DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Dissection of A "Model" Organism: Understanding the Morphological and Genetic Diversity of A Symbiotic Sea Anemone

海葵是海洋生态系统中无处不在的成员。它们在生态上的成功归功于它们的恢复力和可塑性，以及它们与其他海洋生物的联系。尽管如此，海葵的传统分类却被忽视了。因此，对其形态多样性和分布的了解仍然非常有限。为了获得这些方面的知识，拟议的研究将研究一个分布在世界各地的高度丰富的海葵群。将收集超过1000个个体，涵盖16个目前在世界范围内被描述的物种。一个修订小组将完成使用形态学和分子方法。本项目的实地考察和描述性内容的结合将为创造优秀的教育机会提供材料。具体而言，将为NSF资助的高中科学研究和指导计划（SRMP）的课程开发讲座，该计划将使来自代表性不足群体的城市学生接触科学研究。通过编写教育材料，将在AMNH的公共展览厅及其探索者网站上提供，以接触到更广泛的受众。此外，教学材料将提供西班牙语，供ESL学习和课堂活动使用。

Sea anemones are ubiquitous members of marine ecosystems. Their ecological success has been attributed to their resilience and plasticity, as well as associations they achieve with other marine organisms. Despite this, sea anemones traditional classification has been neglected. As a consequence, understanding their morphological diversity and distribution remains very limited. In order to gain knowledge in those respects, the proposed research will study a highly abundant group of sea anemones with a worldwide distribution. More than 1000 individuals will be collected covering the distribution of 16 currently described species worldwide. A revision of the group will be accomplished using morphological and molecular approaches.The combination of the field and descriptive components of this project will provide material to create excellent educational opportunities. Specifically, lectures will be developed for the curriculum of the NSF funded High School Science Research and Mentoring Program (SRMP), which exposes urban students from underrepresented groups to scientific research. A broader audience will be reached by developing educational materials that will be available in the public galleries of the AMNH and its Explorer web site. Furthermore, the educational materials will be available in Spanish for ESL learning and classroom activities.