PEET: Training New Diatom Systematists for New Priorities

德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的Theriot博士和Jansen博士获得了一笔赠款，用于培训科学家识别被称为硅藻的微生物及其生态学。 硅藻是单细胞生物，可以主宰湖泊，海洋和河流中的微观生命。 它们对基础科学感兴趣，因为它们是多样的（数千种），易于在细胞培养中进行实验，并且具有许多不寻常的细胞特性（例如，它们的细胞壁是由玻璃制成的!）。 后一个事实也使它们在化石记录中丰富，这使它们具有更重要的实际用途，如研究气候变化的自然周期，人类活动对湖泊生态的影响，以及石油的发现。 硅藻的实际用途引起了人们对硅藻研究的极大关注，事实上，很少有人真正致力于硅藻的基础研究。 另一方面，新技术吸引了许多学生到分子生物学等领域学习，使他们远离传统的学习领域。 这是这个项目所解决的问题，并强调了这样一个事实，即Theriot博士是北美唯一一个拥有大学教师任命的人，他也接受过硅藻研究最基本元素的正式培训，他们的分类。 他的同事詹森博士是利用DNA和分子生物学对高等植物进行分类领域的领导者。 他们的实验室进行了重要的合作，这对该项目的成功至关重要。 这项建议的目的是确保将有一个新一代的硅藻科学家的背景，在两个经典的分类元素和工具，以进一步我们的理解硅藻在21世纪世纪。 Theriot和Jansen博士将至少培训两名博士后助理，三名研究生和两名本科生进行硅藻鉴定和分类科学（=分类学或系统学）。 培训计划的重点是三个研究的分类，生理学，生态学，地质分布和分子生物学的不同群体的硅藻。 每项研究的基础研究部分都集中在通过比较DNA（细胞的遗传组成），形态学（细胞及其组成部分的形状和形式）与这些物种的已知化石记录来重建进化关系。 然后，将研究硅藻最初进化和今天发现的环境条件之间的进化关系。 学生们将创建计算机化的科学和历史博物馆的硅藻收藏品目录，以及计算机化的所有相关数据，包括物种的插图。 这些资料将在万维网上提供。 因此，学生将获得必要的领域和实验室技能，成为有能力独立调查硅藻生物学的进一步方面和/或将他们的硅藻生物学知识应用于社会和经济重要性问题的现代生物学家。 使用硅藻的所有研究，无论是基础研究还是应用研究，都需要专家鉴定硅藻。 这个项目将确保新一代的硅藻分类学家与新老技能相结合，在下一个世纪取得成功。 他们将能够竞争学术职位，培训其他专家，成为那些需要了解硅藻知识实际应用的人的资源，并直接促进我们对食物网中这些重要联系的基本理解的增长和自然环境健康指标。

A grant has been awarded to Drs. Theriot and Jansen at the University of Texas at Austin to train scientists in the identification and ecology of microorganisms known as diatoms. Diatoms are single-celled organisms that can dominate the microscopical life in lakes, oceans, and rivers. They are of interest to basic science because they are diverse (thousands of species), are easily manipulated in cell cultures for experiments, and have many unusual cell properties (e.g., their cell wall is literally made out of glass!). The latter fact also makes them abundant in the fossil record, which makes them important more practical uses such as the study of natural cycles of climate change, the impact of human activities on lake ecology, and the discovery of oil. The practical uses of diatoms have drawn so much attention to diatom studies, in fact, that few people are actually devoted to basic diatom studies. On the other hand, new technologies have attracted many students to fields such as molecular biology and away from traditional fields of study. This is the problem addressed by this project and is highlighted by the fact that Dr. Theriot is the only person in North America with a university faculty appointment who also has formal training in the most basic element of diatom studies, their classification. His colleague, Dr. Jansen, is a leader in the field of using DNA and molecular biology to classify higher plants. Their labs have conducted important collaborations essential to the success of this project. This proposal is designed to ensure that there will be a new generation of diatom scientists with a background in both the classical elements of classification and the tools to further our understanding of diatoms in the 21st century. Drs. Theriot and Jansen will train, at a minimum, two postdoctoral associates, three graduate students, and two undergraduates in the science of diatom identification and classification (= taxonomy, or systematics). The training program is centered on three studies of the classification, physiology, ecology, geological distribution and molecular biology of different groups of diatoms. The basic research component of each study is centered on reconstructing evolutionary relationships by comparing the DNA (the genetic makeup of the cells), the morphology (shape and form of the cell and its components) with the known fossil record of these species. The evolutionary relationships will then be studied in relationship to environmental conditions in which the diatoms originally evolved and in which they are found today. The students will create computerized catalogues of the Texas Memorial Museum of Science and History diatom collections, as well as computerize all related data including illustrations of the species. This information will be available on the World Wide Web. The students thus will receive the field and laboratory skills necessary to become competent modern biologists capable of independent investigations into further aspects of diatom biology and/or to apply their knowledge of diatom biology to problems of societal and economic importance. All studies, basic and applied, using diatoms require expert identification of diatoms. This project will ensure a new generation of diatom taxonomists with the combination of old and new skills necessary to be successful in the next century. They will be able to compete for academic positions, to train other experts, to be a resource for those needing to know about practical application of knowledge about diatoms, and to contribute directly to the growth of our basic understanding of these important links in the food web and indicators of the health of the natural environment.