Deep sea: speciation and biogeographic patterns

This is the first attempt to use a globally distributed radiation of marine organisms predominantly of deep sea origin (bellow 200 m) to understand the drivers of speciation in this unique and still enigmatic ecosystem. What is the geography of speciation in the deep sea; are species mostly speciating in allopatry or sympatry? What is the role of dispersal, vicariance and ecology in specieation? Are deep sea species the result of recent speciation events or are they by comparison with shallow water faunas more ancient? Are species the same all over the deep sea marine realm, or are there barriers promoting isolation between basins? These are some of the questions that will be addressed during the course of this project.