Collaborative Research: Microbial Observatory in the Cariaco Basin - Dynamics of Protistan Diversity Across Time, Space, and Chemical Gradients

该项目的长期目标是建立整个生物圈内原生生物生命在时间和空间上的记录，并阐明它们在全球生态和生物地球化学中的作用。该项目正在对最大的海洋缺氧系统--卡里亚科盆地的原生生物多样性及其动态进行详尽的记录。该项目是：对Cariaco盆地亚缺氧和缺氧生境中的原生生物18S rDNA多样性进行全面调查1)对水柱和沉积物中的几个生态行会进行采样，系统地恢复原生生物的18S rDNA序列，广泛覆盖克隆文库，并分析被检测到的原生生物的系统发育位置；2)恢复具有数值和系统发育意义的物种，用于直接扫描电子显微镜检查，并利用包括鱼和光和扫描电子显微镜超微结构特征在内的新方法表征它们的特性；正在努力丰富和培育独特的物种，用于生理、生化和形态研究；3)利用代表性环境样本上的鱼类，定量描述物种在时间、空间和环境梯度上的动态，评估恢复的原生物种的生态重要性；4)将传统分类学与分子数据相结合，通过原生生物多样性知识中心传播项目产生的信息，汇编物种鉴定、发生和分布的信息。基于互联网的知识中心正在与其他数据集协同工作，主要是由一位共同的个人资料创建的Micro*Scope(http://www.mbl.edu/microscope)，)。该项目的更广泛影响包括将数据融入现代知识网络技术，以及培训大量研究生和本科生，包括委内瑞拉合作者的学生。该项目正在与Cariaco盆地的Chistoserdov项目密切合作，该项目的重点是调查该盆地氧化还原带的原核生物多样性。

The long term goal of this project is to build a biosphere-wide record of protistan life in time and space and elucidate their roles in global ecology and biogeochemistry. The project is obtaining an exhaustive record of protistan diversity and its dynamics in the largest marine anoxic system, the Cariaco Basin. The project is: conducting a comprehensive survey of protistan 18S rDNA diversity in suboxic and anoxic habitats in the Cariaco Basin 1) by sampling several ecological guilds in the water column and sediments, by systematic recovery of the protistan 18S rDNA sequences, by extensive coverage of the clone libraries and by analysis of the phylogenetic positions of the detected protists; 2) by recovering numerically and phylogenetically significant species for direct SEM examination and characterization of their properties by using new methodology including FISH and light and SEM ultrastructural characterization; efforts are being made to enrich for and cultivate unique species for physiological, biochemical and morphological investigations; 3) by assessing the ecological importance of recovered protistan species by using FISH on representative sets of environmental samples and quantitatively describing the species dynamics over time and space and across environmental gradients and 4) by disseminating information resulting from the project via a Knowledge Center of Protistan Diversity by integrating the traditional taxonomy with the molecular data and compiling the information on species identification, occurrence and distribution. The internet-based Knowledge Center is working in concert with other data sets, principally micro*scope (http://www.mbl.edu/microscope), created by one of the co-PIs. Broader impacts of the project include the integration of data into modern knowledge network technologies and training a large number of graduate students and undergraduates, including students of Venezuelan collaborators. This project is working closely with the Chistoserdov project in the Cariaco Basin, where the focus is on the investigation of prokaryotic diversity in the redox zone of the basin.