Mitchell, Edward

, Singer, David, Duckert, Clément, Heděnec, Petr, Lara, Enrique, Hiltbrunner, Erika, Mitchell, Edward

A high diversity of Apicomplexa was recently found in tropical soils presumably reflecting the diversity of their invertebrate hosts, but such patterns have not been explored in colder regions. We analysed the diversity of Apicomplexa and their potential metazoan hosts in litter and mosses collected in 11 different alpine habitats using an eDNA metabarcoding approach. The abundance and diversity of Apicomplexa phylotypes and of their potential invertebrate hosts were positively correlated. This confirms that eDNA metabarcoding is a useful tool to explore the unknown biodiversity of free-living eukaryotes, as well as potential host-parasite interactions. Future studies should aim at describing this diversity using a combination of morphological and molecular approaches.

, Duckert, Clément, Blandenier, Quentin, Kupferschmid, Fanny A. L, Kosakyan, Anush, Mitchell, Edward, Lara, Enrique, Singer, David

Molecular data have considerably contributed to building the taxonomy of protists. Recently, the systematics of Hyalospheniidae (Amoebozoa; Tubulinea; Arcellinida) has been widely revised, with implications extending to ecological, biogeographical and evolutionary investigations. Certain taxa, however, still have an uncertain phylogenetic position, including the common and conspicuous species Nebela militaris. A phylogenetic reconstruction of the Hyalospheniidae using partial sequences of the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit 1 (COI) gene shows that N. militaris does not belong to genus Nebela, but should be placed in its own genus. The morphological singularities (strongly curved pseudostome and a marked notch in lateral view) and phylogenetic placement of our isolates motivated the creation of a new genus: Alabasta gen. nov. Based on their morphology, we include in this genus Nebela kivuense and Nebela longicollis. We discuss the position of genus Alabasta within Hyalospheniidae, and the species that could integrate this new genus based on their morphological characteristics.

, Singer, David, Mitchell, Edward, Payne, Richard J, Blandenier, Quentin, Duckert, Clément, Fernández, Leonardo D, Fournier, Bertrand, Hernández, Cristián E, Granath, Gustaf, Rydin, Håkan, Bragazza, Luca, Koronatova, Natalia G, Goia, Irina, Harris, Lorna I, Kajukało, Katarzyna, Kosakyan, Anush, Lamentowicz, Mariusz, Kosykh, Natalia P, Vellak, Kai, Lara, Enrique

Recent studies show that soil eukaryotic diversity is immense and dominated by micro‐organisms. However, it is unclear to what extent the processes that shape the distribution of diversity in plants and animals also apply to micro‐organisms. Major diversification events in multicellular organisms have often been attributed to long‐term climatic and geological processes, but the impact of such processes on protist diversity has received much less attention as their distribution has often been believed to be largely cosmopolitan. Here, we quantified phylogeographical patterns in Hyalosphenia papilio, a large testate amoeba restricted to Holarctic Sphagnum‐dominated peatlands, to test if the current distribution of its genetic diversity can be explained by historical factors or by the current distribution of suitable habitats. Phylogenetic diversity was higher in Western North America, corresponding to the inferred geographical origin of the H. papilio complex, and was lower in Eurasia despite extensive suitable habitats. These results suggest that patterns of phylogenetic diversity and distribution can be explained by the history of Holarctic Sphagnum peatland range expansions and contractions in response to Quaternary glaciations that promoted cladogenetic range evolution, rather than the contemporary distribution of suitable habitats. Species distributions were positively correlated with climatic niche breadth, suggesting that climatic tolerance is key to dispersal ability in H. papilio. This implies that, at least for large and specialized terrestrial micro‐organisms, propagule dispersal is slow enough that historical processes may contribute to their diversification and phylogeographical patterns and may partly explain their very high overall diversity.

, McKeown, Michelle M, Wilmshurst, Janet M, Duckert, Clément, Wood, Jamie R, Mitchell, Edward

Methodological advances are essential for robust ecological research. Quantitative reconstructions of environmental conditions using testate amoebae rely on sound taxonomy. While the taxonomy of large species is relatively well resolved, this is not the case for most small taxa (typically <45 μm long). In New Zealand, peatlands contain a diversity of both cosmopolitan and characteristic large southern endemic taxa, but also have a high abundance of small taxa. The latter are often lumped into morphotypes reducing their value as ecological indicators. In this study, we demonstrate how (a) lumping small taxa versus splitting them into unique types, and (b) including or excluding them from community analysis influenced their ecological inference. We assessed testate amoeba composition in six peat bogs from New Zealand, three that were moderately-to-highly impacted, and three that were non-impacted. Environmental variables were measured at each sampling site and the surface testate amoeba community patterns and community-environment relationships compared. We found a clear division between impacted and non-impacted sites. Several distinct small taxa were more strongly related to water-table depth and conductivity, while the larger taxa were more correlated to pH. These results show that improved taxonomic resolution of small taxa can provide more informed environmental assessment.