Macaronesian diversification: Potential isolation of benthic marine protists on seamounts and islands

异养原生生物构成了迄今为止在海洋中发现的所有基因型的大多数。即使在今天，我们对导致这种巨大多样性的过程的理解也非常有限。研究生命之树底部的进化过程对于保护海洋生物多样性和了解物种形成及其基本机制至关重要。我们在亚速尔群岛和深海盆地的初步工作表明，与深海群落相比，亚沿岸/半深海底栖原生生物群落之间的物种组成存在显著差异。该项目申请的目的是增加远离亚速尔群岛的两个大西洋岛屿-马德拉和波尔图桑托-的半深海区域的重要比较数据，这是由于在其存在的最后一年特别提出参加深海潜艇的两次考察而成为可能的。它只需要潜水费和一些额外的测序和运输费用。使用培养技术和分子研究，我们要测试的假设，几个底栖海山/岛屿原生动物物种的地理隔离，这可能有助于物种形成类似于什么是已知的后生动物。

Heterotrophic protists make up the majority of all genotypes discovered to date in the ocean. Even today, our understanding of the processes that led to this enormous diversity is very limited. The study of evolutionary processes at the base of the tree of life is fundamental to conserving ocean biodiversity and understanding speciation and the underlying mechanisms. Our preliminary work from the Azores archipelago and deep-sea basins indicated that there are significant differences in species composition between sublittoral/bathyal benthic protist communities compared to deep-sea communities. The aim of the project application is to add important comparative data from the bathyal region of two Atlantic islands distant from the Azores - Madeira and Porto Santo - which is made possible by an exceptional offer of participation in two expeditions with a deep-sea submarine in the last year of its existence will. It would 'only' require the diving cost and some additional cost for sequencing and transport. Using cultivation techniques and molecular studies, we want to test the hypothesis that several benthic seamount/island protozoan species are geographically isolated and this may contribute to speciation similar to what is known for metazoans.