The meiofauna paradox unravelled: relative importance of environmental and dispersal related processes in structuring nematode communities in the Southern Ocean

Biogeographic distributions and community dynamics of species around the globe are characterised by a lack of generally accepted patterns. Both local environmental factors and dispersal ability seem to play key roles in structuring communities and defining spatial ranges of organisms, referred to as 'metacommunity concept'. This research proposal will apply the concept to free-living marine nematodes of the Southern Ocean.