Molecular Phylogenetics & Biodiversity of Marine Macroalgae Emphasizing the Canadian Flora

生物多样性对健康的生态系统至关重要，是国家财富的重要组成部分。为了管理和保护这一资源，必须从遗传到生态系统层面了解生物多样性。这项任务的一部分是编制生物清单，同时还要了解生物地理学和生态学。建立物种清单需要一个分类系统来记录多样性，当它基于关系时，还为那些寻求调查物种以寻找经济上有用的化合物的人提供了一个指南。我主要关注两个生态和经济上重要的群体——红色（初级）和棕色（次级）大型藻类。我们使用强大的分子工具来建立我们的当代库存，并获得我们对关系的见解。这些工具比可能受趋同进化或可塑性形式的环境影响的解剖学表达更客观。具体目标：使用分子工具：1)解决红藻在有序谱系之上和内部的亲缘关系，并使用该信息：a)评估其关键特征的进化（例如，营养和生殖解剖，生活史模式）；b)建立自然分类体系；2)建立加拿大水域的第一个大型藻类综合清单，并使用这些数据：a)确保加拿大大型藻类在系统发育背景下得到代表（与先前的目标合并）；b)考虑到更新世物种形成速率、迁移和变异对形成加拿大大藻区系的重要性，将清单和进化相关性数据与分布和生态元数据结合起来，形成对大藻生物多样性和生物地理学更全面的了解。新的预期发现：当我们试图欣赏大型藻类的多样性和关系时，这些结果将为系统学家和保护主义者提供宝贵的资源，并为寻找新产品的工业提供宝贵的资源。此外，我们将建立对过去和当代的迁移和介绍的理解，以获得对未来加拿大三大洋中海藻多样性和分布的见解。

Biological diversity is essential for healthy ecosystems and is a key component of a nation's wealth. To manage and conserve this resource it is imperative to understand biodiversity from the genetic to ecosystem level. Part of this task is the preparation of biological inventories, coupled with an understanding of biogeography and ecology. Establishing inventories requires a system of classification in which to document diversity, which when based on relationships additionally provides a guide for those seeking to survey species for economically useful compounds. My major focus is on two ecologically and economically important groups - red (primary) and brown (secondary) macroalgae. We use powerful molecular tools to both establish our contemporary inventories and derive our insights on relationships. These tools are more objective than are anatomical expressions that may be influenced by convergent evolution or the environment in the form of plasticity. Specific objectives: To use molecular tools: 1) to resolve relatedness above and within ordinal lineages of red algae and use that information to: a) assess the evolution of their key characteristics (e.g., vegetative and reproductive anatomy, life history pattern); and b) establish natural classification systems; 2) to establish the first comprehensive list of macroalgae for Canadian waters and use these data to: a) ensure Canadian macroalgae are represented within a phylogenetic context (merge with previous objective); and b) couple the inventories and evolutionary relatedness data to distributional and ecological metadata to form a more complete understanding of macroalgal biodiversity and biogeography considering the importance of speciation rates, and migration and vicariance during the Pliestocene in shaping the Canadian macroalgal flora. Novel expected findings: The results will provide an invaluable resource to systematists and conservationists as we attempt to appreciate macroalgal diversity and relationships, and for industry in the search for novel products. Further, we will establish an understanding of past and contemporary migrations and introductions to acquire insights into future diversity and distribution of seaweeds in Canada's three oceans.