Hobart

Seminar abstract

Friday 12 October 2007, 11.30am (Tas time)
CSIRO Auditorium, Hobart

Jonathan Waters
Department of Zoology
University of Otago

Driven by the West Wind Drift? A review of southern temperate marine biogeography, with new directions for dispersalism

Twentieth century biogeographers developed intriguing hypotheses involving West Wind Drift dispersal of Southern Hemisphere biota, but such models were largely abandoned in favour of vicariance following the development of plate tectonic theory. Recent molecular studies, however, have provided strong evidence for dispersal, but little evidence for the biogeographic role of plate tectonics in distributing southern marine taxa. Interestingly, some of the best-supported evidence for vicariance in southern waters has nothing to do with Gondwana. Rather, it involves far more localised and recent vicariant models, such as the isolating effect of the Bassian Isthmus during Pleistocene low sea-level stands (e.g. Nerita). I present new biogeographic data suggesting that this palaeo-landbridge played a major role in shaping Tasmania’s coastal marine biodiversity. Recent phylogeographic studies of southern marine taxa (e.g. Diloma, Parvulastra) imply that passive rafting cannot be ignored as an important mechanism of long-distance dispersal. I outline a new direction for southern phylogeography, involving genetic analyses of bull-kelp (Durvillaea) and its associated holdfast invertebrate communities.

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Location:
CSIRO = Marine Laboratories Auditorium, Castray Esplanade, Hobart

For further information, or to schedule a seminar, contact:
To schedule a seminar, contact:
Karen Wild-Allen, (Oceanographic seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5010
Thomas Kunz, (Biological seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
(03) 6232 5076
Jillian Enraght-Moony (seminar administrator) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5456
Sandra Zicus, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC (03) 6226 7888
Margaret Hazelwood, Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies (IASOS) University of Tasmania (03) 6226 2971

Last updated 21/12/07