Long & Medium-Term Research: Evolution of Clonality in the Scleractinian Family Agariciidae This award is made under the Program for Long- & Medium- Term Research at Foreign Centers of Excellence, which enables U.S. researchers to work 3 to 12 months abroad at research centers of proven excellence, and provide opportunities for joint research and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a 12 month postdoctoral research visit by Dr. Thomas Stemann of the University of Iowa with Dr. Jorn Geister at the Geologisches Institut, Universitat Bern, Switzerland. During the Paleogene, a wide variety of colonial corals of the family Agariciidae appeared in Europe, apparently evolving from the solitary coral, Trochoseris. The colonial agariciids persisted in Europe through the Middle Miocene and are the ancestors of modern Caribbean Agariciidae. Wide modes of colony growth and developmental integration mark this group. Dr. Stemann will study the evolutionary consequences of this clonal integration by investigating the origin and evolution of the colonial habit in the European Agaricii- dae. This work will combine with his dissertation research on the Caribbean Agariciidae to form a comprehen- sive view of clonality in the family Agariciidae. The study will systematically revise agariciid species and genera using morphometric analyses of museum specimens and field collections from the Northern Italian Oligocene, distinguishing species using cluster and discriminant analysis, and reconstructing the phylogeny of the agariciids through a cladistic analysis of micro-skeletal characters derived from thin-sections and SEM investiga- tions. To analyze clonal development, he will measure zooid distribution and budding type along colony surfaces. He hopes to determine if the varied astogenic programs present in the Agariciidae are derived from separate aclonal ancestors or from clonal ancestors through extensive modification of astrogeny during the later evolution of the clade. This work will be essential to relating the evolution of agariciid clonality to the paleography and climate of the Western Tethys and to the paleontology of Tertiary European reefs. The award recommendation provides funds to cover international travel, dependent's allowance, and a flat administrative allowance of $250 for the U.S. home institution.
