PEET: Monographic Research and Phylogenetic Investigations of the Ceramiales (Rhodophyta)

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A grant in the Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET) program has been awarded to Drs. Suzanne Fredericq of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Max Hommersand of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wilson Freshwater of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and James Norris of the Smithsonian Institution, to address the need for taxonomic research and training on one of the dominant algal groups in the marine environment, the red algae. Red algae are of great interest because they are common to abundant in a range of marine habitats worldwide, including rocky shores, coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves; they are major primary producers, providing food and shelter for a great number of invertebrates and herbivorous fish. The Order Ceramiales, one of the most diversity-rich but least understood groups of marine red algae, will form the core of taxonomic work. Using various data-gathering and data-analyzing protocols for morphological and molecular DNA sequence data, students will be trained in collecting, identifying and monographing species in the Ceramiaceae to produce the first modern synthesis for the classification of the family, and to compile the information in a Worldwide Web-accessible database that will connect species descriptions with images and publications related to them. This project is designed to ensure that there will be a new generation of red algal scientists with a background in both the classical elements of classification and the tools to further our understanding of the red algae in the next decades. This project will make many common and important components of marine environments accurately identifiable and will train at least two doctoral students, one postdoctoral fellow and four undergraduate students in modern systematic methods. This research will provide a predictive, conceptual framework for the evolution of a large number of other algal groups, as well as an easily accessible source for identification.