Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2013. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of John Wiley & Sons for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 61 (2014): 214-233, doi:10.1111/jeu.12095.
Description:
The discovery and characterization of protist communities from diverse environments are crucial
for understanding the overall evolutionary history of life on earth. However, major questions
about the diversity, ecology, and evolutionary history of protists remain unanswered, notably
because data obtained from natural protist communities, especially of heterotrophic species,
remain limited. In this review, we discuss the challenges associated with “field protistology”,
defined here as the exploration, characterization, and interpretation of microbial eukaryotic suggestions to help fill this important gap in knowledge. We also argue that increased efforts in
field studies that combine molecular and microscopical methods offer the most promising path
toward (1) the discovery of new lineages that expand the tree of eukaryotes; (2) the recognition
of novel evolutionary patterns and processes; (3) the untangling of ecological interactions and
functions, and their roles in larger ecosystem processes; and (4) the evaluation of protist
adaptations to a changing climate.
Description:
We thank the International Society of Protistologists as well
as the Tula Foundation’s Centre for Microbial Diversity and Evolution at the University of
British Columbia for funding this symposium. B.S.L. and J.L. are fellows of the Canadian
Institute for Advanced Research. T.H is supported by the Swiss Science Fundation (project
PA00P3 145374).
Description:
2015-02-25
Keywords:
Algae
;
Culture
;
Field research
;
Food webs
;
Microscopy
;
Molecular phylogenetics
;
Protist
;
Protozoa
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Preprint
Format:
application/pdf
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