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The 11th International Polychaete Conference – Sydney, Australia 2013

From the mid-conference excursion to the Royal National Park

From the mid-conference excursion to the Royal National Park. Photo by Katrine

For a hectic week in early August, the Australian Museum in Sydney was swarmed by enthusiastic people in purple hoodies, who kept talking about (bristle) worms.

It was the 11th International Polychaete Conference, with 149 attendants from 26 different countries. We had a strong Norwegian presence there – from the Museum, three of us attended (with talks and posters), as well collaborators of ours from NTNU, NIVA, and Uni Environment.

You can read more about our contributions here (if your Norwegian is up to speed – unfortunately it is not avaliable in English).

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Group photo (courtesy of the IPC 2013 committee)

The conference venue, the Australian Museum

The conference venue, the Australian Museum

From the auditorium

From the auditorium

It was a great week, where we got to meet and mingle with our colleagues from all over the world, learning what they are working on and how, making new connections and meeting up with old friends.

We had a excellent time, and would like to thank the IPC 2013 committee for the fantastic job they did!

The next conference will be in Cardiff, Wales in 2016, we look forward to it. 

Hunting Slugs in The Bahamas

A sand flat lined by mangroves; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

A sand flat lined by mangroves; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

Recent research has showed that something is going on in the Bahamas! Even when specimens from these islands look pretty much alike its “con-specifics” from other parts of the Caribbean region, they show considerable genetic divergence. Likely ecological and/or oceanographic processes are limiting gene-flow between the Bahamas and nearby islands accelerating the rate of speciation.

Rocky shore; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

Rocky shore; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

At the University Museum we want to understand the “entrails” of these processes and therefore we headed to sunny Bahamas for a two-weeks fieldtrip in Eulethera I. Seventeen specimens of opisthobranchs gastropods have been collected and two populations of our model-species, the cephalaspidean Bulla occidentalis, were found inside closed ponds lined by mangroves and limestone. These ponds are very special habitats completely enclosed and only communicating with the ocean by submarine outlets or through the porosity of the limestone rock and can be considered “islands inside islands”.

Turtle Pond; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

Turtle Pond; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

DNA will be soon extracted from specimens of the two populations of Bulla occidentalis and compared with that of other populations throughout the tropical West Atlantic from Brazil to Bermuda. This will help understanding processes of historical biogeography and speciation in the highly complex Caribbean region.

Black morph of Bulla occidentals; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

Black morph of Bulla occidentals; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

The nudibranch Phidiana lynceus; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

The nudibranch Phidiana lynceus; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

The aglajid Chelidonura normani; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

The aglajid Chelidonura normani; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

The aglajid Chelidonura hirundinina; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

The aglajid Chelidonura hirundinina; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

The sacoglossan Ascobulla ulla; Eulethera I., The Bahamas

The sacoglossan Ascobulla ulla; Eulethera I., The Bahamas