Survey of Basal Foraminifera

本研究探讨了在地球生态经济中扮演重要角色的丰富的单细胞海洋生物——基础有孔虫的多样性。以前的研究集中在显眼的硬壳有孔虫上，但要全面了解它们在古代和现代环境中的作用，需要更多关于早期进化的软体物种（异体）的信息，这些物种在许多环境中占主导地位。本研究将使用形态学和基于dna的方法对美国东部沿海不同栖息地的同种异体物种丰富度进行采样，并从世界各地的合作者收集样本。这项工作进一步推进了美国国家科学基金会在全球物种水平多样性行星生物多样性清单方面的伙伴关系。我们的发现将澄清有孔虫的进化史，并根据它们的外观和DNA鉴定为现存物种提供更好的指导。开发的新工具将有助于推动环境调查的进展，特别是在监测海洋生物群对环境变化的反应方面。该研究团队还通过指导高中学者和赞助教师讲习班，为K-12教育工作者提供内容。最后，这个可在网上访问的数据库将帮助海洋生物学家和教育工作者，他们目前还没有有效的识别或教学工具来研究这些重要的生物。

This proposal investigates the diversity of basal Foraminifera (forams), abundant single-celled marine organisms that play important roles in Earth's ecological economy. Previous studies focused on conspicuous, hard-shelled forams, but a full understanding of their role in ancient and modern environments requires new information on earlier-evolving, soft-bodied species (allogromiids) which dominate many settings. This study will use morphological and DNA-based methods to sample allogromiid species richness in diverse habitats along the eastern US coast, and from samples collected by collaborators from sites worldwide. This effort further advances the NSF partnership in Planetary Biodiversity Inventories of worldwide, species-level diversity. Our findings will clarify the evolutionary history of forams and provide a much improved guide to living species based on both their appearance and DNA identification. The new tools developed will help drive advances in environmental surveys, especially in monitoring the response of marine biota to environmental change. The research team also has a long history of providing content to K-12 educators through mentoring high school scholars and sponsoring teacher workshops. Finally, the web-accessible database to be generated will assist marine biologists and educators alike, who currently have no effective identification or teaching tools for these important organisms.