Chester (Cheps) is currently employed as a researcher at British Antarctic Survey at Cambridge, UK.
Velvet worms (Onychophora) have very specific habitat requirements. They are dependent on cool, moist (but not wet) microhabitats in rotting logs or leaf litter. In these saproxylic (=decomposing wood) habitats, velvet worms are relatively safe from some of their predators, and are free to prey on small invertebrates such as termites. Because velvet worms do not have waterproof integuments (skins), they are very prone to desiccation and are not able to move freely through landscapes. This combination of specific habitat requirements and low mobility result in these creatures being very localized to small geographic areas, and populations only a few kilometres apart may be different genetically and in function.
Cheps has previously applied molecular systematic techniques (e.g. obtaining DNA sequences and analyzing relationships among them) to questions about the biology and evolution of squid in Tasmanian waters. For his PhD, Cheps is now applying DNA sequencing, microsatellite analysis and other genetic and zoological techniques to studying the genetic and functional relationships among populations of Onychophora at our major study site centred on Tallaganda State Forest, NSW.
In 2003, he was sponsored to attend the International Congress of Genetics (Genetics Society of Australia) and 34th Australian Entomological Society/ 6th Invertebrate Biodiversity & Conservation Conference (Department of the Environment and Heritage – ABRS). In 2004 and 2005 he was awarded a research grant by the ANZ Trustees, Holsworth Wildlife Research Fund.
Results
The work is progressing very well, and we will publish results from
Euperipatoides rowelli and
Phallocephale tallagandensis. The patterns that have emerged are very profound - there are deep genetic and evolutionary divisions between 'populations' that were previously thought to be parts of the geographic range of the same species, and there are a number of sites at which we can demonstrate that these forms interbreed. The figure below shows that these patterns are congruent between
Euperipatoides and
Phallocephale, and that the divisions form meaningful geographic patterns.
