Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Sönmez S.(Yürütücü), Sak S., Alper A., Karaytuğ S., Korkmaz E. M.
TÜBİTAK Projesi, 2020 - 2022
his project aims to identify the interspecific diversity and to determine the species boundaries of the 16 harpacticoid species (which are widely distributed along the Turkish Coasts; Schizopera brusinae, Sarsamphiascus minutus, Ectinosoma soyeri, Arenosetella germanica, Harpacticus obscurus, Harpacticus nicaeensis, Harpacticus compsonyx, Heterolaophonte curvata, Paralaophonte brevirostris, Klieonychocamptus kliei, Tisbe furcata, Dactylopusia tisboides, Diarthrodes ponticus, Parastenhelia spinosa, Emertonia constricta, Delameralla obscura) by using integrated taxonomic approaches. The fact that many species belonging to the Harpacticoida are formerly known as cosmopolitan till the use of DNA sequences which reveal that many of them are species complexes, constitutes the starting point (or main hypothesis) of this project.
The aim of this study is to test whether the harpacticoids determined with the classical methods reflect the truth by using these 16 species as model organisms, with the help of integrated taxonomic methods. In accordance with this purpose, the goals of this study are; (i) to test whether morphological characters in harpacticoid taxonomy are informative, (ii) to solve the possible species complexes by using the integrated taxonomic methods, (iii) to test whether harpacticoid copepod diversity of Turkish coasts reflects reality, and (iv) to determine the true species diversity by genetic markers.
For this purpose, field studies will be carried out at the localities where the species are intensively found. Then total genomic DNA from at least 5 individuals will be isolated for each sampled population of each species. The mtDNA COI gene fragment will be amplified and sequenced with PCR. Genetic diversity, phylogenies and species boundaries between populations will be determined through current bioinformatics methods.