| 项目编号: | 1651908
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| 项目名称: | RUI: Biodiversity of testate (shelled) amoebae in New England bogs and fens |
| 作者: | Laura Katz
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| 承担单位: | Smith College
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| 批准年: | 2017
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| 开始日期: | 2017-06-01
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| 结束日期: | 2020-05-31
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| 资助金额: | 409000
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| 资助来源: | US-NSF
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| 项目类别: | Standard Grant
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| 国家: | US
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| 语种: | 英语
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| 特色学科分类: | Biological Sciences - Environmental Biology
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| 英文关键词: | testate amoeba
; biodiversity
; new england
; fen
; bog
; participant recruitment
; microbe
; research project
|
| 英文摘要: | We live on a microbial planet: microbes have inhabited the Earth for more than 3 billion years and comprise most of life on Earth in terms of number, biomass and biodiversity. We still know very little about the biodiversity of microbes, though extending our knowledge has the potential to advance the national interest in relation to ecosystem health. This project focuses on one group of microbes, namely the testate (shelled) amoebae, which are abundant and top predators in New England bogs and fens. Testate amoebae have a rich history of classification based on the shape and composition of their tests (shells); yet these traits have been shown to be misleading in relation to their identification, because there are many cryptic species. Hence, this research project relies on molecular tools to explore their biodiversity across time and space. Such studies are important given that testate amoebae serve as markers for changing climates and are abundant in threatened wetland habitats like bogs and fens. Beyond scientific discovery, this research project will train a group of undergraduate women plus a postdoctoral fellow on the biodiversity of microorganisms.
Testate amoebae have been used as bioindicators in both paleoecological and contemporary studies, and some taxa are argued to be top predators in Sphagnum dominated habitats. This research project will illuminate the diversity of testate amoebae from bogs and fens within New England and across seasons. Comparison of morphological and phylogenetic species, defined initially based on two molecular markers and then by multilocus delineation through transcriptome analyses, will allow exploration of the biodiversity of this clade. The work will probe the ecological factors that drive the distribution of testate amoebae by assessing fine (local) and larger (New England) scale variation. Patterns among community members will also be characterized using high-throughput sequencing of target regions in the genome, which allows detection of rare community members. This research will generate images of testate amoebae, gene sequence data, alignments, phylogenies, and transcriptomes (i.e. expressed genes) from a poorly studied clade of eukaryotes, all of which will be made available to the community. Students and postdoctoral fellows working on this project will develop expertise in microbial diversity, microscopy, and analyses of high throughput sequencing data. Participant recruitment will aim to broaden participation from underrepresented minorities. |
| 资源类型: | 项目
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| 标识符: | http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/90161
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| Appears in Collections: | 全球变化的国际研究计划
科学计划与规划
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| Recommended Citation: | |
Laura Katz. RUI: Biodiversity of testate (shelled) amoebae in New England bogs and fens. 2017-01-01.
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