Project R-11291

Taxonomy and phylogeny of the microturbellarian Proseriata, with an emphasis on the fauna of Cuba. (Research)

Life on our planet is under serious threat because of human activities. Estimates show that up to 37% of the species living at this moment will be wiped out from the face of the earth in the next 40 years. Studying this biodiversity crisis and the factors causing it is, however, hampered by our enormous lack of knowledge as to the number of species currently living. Most of life on earth consists of small, inconspicuous life forms, with the vast majority of species still undiscovered such as microturbellarians. In this research, I will study the fauna of Proseriata (Platyhelminthes) from Cuba, including both taxonomy and phylogeny. During the entire course of the project I will sample as many marine habitats as possible along the Cuban coasts. Sampling localities will be chosen deliberately in order to cover different habitat types: littoral as well as sublittoral sands of different types, tide pools etc. Specimens will be extracted from the sediment using the well-known MgCl2 decantation method or by the oxygen depletion method. I will study these specimens alive and prepare whole-mounts and sections for classical light microscopy studies. The molecular phylogenetic analyses will be performed using 18s rRNA and 28 rRNA as molecular markers. In addition, I will also use more fastly evolving markers (the universally-used marker CO1) in order to reveal relationships on lower taxonomical levels. The alignment of these sequences will be done using standard software packages. The phylogenetic relationships will be determined using various methods, e.g. parsimony (TNT, POY,…), Maximum Likelihood (RAXML) and Bayesian techniques (MrBayes). During the research, I expect to describe most of the proseriate species collected in Cuba and other areas and perform the phylogeny of the whole group. Furthermore, other issues of the Proseriata and microturbellarian in general can be described such as general patterns of distribution

01 March 2021 - 31 December 2024