PEET: Sea Anemone Systematics: Consolidation and Synthesis of Information

University Of Kansas Center For Research Inc, Lawrence KS

Investigators

Abstract

9978106 Daphne Fautin Taxonomic and phylogenetic knowledge of marine organisms, with the exception of few groups, is in poor condition, and specialists on the various phyla are often few in number and widely scattered in the world. Dr. Daphne Fautin at the University of Kansas continues her productive program of research and training on sea anemones, under the Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET) program, with attention to the three activities embodied in PEET: training of minimally two new taxonomic experts in cnidarian systematics; production of monographic or revisionary research on various groups such as the genus Anthopleura and the order Corallimorpharia; and databasing of information on museum specimens, images and illustrations, geographic distributions, identification keys, and major literature in the field. Students from the undergraduate to postdoctoral level are involved in the renewal program, as was evident in the prior program; the databasing activity additionally drew in students from the computer sciences, to help in developing GIS resources for these benthic organisms. Dr. Fautin in addition is leading the organization of a major workshop on cnidarian research for the international congress on coelenterate biology, scheduled for 2001. Recent molecular findings from comparative DNA sequencing indicate, as indeed was suspected from prior morphological studies, that the sea anemones are not a single lineage or monophyletic group of organisms, but more likely are an assemblage of similar organisms (ca. 1400 described species) derived multiple times from scleractinian corals with the loss of the coral skeleton. Some but not all sea anemones also harbor symbiotic algae, either xanthophyte or chlorophyte types, but it is not known whether the symbioses mark distinct lineages or are ecologically variable in different parts of the world. Attention to these issues, with efforts to incorporate modern molecular phylogenetic technologies in the student training programs, distinguishes this latest renewal program on sea anemones.