Survey of Basal Foraminifera

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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.