Methods to Estimate the Diversity in the Marine Photosynthetic Protist Community with Illustrations from Case Studies: A Review
We review the application of molecular methods to estimate biodiversity in the marine environment. All of the methods reviewed here, which are at the forefront of molecular research, can be applied to all organisms in all habitats, but the case studies used to illustrate the points are derived from...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2010-07-01
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| Series: | Diversity |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/7/973/ |
| _version_ | 1798002866103779328 |
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| author | Linda K. Medlin Wiebe H.C. F. Kooistra |
| author_facet | Linda K. Medlin Wiebe H.C. F. Kooistra |
| author_sort | Linda K. Medlin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We review the application of molecular methods to estimate biodiversity in the marine environment. All of the methods reviewed here, which are at the forefront of molecular research, can be applied to all organisms in all habitats, but the case studies used to illustrate the points are derived from marine photosynthetic eukaryotic protists. It has been accepted that we know less than 10% of the identified diversity in the marine microbial world and the marine micro- and pico-eukaryotes are no exception. Even the species that we think we can easily recognize are often poorly described, and even less is known of their life histories and spatial and temporal trends in their abundance and distribution. With new molecular and analytical techniques, we can advance our knowledge of marine biodiversity at the species level to understand how marine biodiversity supports ecosystem structure, dynamics and resilience. Biogeochemical reactions performed by marine photosynthetic microbial organisms constitute a major sustaining component of ecosystem functioning, and therefore, affect climate changes. New interpretations of how environmental, ecological and evolutionary processes control and structure marine ecosystem biodiversity can be made so that we can augment our understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics in especially the pico- and nano-fractions of the plankton as well as in the deep sea benthos, both of which are very difficult to study without good analytical methods. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T11:59:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d7daf316b6264a6d9a8da3df4a2df18c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-2818 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T11:59:00Z |
| publishDate | 2010-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Diversity |
| spelling | doaj.art-d7daf316b6264a6d9a8da3df4a2df18c2022-12-22T04:24:58ZengMDPI AGDiversity1424-28182010-07-0127973101410.3390/d2070973Methods to Estimate the Diversity in the Marine Photosynthetic Protist Community with Illustrations from Case Studies: A ReviewLinda K. MedlinWiebe H.C. F. KooistraWe review the application of molecular methods to estimate biodiversity in the marine environment. All of the methods reviewed here, which are at the forefront of molecular research, can be applied to all organisms in all habitats, but the case studies used to illustrate the points are derived from marine photosynthetic eukaryotic protists. It has been accepted that we know less than 10% of the identified diversity in the marine microbial world and the marine micro- and pico-eukaryotes are no exception. Even the species that we think we can easily recognize are often poorly described, and even less is known of their life histories and spatial and temporal trends in their abundance and distribution. With new molecular and analytical techniques, we can advance our knowledge of marine biodiversity at the species level to understand how marine biodiversity supports ecosystem structure, dynamics and resilience. Biogeochemical reactions performed by marine photosynthetic microbial organisms constitute a major sustaining component of ecosystem functioning, and therefore, affect climate changes. New interpretations of how environmental, ecological and evolutionary processes control and structure marine ecosystem biodiversity can be made so that we can augment our understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics in especially the pico- and nano-fractions of the plankton as well as in the deep sea benthos, both of which are very difficult to study without good analytical methods.http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/7/973/barcodingfingerprintingmolecular methodsphytoplanktonprobessequencingtaxonomy |
| spellingShingle | Linda K. Medlin Wiebe H.C. F. Kooistra Methods to Estimate the Diversity in the Marine Photosynthetic Protist Community with Illustrations from Case Studies: A Review Diversity barcoding fingerprinting molecular methods phytoplankton probes sequencing taxonomy |
| title | Methods to Estimate the Diversity in the Marine Photosynthetic Protist Community with Illustrations from Case Studies: A Review |
| title_full | Methods to Estimate the Diversity in the Marine Photosynthetic Protist Community with Illustrations from Case Studies: A Review |
| title_fullStr | Methods to Estimate the Diversity in the Marine Photosynthetic Protist Community with Illustrations from Case Studies: A Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Methods to Estimate the Diversity in the Marine Photosynthetic Protist Community with Illustrations from Case Studies: A Review |
| title_short | Methods to Estimate the Diversity in the Marine Photosynthetic Protist Community with Illustrations from Case Studies: A Review |
| title_sort | methods to estimate the diversity in the marine photosynthetic protist community with illustrations from case studies a review |
| topic | barcoding fingerprinting molecular methods phytoplankton probes sequencing taxonomy |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/7/973/ |
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