Community Portal

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Welcome to the community portal. During the 3rd Jellyfish Blooms conference in Mar del Plata, 14-16 July 2010, an initiative began to increase coordination of research across the community. The goal is to rapidly collect data to answer major questions about or involving jellyfish. Below is an incomplete shortlist of areas considered for priority initiatives. Please add additional initiatives or comment on existing initiatives, add your name to express interest in contributing to one or more of initiatives. As the ideas coalesce, we will begin to convert the list into one or more grant proposals with broad community involvement.

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Priority Areas

Phylogeny

Coordinate efforts among multiple labs to generate as complete phylogeny of jellyfish (Scyphozoa, Ctenophores, Hydromedusae and siphonophores) as possible. Needs: - specimens (as many species as possible) preserved in ethanol and formalin

 -- priority list of target taxa; resample geographically and temporally to detect cryptic species

- list of target loci

 -- COI, 16S, 28S, 18S, CaM ...


Ecology

Shortlist of environmental and biological variables to describe in as many populations as possible to answer questions of which jellyfish 'outbreak' in what circumstances. 1. What causes outbreaks?

 - overfishing
 - translocations  (see Ecology #1)
 - eutrophication 
 - habitat modification (coastal development)
 - climate change


Ecology

- #1 Regional labs sequence 3 specimens per species per location sent by ecologists working in field.


Polyps

Find and study polyps in the wild.


Jellyfish Society

Establish a scientific society to support the efforts started by the jellyfish blooms conferences.