PEET: Sea Anemone Systematics: Consolidation and Synthesis of Information

9978106达芙妮·福廷关于海洋生物的分类和系统发育的知识，除了少数类群外，是贫乏的，研究各种门的专家往往数量很少，而且分布在世界各地。堪萨斯大学的Daphne Fautin博士继续她富有成效的海葵研究和培训计划，在加强分类学专业知识的伙伴关系（PEET）计划下，关注PEET中体现的三个活动：培训至少两名新的针叶动物系统分类学专家；对各种类群进行专题研究或修订研究，如针胸属和珊瑚目；以及博物馆标本、图像和插图、地理分布、识别密钥和该领域主要文献信息的数据库。从本科到博士后水平的学生都参与了更新计划，这在之前的计划中很明显；数据库活动还吸引了计算机科学专业的学生，以帮助开发这些底栖生物的地理信息系统资源。此外，Fautin博士还为计划于2001年召开的国际腔肠动物生物学大会主持组织了一个关于刺胞动物研究的大型研讨会。比较DNA测序的最新分子发现表明，正如先前形态学研究所怀疑的那样，海葵不是一个单一的谱系或单系生物群，而更有可能是一个类似生物的组合（约1400个已描述的物种），多次从失去珊瑚骨架的硬核珊瑚中衍生出来。一些但不是所有的海葵也有共生藻类，要么是叶黄菌，要么是绿藻，但不知道这些共生是否标志着不同的谱系，或者在世界不同地区的生态变化。关注这些问题，并努力将现代分子系统发育技术纳入学生培训计划，使最新的海葵更新计划与众不同。

9978106Daphne Fautin Taxonomic and phylogenetic knowledge of marine organisms, with the exception of few groups, is in poor condition, and specialists on the various phyla are often few in number and widely scattered in the world. Dr. Daphne Fautin at the University of Kansas continues her productive program of research and training on sea anemones, under the Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET) program, with attention to the three activities embodied in PEET: training of minimally two new taxonomic experts in cnidarian systematics; production of monographic or revisionary research on various groups such as the genus Anthopleura and the order Corallimorpharia; and databasing of information on museum specimens, images and illustrations, geographic distributions, identification keys, and major literature in the field. Students from the undergraduate to postdoctoral level are involved in the renewal program, as was evident in the prior program; the databasing activity additionally drew in students from the computer sciences, to help in developing GIS resources for these benthic organisms. Dr. Fautin in addition is leading the organization of a major workshop on cnidarian research for the international congress on coelenterate biology, scheduled for 2001.Recent molecular findings from comparative DNA sequencing indicate, as indeed was suspected from prior morphological studies, that the sea anemones are not a single lineage or monophyletic group of organisms, but more likely are an assemblage of similar organisms (ca. 1400 described species) derived multiple times from scleractinian corals with the loss of the coral skeleton. Some but not all sea anemones also harbor symbiotic algae, either xanthophyte or chlorophyte types, but it is not known whether the symbioses mark distinct lineages or are ecologically variable in different parts of the world. Attention to these issues, with efforts to incorporate modern molecular phylogenetic technologies in the student training programs, distinguishes this latest renewal program on sea anemones.