Super excited to work with Alexis Stamatakis and his Biodiversity Computing Research Group in Crete (https://www.biocomp.gr/) to disentangle molecular evolution and assess Biodiversity in Crete strengthening at the same time computational biodiversity research in Greece (Comp-Biodiv-GR). Aglaia (Cilia) Antoniou of IMBBC, HCMR will lead data generation for the murex (Hexaplex truculus), a benthic marine mollusk species, by combining high-throughput, next-generation sequencing approaches for the assessment and monitoring of human mediated impacts and the exemplification of the factors shaping adaptation and population persistence in coastal ecosystems of Crete. Murex is suggested as key element that can provide insight into how resilient are marine ecosystems of the Eastern Mediterranean. We anticipate that our collaboration will provide a methodological framework for monitoring changes in biodiversity and population dynamics that will enable inferences on marine connectivity, the identification of selective pressures and the designation of areas with the potential of being the refugial sources of tomorrows biota.
