- Assembling the Tree of Life, evolutionary tree of scale worm fauna, sharks and rays of Borneo

Report by hub scientists Gary Poore and Robin Wilson, Museum Victoria; Dan Geldhill, CSIRO - CERF Biodiversity Program

Assembling the Tree of Life
Gary Poore is part of the Assembling the Tree of Life - Decapoda group, funded by the National Science Foundation in the USA. The aim of ATOL is to construct an evolutionary history for all major lineages of life. Material collected during cruises in Western Australia, analysed as part of the Marine Biodiversity Hub’s biogeographic studies, form important parts of the Tree, and are also being integrated into phylogenetic/systematic studies of decapod crustaceans.

An evolutionary tree of the world’s scale-worm fauna
Robin Wilson and Dr Kristian Fauchald of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington DC, are generating an evolutionary tree of the world’s scale-worm fauna (Polychaeta: Polynoidae). This will provide an historical framework for understanding the biogeography of a taxonomic group that forms part of the Western Australian Voyage of Discovery dataset being analysed by the Hub, and its extension to a national database than can be used to inform the implementation of marine regional plans and heritage listing. (See Robin’s article on Polychaete worms in our July 2009 newsletter).

Sharks and Rays of Borneo
Hub scientists are collaborating on an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) project with researchers from the USA, Malaysia and Australia to survey the sharks and rays of Borneo, and their associated metazoan parasites. Many of the 100 species of sharks and rays estimated to occur in the region are poorly known, and a number are new to science. The survey will provide baseline taxonomic data essential for the development of a resource management plan in East Malaysia. New discoveries of sharks and rays will be described in collaboration with international colleagues. The project is also publishing a book of the sharks and rays of Borneo, providing images and identification characters to assist with future surveys and management.