BIO299 Research Project in Biology

Emma Hellem, a second year student of the bachelor degree in Biology at the University of Bergen, is currently undertaking the course BIO299 – Research Project in Biology at the Department of Natural History, University Museum. She is studying whether two distinct colour patterns of the headshield slug Nakamigawaia spiralis from the tropical western Pacific realm, are extremes of the natural variability of this species or may in fact correspond to two distinct evolutionary lineages. Emma, is using a combination of molecular phylogenetic methods and morphology to answer this question. This project is part of the Museum larger programme dedicated to the study of marine biodiversity patterns and biogeography in the Indo-West Pacific, the most diverse realm in the World.