DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Life at the ocean surface: evolution and morphology of the Portuguese man of war

论文研究：海洋表面的生命：葡萄牙战舰的进化和形态

• 批准号: 1701272
• 负责人: Casey Dunn
• 金额: $ 2.1万
• 依托单位: Brown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-06-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1701272&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Life; ocean; surface

The Portuguese man-of-war, Physalia physalis, drifts at the ocean surface. It is highly specialized for this environment using a gas-filled float as a sail to catch the wind and long tentacles as fishing line to capture small fishes and crustaceans. Physalia physalis is known to many beach goers for its painful sting, but despite being familiar and abundant, little is known about most basic features of this species. In this project, researchers will use new microscopy techniques to answer old questions about the anatomy, development, and evolutionary origins of this unique species. The products of this study will be made freely accessible to the public and other scientists via open access publishing. The award will also support lessons in a local elementary school on topics related to this project, including lessons on ocean zones, plankton, pleuston, and marine invertebrate body plans.Physalia physalis is the only siphonophore (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) that is pleustonic (living at the interface between water and air). Siphonophores are colonial animals that are composed of zooids (bodies) that are each homologous to solitary animals. This project will describe fundamental features of P. physalis morphology and use phylogenetic comparative methods to reconstruct the evolutionary changes associated with a transition from a planktonic to pleustonic lifestyle. The primary product of this work will be a re-description of P. physalis, which also aims to address some of the following questions: how are zooids organized in P. physalis? How does P. physalis zooid morphology and colony organization differ from other siphonophore species, and what does this suggest about their evolution? Physalia physalis colonies have highly 3-dimensional branching structures. Optical Projection Tomography, as well as other immuno-fluorescent imaging methods, will be used to 3D-image fixed P. physalis tissue. These morphological descriptions will be compared with morphological descriptions available for planktonic siphonophores in order to investigate general patterns of character evolution within the siphonophore phylogeny.

葡萄牙僧帽水母，在海面上漂流。它是高度专门为这种环境使用充气浮子作为帆捕捉风和长触角作为鱼线捕捉小鱼和甲壳类动物。酸浆是众所周知的许多海滩游客的痛苦刺痛，但尽管熟悉和丰富，很少有人知道这个物种的最基本的特点。在这个项目中，研究人员将使用新的显微镜技术来回答有关这个独特物种的解剖，发育和进化起源的老问题。这项研究的成果将通过开放获取出版向公众和其他科学家免费提供。该奖项还将支持当地一所小学开设与该项目相关的课程，包括关于海洋区域、浮游生物、浮游生物和海洋无脊椎动物身体计划的课程。酸浆虫是唯一一种具有浮游生物（生活在水和空气之间的界面）的管水母（刺胞动物：水螅虫）。管水母是群体动物，由与独居动物同源的类动物（身体）组成。该项目将描述P. physalis形态的基本特征，并使用系统发育比较方法来重建与从一种直立式生活方式到一种直立式生活方式转变相关的进化变化。这项工作的主要成果将是对P. physalis的重新描述，其目的也是解决以下一些问题：在P. physalis中，游动体是如何组织的？如何P.physalis zooid形态和殖民地组织不同于其他管水母物种，这是什么暗示了他们的进化？酸浆菌落具有高度的三维分枝结构。光学投影断层扫描，以及其他免疫荧光成像方法，将用于3D图像固定的P.physalis组织。这些形态学的描述将进行比较，以探讨一般模式的字符进化内的siphonophophore philogeny的形态学描述。

项目成果

Improved phylogenetic resolution within Siphonophora (Cnidaria) with implications for trait evolution

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.06.030
• 发表时间: 2018-10-01
• 期刊: MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
• 影响因子: 4.1
• 作者: Munro, Catriona;Siebert, Stefan;Dunn, Casey
• 通讯作者: Dunn, Casey