Survey of Basal Foraminifera

该提案调查了基础有孔虫（有孔虫）的多样性，这些有孔虫是丰富的单细胞海洋生物，在地球生态经济中发挥着重要作用。以前的研究主要集中在显眼的硬壳有孔虫上，但要全面了解它们在古代和现代环境中的作用，需要关于早期进化的软体物种（异格有孔虫）的新信息，这些物种在许多环境中占主导地位。本研究将使用形态学和DNA为基础的方法来采样allogromiid物种丰富度在不同的栖息地沿着美国东部海岸，并从世界各地的网站合作者收集的样本。这一努力进一步推进了NSF在全球物种多样性行星生物多样性清单方面的伙伴关系。我们的研究结果将澄清有孔虫的进化历史，并根据它们的外观和DNA鉴定提供一个更好的活物种指南。开发的新工具将有助于推动环境调查的进展，特别是在监测海洋生物群对环境变化的反应方面。该研究团队也有通过指导高中学者和赞助教师研讨会为K-12教育工作者提供内容的悠久历史。最后，即将建立的可上网查阅的数据库将有助于海洋生物学家和教育工作者，因为他们目前没有有效的识别或教学工具来了解这些重要的生物。

This proposal investigates the diversity of basal Foraminifera (forams), abundant single-celled marine organisms that play important roles in Earth's ecological economy. Previous studies focused on conspicuous, hard-shelled forams, but a full understanding of their role in ancient and modern environments requires new information on earlier-evolving, soft-bodied species (allogromiids) which dominate many settings. This study will use morphological and DNA-based methods to sample allogromiid species richness in diverse habitats along the eastern US coast, and from samples collected by collaborators from sites worldwide. This effort further advances the NSF partnership in Planetary Biodiversity Inventories of worldwide, species-level diversity. Our findings will clarify the evolutionary history of forams and provide a much improved guide to living species based on both their appearance and DNA identification. The new tools developed will help drive advances in environmental surveys, especially in monitoring the response of marine biota to environmental change. The research team also has a long history of providing content to K-12 educators through mentoring high school scholars and sponsoring teacher workshops. Finally, the web-accessible database to be generated will assist marine biologists and educators alike, who currently have no effective identification or teaching tools for these important organisms.