OPUS: Synthesizing systematic research of freshwater red algae

淡水红藻是一组生态上重要的生物，从极地到热带地区分布于世界各地，栖息地从潮湿的土壤和温泉到溪流和湖泊。大多数物种出现在溪流中，它们为大型无脊椎动物和鱼类提供重要的食物来源和庇护所。尽管它们在生态上很重要，但关于它们的进化关系和分类的信息广泛分散，往往难以解释。 该项目将汇编过去25年来对淡水红藻的系统学和分类学研究，以及最近的分布和生境数据，以便对这一群体进行全面综合。这个为期两年的奖项的高潮将是一本书，其中包括分类键，照片和分布图，将提供给广大观众。沿着这本书，将用分布、环境和遗传信息更新网上可获得的资源，以便这些数据可以广泛地供再利用。 两名本科生将通过个性化的研究项目进行培训，这些项目将为他们提供藻类识别，数据库和图像处理以及分子生物学技术和数据分析方面的宝贵技能。淡水红藻的系统发育和形态多样，从单细胞到复杂的多细胞组织样叶状体。 近年来，已经产生了大量的数据，这些生物体的系统学和系统发育，导致重大的分类变化，提出了新的类，目，科，属和种在同行评议的出版物。一本全面的书将提供最新的分类学，识别键，和照片的显着特点，以及生态和分布数据。随着系统学的澄清，可以更简洁地评估属和种的地理趋势。汇编物理和化学数据，从栖息地在一个单一的位置将有助于了解分类群分布，生态位空间，以及潜在的范围变化在过去和未来。此外，网上可检索的资源将包括分布、环境和遗传数据，为研究界提供可靠的数据储存库，以进行元分析。

Freshwater red algae are an ecologically important group of organisms with a worldwide distribution from polar to tropical regions, and occurrence in habitats ranging from moist soils and hot springs to streams and lakes. Most species occur in streams where they provide both an important source of food and shelter for macroinvertebrates and fish. Despite their ecological importance, information on their evolutionary relationships and taxonomy is broadly scattered and often difficult to interpret. This project will compile systematics and taxonomic research on freshwater red algae over the past 25 years, in addition to recent distribution and habitat data, to produce a comprehensive synthesis of the group. The culmination of this two-year award will be a book that includes taxonomic keys, photographs and distribution maps that will be accessible to a wide audience. Along with the book, publically available web-based resources will be updated with distributional, environmental and genetic information so that the data will be widely available for reuse. Two undergraduate students will be trained through individualized research projects that will provide them with valuable skills in algal identification, databasing, and image processing as well as molecular biology techniques and data analysis. Freshwater red algae are phylogenetically and morphologically diverse, ranging from single cells to complex multicellular tissue-like thalli. In recent years, there has been an extensive amount of data generated on the systematics and phylogeny of these organisms resulting in significant taxonomic changes with the proposed new classes, orders, families, genera and species in peer-reviewed publications. A comprehensive book will provide up-to-date taxonomy, identification keys, and photographs of salient features as well as ecology and distribution data. With the clarification of the systematics, biogeographic trends can be assessed more succinctly for genera and species. Compiling physical and chemical data from habitats within a single location will facilitate understanding of taxon distributions, ecological niche space, and potential range changes in the past and into the future. In addition, online publically accessible resources will be populated with distributional, environmental and genetic data to provide the research community with a reliable data repository for meta-analyses.