PurSUiT: Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Fish-Parasitic Gnathiid Isopods on Coral Reefs

追求：珊瑚礁上鱼类寄生颌类等足类动物的生物多样性和分类学

• 批准号: 2231250
• 负责人: Paul Sikkel
• 金额: $ 125万
• 依托单位: University of Miami
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-04-15 至 2027-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2231250&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PurSUiT; Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Fish; Parasitic

Marine scientists and members of the public have long been drawn to the larger marine organisms easily seen with the unaided human eye. However, scientists are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of the smaller majority of marine life that operate largely behind the scenes. Collectively referred to as cryptofauna this group includes parasites. Gnathiid isopods (gnathiids) are a group of parasites that are unique to marine environments and are found in all oceans and depths. By attaching to fish, extracting blood meals and then dropping off, gnathiids are the marine equivalent of ticks and mosquitos on land. Some even transmit blood parasites to fish just as ticks and mosquitos do to birds and mammals. This project focuses on the diversity of gnathiid isopods in coral reef systems, the most diverse ecological systems on the planet. The project is an international collaboration involving nearly all the active gnathiid researchers in the world who are making significant investments in the project, including helping to train US students. While there are hundreds of research teams worldwide who study ticks and mosquitos, only a handful of scientists study their marine equivalent – gnathiid isopods. As a consequence, while there are likely hundreds of species of gnathiids, we only have identifications and names for a few. Identifying and characterizing gnathiids to species is important for the same reason that we need to know one tick or mosquito species from another – even though they have certain similarities, there are important differences among them, such as what, if any diseases they may transmit. Given the similarity of gnathiid isopod-fish interactions to ticks and mosquito interactions with humans and other land animals, this study will provide the basis for understanding similarities and differences of host-parasite interactions and disease transmission in coral reef fish as compared to terrestrial systems. The project will contribute to educating and training the next generation of taxonomists and systematists, and will improve public understanding of coral reef biodiversity both in the US and abroad.The specific goals of this project are to: 1) Characterize gnathiid isopod diversity, biogeography, and key functional traits in tropical coral reef and adjacent ecosystems; 2) Generate DNA barcodes for as many species as possible and construct a molecular-based phylogeny; and 3) Provide student training in gnathiid isopod taxonomy and systematics. With an international group of collaborators that include field ecologists, taxonomists, molecular biologists, bioinformaticians, and museum specialists, we will use an integrative and interdisciplinary approach. We will sample from representative coral reef habitats using a variety of collecting techniques our team has developed over decades, and will use state of the art taxonomic, molecular, and bioinformatic techniques to describe and identify gnathiid species. Through this approach we will fill major gaps in biodiversity knowledge by: 1) Thorough and systematic sampling of regions characterized as evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered and therefore likely harboring unknown gathiid diversity; and 2) Providing information on the systematics, biogeography and genetic diversity of fish-parasitic gnathiid isopods that will enable major advances in our understanding of their phylogenetic relationships. By identifying patterns of host exploitation, and linking parasite life history stages, we will answer fundamental questions regarding ecological function of parasitic isopods and build capacity to address more sophisticated ecological and evolutionary questions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

长期以来，海洋科学家和公众一直被肉眼可见的大型海洋生物所吸引，然而，科学家们越来越意识到主要在幕后活动的少数海洋生物的重要性。作为隐生物群，该群体包括寄生虫，是海洋环境中特有的一类寄生虫，通过附着在鱼类身上、提取血粉然后脱落，颚类动物相当于陆地上的蜱虫和蚊子，有些甚至将血液寄生虫传播给鱼类，就像蜱虫和蚊子传播鸟类和哺乳动物一样。该项目重点关注珊瑚礁系统中颚类动物的多样性，这是珊瑚礁系统中最多样化的生态系统。该项目是一项国际合作，涉及世界上几乎所有活跃的颌类研究人员，他们对该项目进行了大量投资，包括帮助培训美国学生，同时全球有数百个研究团队研究蜱虫和蜱虫。蚊子中，只有少数科学家研究了它们的海洋等同物——颌类等足类动物，因此，虽然颌类可能有数百种，但我们只有少数几种的鉴定和名称对于物种来说很重要。同样的原因，我们需要区分一种蜱虫或蚊子物种——尽管它们有某些相似之处，但它们之间也存在重要的差异，例如考虑到颌类等足类鱼的相似性，它们可能传播什么疾病（如果有）。蜱虫的相互作用以及蚊子与人类和其他陆地动物的相互作用，这项研究将为了解珊瑚礁鱼类与陆地系统相比宿主寄生虫相互作用和疾病传播的异同提供基础。该项目将有助于教育和培训。下一代分类学家和系统学家，并将提高公众对美国和国外珊瑚礁生物多样性的了解。该项目的具体目标是： 1) 描述热带地区颌类等足类动物的多样性、生物地理学和关键功能特征珊瑚礁和邻近生态系统；2) 为尽可能多的物种生成 DNA 条形码，并构建基于分子的系统发育；3) 与包括野外生态学家、分类学家在内的国际合作者小组一起为学生提供有关颌类等足类动物分类学和系统学的培训。 、分子生物学家、生物信息学家和博物馆专家，我们将采用综合和跨学科的方法，我们将使用各种采集技术从代表性的珊瑚礁栖息地进行采样。团队已经发展了数十年，并将使用最先进的分类学、分子和生物信息技术来描述和识别颌类物种，通过这种方法，我们将通过以下方式填补生物多样性知识的主要空白：1）对具有以下特征的区域进行彻底和系统的采样。进化上独特且在全球范围内濒临灭绝，因此可能蕴藏着未知的颌类多样性；2) 提供有关鱼类寄生颌类等足类动物的系统学、生物地理学和遗传多样性的信息，这将有助于在研究方面取得重大进展；通过识别宿主利用模式和联系寄生虫生命史阶段，我们将回答有关寄生等足类动物生态功能的基本问题，并建立解决更复杂的生态和进化问题的能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命。通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，并被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Morphological Description and Molecular Characterization of Gnathia Jimmybuffetti Sp. Nov. (Crustacea, Isopoda, Gnathiidae): the First New Gnathiid in 100 Years from the Floridian Ecoregion.

Gnathia Jimmybuffetti Sp 的形态描述和分子特征。

• DOI: 10.5343/bms.2023.0040
• 发表时间: 2023-07
• 期刊: Bulletin of Marine Science
• 影响因子: 1.5
• 作者: Erasmus, Anja;Hadfield, Kerry A;Sikkel, Paul C;Smit, Nico J
• 通讯作者: Smit, Nico J