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- Title
Planktonic protists: little bugs pose big problems for biodiversity assessments.
- Authors
DOLAN, JOHN R.
- Abstract
The view that current species inventories (lists of binomial species) of planktonic protists significantly underestimate true diversity is widespread. However, the existence of synonyms in species lists, due to repeated descriptions of the same form, and polymorphism in which different "forms" or life-history stages are but one species, are generally underappreciated. Recent studies have shown that synonyms are probably common, significantly inflating species lists, and taxa previously thought to be distinct species based on morphology have been revealed to be simple variants of single species. Given here are examples from among tintinnid ciliates, dinoflagellates and foraminifera. The commonality of synonyms and the phenomena of both polymorphism and crypticism underscore a need for taxonomic reviews as well as speciesfocused studies involving molecular biologists, taxonomists and ecologists.
- Subjects
PLANKTON diversity; MICROBIAL diversity; PROTISTA; DINOFLAGELLATES; POLYMORPHISM (Zoology); TINTINNIDA; FORAMINIFERA; BIOLOGICAL classification
- Publication
Journal of Plankton Research, 2016, Vol 38, Issue 4, p1044
- ISSN
0142-7873
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/plankt/fbv079