Sponsor：National Natural Science Foundation of China
Project Awardee：Jun Yang
Period of Project：2012.01- 2015.12
Reservoirs are important water resources for both economic and social sustainable development because they can be used not only for agricultural, aquacultural, industrial, and recreational purposes, but also for drinking water supply. However, anthropogenic eutrophication has become the primary water quality issue for many reservoirs due to high input of nitrogen and phosphorus from domestic sources, and extensive agricultural and industrial activities. As algae’s predator, testate amoebae are ubiquitous and abundant components of the plankton community and play a central role in fluxes of energy and matter in these reservoirs. In this study, we will study the biodiversity of testate amoebae from typical drinking water reservoirs and its relation to nitrogen and phosphorus in Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, southeast China. Our aims are 1) to create a robust phylogenetic hypothesis for testate amoebae through combined analyses of ribosomal DNA sequences and morphological data at three different diversity levels (morphotype, species complex, population), 2) to investigate the spatiotemporal patterns of testate amoebae communities at three different levels (gene, population, community) and their relationships with environmental factors with emphasis on nitrogen and phosphorus. This project will fill a major gap in the knowledge of a very common group of organisms while also contributing to research on protozoa diversity, ecology and biogeography. This study will have direct implication for the uses of testate amoebae in environmental monitoring and reconstruction of past environmental conditions.