Mnemiopsis leidyi, is one of the most successful marine bioinvaders on record. Native to the Atlantic coast of the Americas M. leidyi invaded the Black Sea, Caspian and Mediterranean Seas beginning the in late 1980s, followed by the North and Baltic Seas starting in 2006, with major concomitant alterations in pelagic ecology, including fishery collapses in some cases. Using extensive native range sampling (21 sites), along with 11 invasive sites in the Black, Caspian, Mediterranean, North and Baltic Seas, we examined M. leidyi worldwide phylogeographic patterns using data from mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) and six nuclear microsatellite loci. Yale Undergraduates contributing significantly to data collection include Michael Chang and Connor Moseley.
Collaborators: MaryBeth Decker, Keith Bayha, Jonathan Richardson, Danielle Edwards
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