Benedict Charlotte, Delgado Alonso, Pen Isabel, Vaga Claudia, Daly Marymegan, Quattrini Andrea M
The Ohio State University, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212, USA.
The Ohio State University, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212, USA.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2024 Sep;198:108118. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108118. Epub 2024 Jun 5.
Sea anemones (Order Actiniaria) are a diverse group of marine invertebrates ubiquitous across marine ecosystems. Despite their wide distribution and success, a knowledge gap persists in our understanding of their diversity within tropical systems, owed to sampling bias of larger and more charismatic species overshadowing cryptic lineages. This study aims to delineate the sea anemone diversity in Mo'orea (French Polynesia) with the use of a dataset from the Mo'orea Biocode's "BioBlitz" initiative, which prioritized the sampling of more cryptic and understudied taxa. Implementing a target enrichment approach, we integrate 71 newly sequenced samples into an expansive phylogenetic framework and contextualize Mo'orea's diversity within global distribution patterns of sea anemones. Our analysis corroborates the presence of several previously documented sea anemones in French Polynesia and identifies for the first time the occurrence of members of genera Andvakia and Aiptasiomorpha. This research unveils the diverse sea anemone ecosystem in Mo'orea, spotlighting the area's ecological significance and emphasizing the need for continued exploration. Our methodology, encompassing a broad BLAST search coupled with phylogenetic analysis, proved to be a practical and effective approach for overcoming the limitations posed by the lack of comprehensive sequence data for sea anemones. We discuss the merits and limitations of current molecular methodologies and stress the importance of further research into lesser-studied marine organisms like sea anemones. Our work sets a precedent for future phylogenetic studies stemming from BioBlitz endeavors.
海葵（海葵目）是一类多样的海洋无脊椎动物，广泛分布于海洋生态系统中。尽管它们分布广泛且十分常见，但由于对体型较大、更具魅力的物种的采样偏差掩盖了隐秘谱系，我们对热带系统中海葵多样性的了解仍存在知识空白。本研究旨在利用来自莫雷阿岛生物编码项目“生物闪电战”倡议的数据集，描绘莫雷阿岛（法属波利尼西亚）的海葵多样性，该倡议优先对更多隐秘且研究较少的分类群进行采样。通过采用目标富集方法，我们将71个新测序的样本整合到一个庞大的系统发育框架中，并将莫雷阿岛的多样性置于海葵全球分布模式的背景下。我们的分析证实了法属波利尼西亚先前记录的几种海葵的存在，并首次确定了安德瓦基亚属和拟艾氏海葵属成员的出现。这项研究揭示了莫雷阿岛多样的海葵生态系统，突出了该地区的生态意义，并强调了持续探索的必要性。我们的方法，包括广泛的BLAST搜索和系统发育分析，被证明是一种实用且有效的方法，可克服因海葵缺乏全面序列数据而带来的局限性。我们讨论了当前分子方法的优点和局限性，并强调了对海葵等研究较少的海洋生物进行进一步研究的重要性。我们的工作为源自生物闪电战努力的未来系统发育研究树立了先例。
