Molecular Data on Antarctic and Deep-Sea Octopus Evolution

A project funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council's Antarctic Funding Initiative, awarded to Louise Allcock and co-investigators. The research uses octopuses as model organisms to test the hypothesis that the Antarctic acted as a centre for evolutionary innovation and a source for deep-sea taxa. The first major findings were published in the journal Cladistics in 2008.

Use Cases

• Testing hypotheses about Antarctic evolutionary radiation based on molecular data mentioned in the description
• Estimating divergence times for deep-sea octopus taxa using Bayesian methodologies described in the project
• Analyzing biogeographic expansion facilitated by Southern Ocean deep-water connections as referenced in the study

Strengths

• Project funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council's Antarctic Funding Initiative
• Research findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Cladistics
• The study received wide press attention and was a Census of Marine Life highlight

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified

Provenance

Source

Natural Environment Research Council, UK (funding body); Principal Investigator Louise Allcock.

Collection Method

Molecular techniques and Bayesian methodologies incorporating fossil constraints, as described in the project proposal.

Time Range

Study associated with findings published in 2008; temporal scope of the underlying data is not specified.

Freshness

Last updated is unknown; data is associated with a 2008 publication.

Geography

Focus on the Southern Ocean, Antarctic, and deep-sea environments.