Unsuspected eukaryotic life inhabits rhodolith-forming coralline algae (Hapalidiales, Rhodophyta), a remarkable marine benthic microhabitat

红柱石是一种独立的形成外壳的海洋大型藻类（海藻），称为珊瑚，在墨西哥湾西北部很常见，它们是45 - 90米深处其他海洋生物附着的主要基础。这项研究将大大增加我们对藻类多样性的了解。它还将评估是否rodoliths可以作为生态和经济上重要的微藻（种子库）的生活史阶段的临时水库，或作为环境压力后物种的安全避难所。这些发现将为评估水华形成微藻的普遍性打开大门，其中一些是公共卫生问题，并在世界各地的海洋生态系统中的红柱石中发现。该项目将为本科生和研究生以及博士后研究员和高中生提供培训机会，并关注代表性不足的群体。此外，研究人员将为公众开发独特的外展计划，并将收集的所有数据提供给科学界和公众，以便进行大规模的比较分析和与其他数据集的整合。这些产品将对海洋藻类生物学、生态学、渔业和生物旅游等领域具有重要意义。该研究将利用质体tufA、16S V4和23S UPA元条形码（基于扩增子的环境测序）分析方法，对红柱石微生境生物群进行表征，这些分析方法专门针对初级生产者，使用高通量测序方法对参考数据集进行测序。该研究还将通过对海湾藻类进行桑格测序来增加各种分子标记的参考数据集，以便于识别在元条形码分析中回收的分类群。此外，还将制作各种藻类的专题研究和红宝石相关光养生物的图解野外指南。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Rhodoliths are unattached crust-forming marine macroalgae (seaweeds) called corallines that are common in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico and they are the main foundation for the attachment of other marine life at 45-90 meter depth. This research will significantly increase our knowledge of algal diversity. It will also assess whether rodoliths may function as temporary reservoirs for life history stages of ecologically and economically important microalgae (seedbanks), or as a safe refuge for species following environmental stress. The findings will open the door to assess the universality of bloom-forming microalgae, some of which are of public health concerns, and are found inside rhodoliths in marine ecosystems around the world. This project will provide training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students as well as a post-doctoral researcher and high school students, with attention to underrepresented groups. Additionally, the investigators will develop unique outreach programs for the public, and will make all data collected available to the scientific community and the general public to enable broad-scale comparative analyses and integration with other data sets. These products will be important for the fields of marine algal biology, ecology, fisheries and biotourism.The research will characterize the rhodolith microhabitat biota with plastid tufA, 16S V4 and 23S UPA metabarcoding (amplicon-based environmental sequencing) assays specifically targeting primary producers using high-throughput sequencing against reference datasets. The study will also augment reference datasets for various molecular markers through Sanger sequencing of Gulf algae for facilitated identification of taxa recovered in the metabarcoding assays. In addition, monographic research of various groups of algae and an illustrated field guide of rhodolith-associated phototrophs will be produced.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.