The fossil record of planktonic foraminifers is a key source of data on the biodiversity and evolution of marine plankton. One of the most distinctive foraminiferal taxa, Orbulina universa, widely used as a stratigraphic and paleoclimatic index, has always been regarded as a single species. Here we present a phylogenetic analysis of Orbulina small subunit rDNA sequences from 25 pelagic stations covering 100°latitude in the Atlantic Ocean. The genetic data reveal the presence of three cryptic species, whose distribution is clearly correlated to hydrographic provinces, and particularly to sea-surface total chlorophyll a concentration. Our results, together with previous studies, suggest that a considerable part of the diversity among planktonic foraminifers has been overlooked in morphological taxonomies. Our data also support the idea that planktonic foraminifers, even if adapted to particular hydrographic conditions, are high-dispersal organisms whose speciation may be similar to that of other high-dispersal taxa in which reproductive mechanisms and behavior, rather than just geographic barriers to dispersal, play key roles in species formation and maintenance.Planktonic foraminifers are unicellular marine zooplankton whose fossil record extends back 160 million years and constitutes a fundamental archive of changes in oceanic biodiversity and paleoceanography. Despite the widespread use of foraminiferal species for paleoceanographic, stratigraphic, and evolutionary research, no large scale genetic studies have been done to develop the species concept among planktonic foraminifers; their diversity has been estimated almost exclusively on the basis of more-or-less subjective morphological classification of the tests (shells), and has never been thought to be extensive in spite of their worldwide distribution. Approximately 50 species are described in the Holocene (1). However, results based on DNA sequences suggest that oceanic biological diversity may have been seriously underestimated (2). In this study, we use molecular tools to examine the questions of planktonic foraminiferal biodiversity, distribution, and speciation in pelagic ecosystems.As a model, we have chosen Orbulina universa d'Orbigny, one of the most commonly encountered planktonic foraminifers inhabiting the surface waters of the World Ocean between 60°N and 50°S. This species appeared in the fossil record 15.4 million years ago and is widely used as a stratigraphic and paleoclimatic index (3). Orbulina has been a focus of evolutionary studies on its origin from trochospirally coiled ancestors (4, 5) and of research on the ultrastructural variability of its last spherical chamber (6, 7). Moreover, it has been used in culture experiments of stable carbon and oxygen isotope, calcium, barium, and cadmium uptake in the test as a proxy for reconstructions of ancient sea surface water temperature and chemistry (8-12). Orbulina universa is considered to be the last representative of a lineage that underwent rapid anagenetic changes at the early/m...

The evolution of life on Earth is marked by catastrophic extinction events, one of which occurred ca. 200 Ma at the transition from the Triassic Period to the Jurassic Period (Tr-J boundary), apparently contemporaneous with the eruption of the world's largest known continental igneous province, the Central Atlantic magmatic province. The temporal relationship of the Tr-J boundary and the province's volcanism is clarified by new multi-disciplinary (stratigraphic, palynologic, geochronologic, paleomagnetic, geochemical) data that demonstrate that development of the Central Atlantic magmatic province straddled the Tr-J boundary and thus may have had a causal relationship with the climatic crisis and biotic turnover demarcating the boundary

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ABSTRACT. Here, we present the first molecular evidence that the trop~cal green alga Caulerpa taxifolia, which is quickly spreading in the Mediterranean and out-competing natlve species, escaped to the sea from a public or private equarium. Our data show that this alga is genetically identical to the strain cultivated in western European aqudria since the early 1970s The facillty with which this strain is obtained world-wide represents a potential danger of additional biological invasions.

Planktonic foraminifera are marine protists, whose calcareous shells form oceanic sediments and are widely used for stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental analyses. The fossil record of planktonic foraminifera is compared here to their molecular phylogeny inferred from ribosomal DNA sequences. Eighteen partial SSU rDNA sequences from species representing all modern planktonic families (Globigerinidae, Hastigerinidae, Globorotaliidae, Candeinidae) were obtained and compared to seven sequences representing the major groups of benthic foraminifera. The phylogenetic analyses indicate a polyphyletic origin for the planktonic foraminifera. The Candeinidae, the Globorotaliidae, and the clade Globigerinidae + Hastigerinidae seem to have originated independently, at different epochs in the evolution of foraminifera. Inference of their relationships, however, is limited by substitution rates of heterogeneity. Rates of SSU rDNA evolution vary from 4.0 x 10(-9) substitutions/site/year in the Globigerinidae to less than 1.0 x 10(-9) substitutions/site/year in the Globorotaliidae. These variations may be related to different levels of adaptation to the planktonic mode of life. A clock-like evolution is observed among the Globigerinidae, for which molecular and paleontological data are congruent. Phylogeny of the Globorotaliidae is clearly biased by rapid rates of substitution in two species (G. truncatulinoides and G. menardii). Our study reveals differences in absolute rates of evolution at all taxonomic levels in planktonic foraminifera and demonstrates their effect on phylogenetic reconstructions.

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Foraminifera have one of the best known fossil records among the unicellular eukaryotes. However, the origin and phylogenetic relationships of the extant foraminiferal lineages are poorly understood. To test the current paleontological hypotheses on evolution of foraminifera, we sequenced about 1,000 base pairs from the 3' end of the small subunit rRNA gene (SSU rDNA) in 22 species representing all major taxonomic groups. Phylogenies were derived using neighbor-joining, maximum-parsimony, and maximum-likelihood methods. All analyses confirm the monophyletic origin of foraminifera. Evolutionary relationships within foraminifera inferred from rDNA sequences, however, depend on the method of tree building and on the choice of analyzed sites. In particular, the position of planktonic foraminifera shows important variations. We have shown that these changes result from the extremely high rate of rDNA evolution in this group. By comparing the number of substitutions with the divergence times inferred from the fossil record, we have estimated that the rate of rDNA evolution in planktonic foraminifera is 50 to 100 times faster than in some benthic foraminifera. The use of the maximum-likelihood method and limitation of analyzed sites to the most conserved parts of the SSU rRNA molecule render molecular and paleontological data generally congruent.

The phylum Mesozoa comprises small, simply organized wormlike parasites of marine invertebrates and is composed of two classes, the Rhombozoa and the Orthonectida. The origin of Mesozoa is uncertain; they are classically considered either as degenerate turbellarians or as primitive multicellular animals related to ciliated protists. In order to precisely determine the phylogenetic position of this group we sequenced the complete 18S rRNA gene of one rhombozoid, Dicyema sp., and one orthonectid, Rhopalura ophiocomae. The sequence analysis shows that the Mesozoa branch early in the animal evolution, closely to nematodes and myxozoans. Our data indicate probably separate origins of rhombozoids and orthonectids, suggesting that their placement in the same phylum needs to be revised.