indicates its outstanding tolerance to high soil temperature, exceptionally high carbon dioxide and low oxygen levels, and elevated metal bioavailability. These conditions would be lethal for the majority of terrestrial metazoans. I will talk on a transplantation experiment we performed in order to assess phenotypic, transcriptomic and epigenomic changes that this earthworm shows while coping with those challenges.

Ponente: Marta Novo, UNED.

Producción y edición: Servicio de Audiovisuales-Mediateca MNCN-CSIC.

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