Project R-13412

HerTax Hermaphrodite Taxonomy (Research)

Within this project the taxonomic diversity, speciation, and invasion biology of three groups will be investigated in relation to their breeding systems: pulmonate gastropods, flatworms and oligochaetes. This will be done by means of an integrative taxonomic and methodological approach, based on a combination of phenotypic and genomic analyses using up to date methods and tools, including light microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, micro-computed tomography, and DNA data obtained by classical (e.g. DNA barcoding, microsatellite DNA, …) and Next-Generation DNA Sequencing technologies. These latter may include mitogenomics, Restriction Site-Associated DNA Sequencing, full genome sequencing, transcriptomics, and other techniques that undoubtedly will become available in the years to come. On the longer term, phenotypic and genomic diversity will be linked to epigenetic markers (e.g. DNA methylation patterns) and gut microbiota diversity, so as to explore the holobiont concept. The research will involve a strong phenotypic, i.e. "descriptive taxonomy", component because natural selection acts differentially upon competing phenotypes and by doing so it changes the genetic composition of populations in function of the link between phenotypes and their underlying genotypes. Hence understanding evolution by natural selection requires a sound phenotypic framework as provided by descriptive taxonomy. Beyond its fundamental scientific relevance, this research profile will have two important, applied scientific spinoffs by its contribution to collection management and by providing identification expertise on species in the focal groups.

01 November 2022 - 31 October 2032