Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2011;6(6):e20657. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020657. Epub 2011 Jun 20.
The class Ascidiacea presents fundamental opportunities for research in the fields of development, evolution, ecology, natural products and more. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge regarding the global biodiversity of the class Ascidiacea, focusing in their taxonomy, main regions of biodiversity, and distribution patterns. Based on analysis of the literature and the species registered in the online World Register of Marine Species, we assembled a list of 2815 described species. The highest number of species and families is found in the order Aplousobranchia. Didemnidae and Styelidae families have the highest number of species with more than 500 within each group. Sixty percent of described species are colonial. Species richness is highest in tropical regions, where colonial species predominate. In higher latitudes solitary species gradually contribute more to the total species richness. We emphasize the strong association between species richness and sampling efforts, and discuss the risks of invasive species. Our inventory is certainly incomplete as the ascidian fauna in many areas around the world is relatively poorly known, and many new species continue to be discovered and described each year.
类群海鞘纲在发育、进化、生态学、天然产物等领域的研究中具有重要意义。本综述全面概述了海鞘纲全球生物多样性的现状，重点介绍了其分类学、主要生物多样性区域和分布模式。基于文献分析和在线世界海洋物种登记处登记的物种，我们编制了一份 2815 种已描述物种的清单。在目级阶元中，有最多的物种和科。在栉水母目和尾海鞘目这两个目中，每个目中都有超过 500 种的物种。60%的描述物种为群体型。在热带地区，物种丰富度最高，其中群体型物种占主导地位。在较高纬度地区，独居型物种逐渐对总物种丰富度的贡献更多。我们强调了物种丰富度与采样努力之间的强烈关联，并讨论了入侵物种的风险。我们的清单肯定是不完整的，因为世界上许多地区的海鞘动物区系相对不为人知，而且每年都有新的物种被发现和描述。
