From cold to heat: enriching the UNICAMP's Antarctic molluscan collections

Abstract

The Antarctic environment has a rich endemic marine fauna, whose particularities have been studied in recent decades, in order to understand which and where its species occur, how they interact with each other, and how they interact with the physical environment; these are fundamental to know how these organisms and the ecosystem as a whole will face global changes. All these studies depend on the correct and precise identification of these organisms, which, in turn, are only possible from detailed taxonomic work carried out by specialists on each group. In the Antarctic marine realm, molluscs stand out as a very important part, being abundant and diverse. In this context, with the support of the Brazilian Antarctic Program (PROANTAR-CNPq), and since the beginning of the Brazilian research activities in Antarctica, thousands of specimens of molluscs were obtained in the South Shetlands Islands, being currently in the custody of the signatory of this Project, at UNICAMP. Intending to enrich the malacological collections of the recently opened "Museu of Biological Diversity" (MDBio-UNICAMP), this Research Project aims to study these samples, which include bivalves, gastropods, polyplacophorans and scaphopods. As it is close to the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Shetlands archipelago is a particularly interesting region for ecological studies, having elements of the typically Antarctic fauna among representatives that occur further north, in the other islands of the Scotia Arc and in the South America. At UNICAMP, the studies of the Antarctic fauna were implemented, with a taxonomical and anatomical point of view. So, with the support of FAPESP, the present Project has the following specific objectives: (i) to identify all the specimens of Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Cephalopoda, Polyplacophora and Scaphopoda collected by Brazilian expeditions and deposit them in the MDBio-UNICAMP collection; (ii) register, through checklists, the occurrence of these species in the South Shetlands region by referencing the specimens deposited in the MDBio collection; (iii) to produce an illustrated guide (as a book) of the species from the Admiralty Bay; (iv) to start, through the study of these collected specimens, and by others that may be obtained, researches of taxonomic, anatomical and reproductive aspects on the keystone species presented; (v) study, through modelling the patterns of distribution, keystone species which will be detected as important to understand how the ecossystem will be affected by global changes. Diverse families of the Antarctic malacofauna, such as Nuculanidae, Limopsidae, Philobryidae, Cyamiidae and Thyasiridae (Bivalvia), Littorinidae, Rissoidae, Naticidae and Muricidae (Gastropoda), and Megaleledonidae (Cephalopoda) will be particularly investigated. In this way, it intends to continue the studies of the Antarctic molluscs initiated at UNICAMP, taking advantage of the material collected by the efforts of PROANTAR. (AU)