What is PELAGANTs approach to analysing Antarctic marine ecosystems?
Our research is in two major areas. One group, centred in Liège, is focused on documenting and modelling the dynamics and numbers of marine organisms across time and space. This work looks to document phytoplankton productivity and nutrients as well as zooplankton diversity, particularly the smaller components. Those data are then used in models, linked to physical oceanography, that predict marine species’ behaviour under varying conditions. Here in Leuven we are focused on trying to understand and document the differences between and within Antarctic fishes (particularly in the younger stages), including looking at “barcoding” fish and improving knowledge of phylogeography and genome evolution. What is “barcoding”? After species have been identified with a good physical description and information about their distribution, there can still be confusion about their true identity. Some “cryptic species” look very similar but belong in fact to very different species. “Barcoding” uses the
