OPUS: RUI - Promoting and preserving the study of scaled chrysophytes with an emphasis on global climate change, evolutionary stasis, phylogeny and biogeography

作品：RUI - 促进和保护鳞片金藻植物的研究，重点是全球气候变化、进化停滞、系统发育和生物地理学

• 批准号: 1049583
• 负责人: Peter Siver
• 金额: $ 14.98万
• 依托单位: Connecticut College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-02-01 至 2015-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1049583&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: OPUS; RUI; Promoting; preserving; study

Scaled chrysophytes are microscopic organisms common to all freshwater environments. Most species grow under very specific conditions, making them excellent indicators of environmental change and of the health of the environments in which they live. These organisms are so named because they form highly ornate structures out of glass, called scales, which are unique in design for each species. These scales accumulate in sediments where they can be recovered later and used to piece together the history of the water body. Study of scaled chrysophytes, including use as bioindicators, has been hampered by the lack of taxonomic resources available to new researchers. The primary objective of this project is to synthesize three decades of research on scaled chrysophytes from thousands of collections made along the east coast of North America, and archive corresponding materials from all samples in international museums. A synthesis of the data is expected to yield insights for new research initiatives on global climate change and for addressing biodiversity and evolutionary questions.Worldwide taxonomic expertise in scaled chrysophytes has significantly declined over the last decade, a fact that has undermined the importance and use of these organisms for advancing our knowledge of key environmental issues such as global climate change. In addition, unlike most groups of organisms, there are no museum collections available to aid new researchers. These facts provided the primary stimuli for this project, namely to develop a comprehensive guide to the organisms and simultaneously archive materials and specimens that directly correspond to the guide in internationally recognized museums.

鳞片金藻是所有淡水环境中常见的微生物。 大多数物种在非常特定的条件下生长，这使它们成为环境变化和它们所生活的环境健康的极好指标。 这些生物体之所以如此命名，是因为它们用玻璃形成高度华丽的结构，称为鳞片，每个物种的设计都是独一无二的。 这些鳞片积聚在沉积物中，稍后可以将其回收并用于拼凑水体的历史。 由于缺乏可供新研究人员使用的分类学资源，对鳞片金藻的研究（包括用作生物指示剂）受到了阻碍。 该项目的主要目标是综合三十年来对北美东海岸数千个收藏品中规模化金藻的研究，并将国际博物馆所有样本中的相应材料存档。数据的综合预计将为全球气候变化的新研究计划以及解决生物多样性和进化问题提供见解。在过去十年中，全球范围内鳞状金藻植物的分类学专业知识显着下降，这一事实削弱了这些生物体在提高我们对全球气候变化等关键环境问题的认识方面的重要性和用途。 此外，与大多数生物体不同，没有博物馆藏品可以帮助新研究人员。 这些事实为该项目提供了主要动力，即制定一份全面的生物指南，同时在国际公认的博物馆中归档与该指南直接对应的材料和标本。