Ann F. Budd

Recent molecular work has challenged many traditional notions regarding the systematics and evolution of scleractinian reef corals. Not only have several ecologically dominant, modern species been found to be complexes of two or more species, but also the nature of species boundaries has been found to vary geographically. At higher taxonomic levels, molecular trees based on mitochondrial and nuclear genes indicate that genera and families, long thought to be cosmopolitan, are polyphyletic. The trees reveal a previously unrecognized clade of Atlantic corals, which diverged from their presumed Pacific relatives over 30 million years ago.

My colleagues and I are studying reef coral morphology in light of the new molecular findings. We have discovered new non-traditional morphologic characters that better match genetic results, and have used them to investigate patterns in the fossil record. We use geometric morphometrics to distinguish species within complexes and trace them through geologic time. We also examine skeletal microstructure using growth models, and have detected differences between Atlantic and Pacific corals that have been assigned to the same genera and families. Our results indicate that the genetic structures of modern species and clades have been strongly influenced by events that occurred in the geologic past.

I have also been studying changes in the biodiversity of tropical American reef corals through geologic time in collaboration with the Panama Paleontology Project and the Dominican Republic project. The analyses are performed on a web-based taxonomic database called NMITA (“Neogene Marine Biota of Tropical America”). The results indicate that the taxonomic composition of modern Caribbean reefs was shaped by a prolonged interval of faunal turnover between 4-1Ma in association with closure of the Central American Isthmus and the onset of northern hemisphere glaciation. Turnover was unique in that origination preceded extinction, and local assemblages consisted of a mix of extinct and living species, which varied in composition but not in richness. Modern reef coral species arose early during turnover, under different environmental conditions than those in which they live today, and are the survivors of a pulse of extinction at the end of turnover.

My ongoing research is supported by the following grants:

· NSF EAR97-25273: Evolution of a species complex during faunal turnover: morphometric analyses of the Montastraea annularis reef coral complex (PI=Budd)

· NSF DEB 0102544: NMITA (Phase II): Integrating Interactive Identification Keys, Distribution Maps, and Stratigraphic Columns with the Neogene Marine Biota of Tropical America WWW Database [http://nmita.geology.uiowa.edu] (PI=Budd, co-PI=Foster)

· Iowa Informatics Grant: Development of XML-technologies that link biodiversity databases of fossil and living organisms (PI=Budd, co-PI=Foster)

• NSF DEB 0343208: Collaborative Research: Biogeographic Isolation and Morphological Convergence in Scleractinian Corals, Suborder Faviina (PI’s= Budd & Knowlton)

Selected Publications (last five years)

Budd, A.F. and J.M. Pandolfi. 2004. Overlapping species boundaries and hybridization within the Montastraea “annularis” reef coral complex in the Pleistocene of the Bahama Islands. Paleobiology 30: 396-425.

Fukami, H., A.F. Budd, D.R. Levitan, J. Jara, R. Kersanach, and N. Knowlton. 2004. Geographic differences in species boundaries among members of the Montastraea annularis complex based on molecular and morphological markers. Evolution 58: 324-337.

Fukami, H., A.F. Budd, G. Paulay, A. Solé-Cava, C.A. Chen, K. Iwao, and N. Knowlton. 2004. Conventional Taxonomy Obscures Deep Divergence between Pacific and Atlantic Corals . Nature 427: 832-835.

Klaus, J.S. and A.F. Budd. 2003. Comparison of Caribbean coral reef communities before and after Plio-Pleistocene faunal turnover: Analyses of two Dominican Republic reef sequences. PALAIOS 18:3-21.

Carlon, D.B. and A.F. Budd. 2002. Incipient speciation across a depth gradient in a scleractinian coral? Evolution 56: 2227-2242.

Pandolfi, J.M., C.E. Lovelock, and A.F. Budd. 2002. Character release following extinction in a Caribbean reef coral species complex. Evolution 56: 479–501.

Getty, S.R., Y. Asmerom, T. Quinn, and A.F. Budd. 2001. Accelerated Pleistocene coral extinctions in the Caribbean Basin shown by uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating. Geology 29: 639-642.

Budd, A.F. and J.S. Klaus. 2001. The origin and early evolution of the Montastraea “annularis” species complex (Anthozoa: Scleractinia). Journal of Paleontology 75(3): 527-545.

Budd, A. F., C.T. Foster Jr., J.P. Dawson, and K.G. Johnson. 2001. The Neogene Marine Biota of Tropical America (“NMITA”) Database: Accounting for biodiversity in paleontology. Journal of Paleontology 75(3), 743-751.

Budd, A.F. and K.G. Johnson. 2001. Contrasting evolutionary patterns in rare and abundant species during Plio-Pleistocene turnover of Caribbean reef corals. In: J.B.C. Jackson, S. Lidgard, and F.K. McKinney (eds), Evolutionary Patterns: Growth, Form, and Tempo in the Fossil Record. Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, p.295-325.

Knowlton, N. and A.F. Budd. 2001. Recognizing coral species past and present. In: J.B.C. Jackson, S. Lidgard, and F.K. McKinney (eds), Evolutionary Patterns: Growth, Form, and Tempo in the Fossil Record. Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, p.97-119.

McNeill, D.F., A.G. Coates, A.F. Budd and P.F. Borne. 2000. Integrated paleontologic and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of the upper Neogene deposits around Limon , Costa Rica : A coastal emergence record of the Central American Isthmus. Geological Society of America Bulletin 112: 963-981.

Budd, A.F. 2000. Diversity and extinction in the Cenozoic history of Caribbean reefs (Invited review). Coral Reefs 19: 25-35.

Budd, A.F. and K.G. Johnson. 1999. Origination preceding extinction during Late Cenozoic turnover of Caribbean reefs. Paleobiology 25: 188-200.

Budd, A.F. and K.G. Johnson. 1999. Neogene Paleontology in the Northern Dominican Republic . The Family Faviidae (Anthozoa: Scleractinia). Part II. The Genera Caulastraea, Favia, Diploria, Manicina, Hadrophyllia, Thysanus, and Colpophyllia. Bulletins of American Paleontology 109 (356): 5-83, pls. 1-21.

September 2004