Biodiversity of Hawaiian Rhodophyta: Morphological Vouchers, DNA Archival and Sequence Diversity Assessment

夏威夷群岛是一个孤立的火山形成的群岛，拥有令人惊叹的物种多样性。夏威夷的红藻也不例外，它们拥有巨大的潜力，可以在海洋和淡水生境中发现以前未知的生物多样性。夏威夷的红藻已经根据形态特征进行了分类，在过去的几十年里，已经发现了数十个新物种。本研究抓住了将分子和形态分类学专门知识与特别广泛的生态和地理范围相结合的独特机会。来自海洋和淡水栖息地的红藻将从主要夏威夷群岛和夏威夷群岛西北部采集，并使用三个DNA序列标记(光合作用有机体、细胞核、叶绿体和线粒体各一个基因组)和光学显微镜进行评估。这项广泛的收集工作的目的是获得所有已知的夏威夷红藻物种的代表性，并尽可能多地发现更多未描述的物种。历史上保存在主教博物馆的其他藏品将补充形态和分子分析。所有的收藏品将作为DNA提取和完整标本长期保存和存档。这项研究的产品将包括整个标本和关键显微特征的数字照片、DNA提取和序列数据，以及所有标本的位置信息。所有数据将通过一个基于网络的项目数据库进行整理并向公众提供。该项目涉及与著名的生理学家、主教博物馆、NOAA工作人员科学家和海洋生物珊瑚礁普查项目的广泛合作。夏威夷群岛的生物多样性研究受益于在国家太平洋热带地区进行实地调查和实验室研究的独特机会，太平洋热带地区是一个群岛，以其极高的地方性和令人惊叹的自适应辐射实例而闻名。尽管该区域的自然多样性很高，但大多数栖息地面临着来自栖息地丧失、外来物种引进、海岸线开发和气候变化等因素的中等到严重程度的威胁。因此，该项目最关键的方面是制作受威胁生态系统中红藻生物多样性的快照。夏威夷大学的地理环境为太平洋岛国人民作为研究生和本科生直接参与提供了机会和潜力，该项目将主要由夏威夷大学的学生和博士后研究员执行。通过实地采集、微观分类学研究和分子分析，参与的科学家将为现有最全面和组织良好的热带藻类数据库收集信息。这项研究的所有DNA提取物将保存在夏威夷大学的总基因组DNA库中，该库将作为分子生物多样性储存库，可在未来任何时候访问，以进行进一步的生物多样性研究或分子系统发育研究。这项研究的成果，即基于网络的项目数据库和DNA档案，对于可能无法自己进行充分的分类学培训的热带太平洋岛屿资源管理人员，以及世界各地研究藻类群体与热带代表的进化关系的生物学家来说，将是非常宝贵的。

0542608Sherwood and PrestingThe Hawaiian Islands constitute an isolated, volcanically-formed archipelago, that is home to a stunning species diversity. The red algae of Hawaii are no exception, and hold great potential for the discovery of previously unknown biodiversity in both marine and freshwater habitats. Hawaiian red algae have been classified based on morphological characters, and dozens of new species have been discovered over the past decades. A unique opportunity to combine molecular and morphological taxonomic expertise with an exceptionally broad ecological and geographical scope of coverage is being seized in the present study. Red algae from marine and freshwater habitats will be collected from both the main Hawaiian Islands and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and assessed using three DNA sequence markers (one from each genome contained in photosynthetic organisms, nucleus, plastid, and mitochondrion) and by light microscopy. The aim of this broad collecting effort is to achieve representation of all known Hawaiian red algal species, and to discover as many undescribed species as possible. Additional collections that have been historically archived in the Bishop Museum will supplement the morphological and molecular analyses. All collections will be maintained and archived over the long term as both DNA extracts and whole specimens. The products of this research will include digital photographs of whole specimens and key microscopic characters, DNA extracts and sequence data, and location information for all specimens. All data will be organized and made publicly available through a web-based project database. The project involves extensive collaborations with prominent phycologists, the Bishop Museum, NOAA staff scientists and the Census of Marine Life CReefs project.Biodiversity studies in the Hawaiian islands benefit from the unique opportunity to conduct field surveys and laboratory research in the nations Pacific tropical area, an archipelago renowned for its extraordinarily high endemism and stunning examples of adaptive radiation. Despite the naturally high diversity of the region, most habitats face a moderate to strong degree of threat from factors such as habitat loss, alien species introductions, shoreline development and climate change. Thus, the most critical aspect of the project is the production of a snapshot of red algal biodiversity in a threatened ecosystem. The geographic setting of the University of Hawaii presents opportunities and potential for the direct involvement of Pacific island peoples as both graduate and undergraduate students, and the project will be largely executed by students and postdoctoral fellows based at the University of Hawaii. Through field collections, microscopic taxonomic study and molecular analyses, participating scientists will bring together the information for the most comprehensive and well-organized tropical algal database available. All DNA extracts from the study will be archived in a total genomic DNA library at the University of Hawaii, which will act as a molecular biodiversity repository that can be accessed at any future time for further biodiversity studies or molecular phylogenetic research. The products of this study, the web-based project database and DNA archive, will be invaluable to tropical Pacific island resource managers who may not be able to undertake full taxonomic training themselves, as well as phycologists worldwide who study evolutionary relationships of algal groups with tropical representatives.