Descripción del proyecto
THE RELEVANCE OF THE PARASITISM ON PROTISTS IN MARINE PLANKTONIC ECOSYSTEMS HAS BEEN FOR LONG UNDERESTIMATED, ALTHOUGH THE HUGE DIVERSITY OF LIFE CYCLES AND LIFESTYLES DISPLAYED BY PARASITES SUGGEST THAT THEY ARE HIGHLY INTERESTING FROM BOTH AN ECOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY POINT OF VIEW, INTERACTIONS AMONG PLANKTONIC PROTISTS REPRESENT A COMPLEX WEB OF GREAT RELEVANCE GIVEN THAT: I) THE MAJOR PART OF THE ORGANISMS ARE INFECTED BY EUKARYOTIC PARASITES, PROKARYOTES OR VIRUSES, II) THEY CAN FREQUENTLY REGULATE THE HOST POPULATIONS, III) THEY CAN ACT AS A SELECTIVE PRESSURE WITHIN THE HOST POPULATIONS AND THEREFORE DETERMINE THE EVOLUTION,PARAL MAIN OBJECTIVES FOCUS ON GENERAL QUESTIONS RELATED TO THE ECOLOGY, PHYLOGENY, PHYSIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION OF THE PARASITES USING AS A MODEL A SCARCELY STUDIED GENUS OF PARASITES, PARVILUCIFERA, ALTHOUGH WELL-KNOWN FOR KILLING TOXIC ALGAE RESPONSIBLE OF HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS (HABS), PARVILUCIFERA IS A GENUS WHOSE MORPHOLOGY HAS NOT BEEN DESCRIBED WELL (DESPITE THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A PROPER DESCRIPTION OF THESE PARASITES TO SUSTAIN THE CREATION OF A NEW PHYLUM IN THE ALVEOLATES) RECENLY INCLUDED IN THE TAXON PERKINSOZOA, WHICH INCLUDES THE GENUS PARVILUCIFERA, PERKINSUS AND COLPODELLA, GIVEN THE CAPACITY OF PARVILUCIFERA TO INFECT TOXIC ALGAE, THE ECOLOGY OF THIS PARASTIE-HOST MODEL IS ALSO OF GREAT SOCIAL INTEREST, HOWEVER, THE IN SITU QUANTIFICATION OF THE PARASITE INFECTION HAS NEVER BEEN DONE, AND THEREFORE, THE RELEVANCE OF THE PARASITE EFFECT IN THE FIELD IS UNKNOWN, P, INFECTANS HAS A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON DINOFLAGELLATE POPULATIONS UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS BUT, THE EFFECTIVE USE OF PARVILUCIFERA IN CONTROLLING HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS IN NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS WILL DEPEND ON PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF THE ECOLOGY OF THE PARASITE BOTH IN NATURAL OCCURRENCES AND WITH RESPECT TO ITS EXPLOITATION AS A BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENT, SPECIFICALLY, THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE PARASITE AND THE SENSITIVE HOSTS AT VARIOUS CELL DENSITIES, AND THE STAGES OF THE PARASITE POPULATION¿S LIFE CYCLE REMAIN TO BE DETERMINED, UNDERSTANDING THE ORIGINS OF DIVERSITY IN THESE PARASITES TRANSCENDS THE INTEREST OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGISTS, SUCH KNOWLEDGE BEING ESSENTIAL FOR HABS CONTROL,THE GOALS OF PARAL CAN BE SUMMARIZED IN: 1) TO EXPLORE, CHARACTERIZE AND QUANTIFY OF THE DIFFERENT PARVILUCIFERA STAGES IN A BLOOM DEVELOPMENT, 2) TO STUDY OF THE PARASITE ULTRASTRUCTURE TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE PHYLOGENY OF THE LINEAGE IT BELONGS, 3) TO CHARACTERIZE OF THE LIFE CYCLE AND THE PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS AND TOLERANCES TO THE PARASITE INFECTION, AND 4) TO QUANTIFY OF THE PARASITE POPULATION¿S GENETIC DIVERSITY, THE OBJ, 1) PURSUES TO STUDY THE ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE PARVILUCIFERA PARASITE OVER SPACE AND TIME IN BLOOM EVENTS, WE WANT TO DETERMINE THE PROCESSES AFFECTING DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF PARASITES AND HOW THESE PROCESSES ARE INFLUENCED BY THE INTERACTION BETWEEN BIOTIC FACTORS AND THE LOCAL ABIOTIC FACTORS, OBJ, 2) PURSUES TO CARRY OUT A DETAILED STUDY OF THE ULTRASTRUCTURE OF PARVILUCIFERA ESSENTIAL TO IMPROVE THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE LINEAGES THAT DO NOT FALL NEATLY WITHIN THE APICOMPLEXA AND THE DINOFLAGELLATA SENSU STRICTO, FOR ACHIEVING, THE OBJ, 3) IS NECESSARY TO CARRY OUT A DETAILED STUDY OF THE PARVILUCIFERA LIFE CYCLE, WHICH IN TURN HAVE INFLUENCE IN THE PARASITES ECOLOGY, THE MAIN GOAL OF THE OBJ, 4 IS TO ACHIEVE A BETTER KNOWLEDGE OF THE INTRASPECIFIC GENETIC VARIATION OF THE PARASITE POPULATIONS PARASITISMO\MICROALGAS TOXICAS\DINAMICA POBLACIONES\EVOLUCION\PROLIFERACIONES\ULTRAESTRUCTURA\DIVERSIDAD\ESPECIES INVASORAS