Gabrielson Paul W, Hughey Jeffery R, Diaz-Pulido Guillermo
Herbarium and Biology Department, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Coker Hall, CB 3280, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599-3280, USA.
Division of Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, Hartnell College, 411 Central Ave., Salinas, California, 93901, USA.
J Phycol. 2018 Aug;54(4):429-434. doi: 10.1111/jpy.12761.
An essential suite of coral reef ecosystem engineers is coralline red algae. Among these, the smooth, encrusting Porolithon onkodes has historically been considered the most important and common reef building species worldwide. We assess P. onkodes biodiversity by performing a genomic analysis of the lectotype specimen collected in 1892 from the Tami Islands, Gulf of Huon, east of New Guinea. Comparisons of DNA sequences from the lectotype specimen to those deposited in GenBank and to newly generated sequences from both field-collected and historical specimens demonstrate that at least 20 distinct species are passing under P. onkodes. We hypothesize that there were multiple evolutionary drivers including ecophysiology, hydrodynamic regimes, and biotic interactions as well as historical biogeography, which resulted in this high diversity of smooth, encrusting Porolithon species throughout the tropics. Our results emphasize the need to document the biodiversity, ecophysiology, and habitats of these tropical, reef-building algae in light of climate change and ocean acidification.
珊瑚藻是珊瑚礁生态系统中不可或缺的一类生物。其中，平滑的壳状孔石藻在历史上一直被认为是全球最重要且最常见的造礁物种。我们通过对1892年从新几内亚东部胡恩湾塔米群岛采集的选定模式标本进行基因组分析，来评估孔石藻的生物多样性。将选定模式标本的DNA序列与GenBank中存档的序列以及从野外采集和历史标本新生成的序列进行比较后发现，至少有20个不同的物种被归为孔石藻。我们推测，包括生态生理学、水动力状态、生物相互作用以及历史生物地理学在内的多种进化驱动因素，导致了热带地区这种平滑壳状孔石藻物种的高度多样性。我们的研究结果强调，鉴于气候变化和海洋酸化，有必要记录这些热带造礁藻类的生物多样性、生态生理学和栖息地。
