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Bernhard JM, Fisher LA, Murphy Q, Sen L, Yeh HD, Louyakis A, Gomaa F, Reilly M, Batta-Lona PG, Bucklin A, Le Roux V, Visscher PT. Transition from stromatolite to thrombolite fabric: potential role for reticulopodial protists in lake microbialites of a Proterozoic ecosystem analog. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1210781. [PMID: 37965561 PMCID: PMC10642914 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1210781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Prior observations suggest that foraminiferan protists use their reticulopodia (anastomosing pseudopodia) to alter sediment fabric by disrupting laminations of subtidal marine stromatolites, erasing the layered structures in an experimental setting. Because microbialites and foraminifera are found in non-marine settings, we hypothesized that foraminifera living in lakes could also disrupt layered microbialite fabric. With this aim and using a variety of multidisciplinary approaches, we conducted field surveys and an experiment on microbialites from Green Lake (GL; Fayetteville, New York State, United States), which has been studied as a Proterozoic ecosystem analog. The lake is meromictic and alkaline, receiving calcium sulfate-rich water in the monimolimnion; it supports a well-developed carbonate platform that provides access to living and relict microbialites. The living microbialites grow from early spring to autumn, forming a laminated mat at their surface (top ~5 mm), but a clotted or massive structure exists at depth (> ~ 1 cm). We observed a morphotype of "naked" foraminiferan-like protist in samples from GL microbialites and sediments; thus, considered the possibility of freshwater foraminiferan impact on microbialite fabric. Results of an experiment that seeded the cultured freshwater foraminifer Haplomyxa saranae onto the GL microbialite surface indicates via micro-CT scanning and anisotropy analysis that the introduced foraminifer impacted uppermost microbialite layering (n = 3 cores); those cores with an added inhibitor lacked changes in anisotropy for two of those three cores. Thus, it remains plausible that the much smaller, relatively common, native free-form reticulate protist, which we identified as Chlamydomyxa labyrinthuloides, can disrupt microbialite fabrics on sub-millimeter scales. Our observations do not exclude contributions of other possible causal factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joan M. Bernhard
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
| | - Luke A. Fisher
- Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, United States
| | - Quinne Murphy
- Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, United States
| | - Leena Sen
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Heidi D. Yeh
- Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, United States
- Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, United States
| | - Artemis Louyakis
- Department of Marine Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Fatma Gomaa
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Megan Reilly
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
- Department of Marine Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Paola G. Batta-Lona
- Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, United States
| | - Ann Bucklin
- Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, United States
| | - Veronique Le Roux
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
| | - Pieter T. Visscher
- Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, United States
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Siemensma F, Holzmann M. Novel contributions to the molecular and morphological diversity of freshwater monothalamid foraminifera: Description of six new species. Eur J Protistol 2023; 90:126014. [PMID: 37633246 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2023.126014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Revised: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/28/2023]
Abstract
Non-marine monothalamous foraminifera are common in freshwater and soil habitats. They comprise a poorly-known group lacking sufficient information about diversity, morphology, reproduction, distribution and ecology. Based on an integrative morphological and molecular approach we describe a new family, a new genus and six new species of freshwater monothalamids from different localities in the Netherlands and France. We establish Astroperula as a new genus of organic walled freshwater foraminifera that contains two species, Astroperula dumacki and Astroperula parvipila. Furthermore, two new agglutinated freshwater monothalamids are described and illustrated, Limnogromia leanneae and Lacogromia pawlowskii, one new organic walled, Velamentofex dujardini, and a new naked monothalamid, Haplomyxa retiforma. Additional information is provided about a special form of cell division in Claparedellus lachmannii and L. leanneae, and feeding behavior in cultures of V. dujardini. Morphological observations are added for an unidentified Limnogromia sampled from the Netherlands and two types of Lacogromia sampled from an alpine region in the French Pyrenees and a karst sinkhole in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The present study provides additional insight into the ecology, diversity and occurrence of freshwater monothalamids and emphasizes the fact that a combination of morphological and molecular methods is necessary to clearly distinguish species in this group.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Maria Holzmann
- Dept. of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest Ansermet 30, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
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Siemensma F, Holzmann M, Apothéloz-Perret-Gentil L, Clauß S, Voelcker E, Bettighofer W, Roshan SK, Walden S, Dumack K, Pawlowski J. Broad sampling of monothalamids (Rhizaria, Foraminifera) gives further insight into diversity of non-marine Foraminifera. Eur J Protistol 2020; 77:125744. [PMID: 33191053 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2020.125744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2020] [Revised: 09/08/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Non-marine foraminifera are among the least known groups of protists and only a handful of species have been described since the 19th century. We collected one naked and five morphologically almost identical organic-walled monothalamid species from freshwater and terrestrial environments from Germany and Austria. One of the species was identified as Lieberkuehnia wageneriClaparède and Lachmann, 1859. As its original description is ambiguous and its type specimen has been lost, a neotype is proposed. We describe four new organic-walled monothalamous foraminifera and a novel Reticulomyxa species both morphologically and genetically. Analyses of molecular data of the different isolates revealed that they are distributed across six different clades. Two new genera, Claparedellus gen. nov. and Velamentofex gen. nov., and five new monothalamous families, Lacogromiidae fam. nov., Limnogromiidae fam. nov., Lieberkuehniidae fam. nov., Edaphoallogromiidae fam. nov. and Velamentofexidae fam. nov., are established.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Maria Holzmann
- Dept. of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest Ansermet 30, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
| | | | - Steffen Clauß
- Penard Laboratory, 18 Stellenberg Avenue, Cape Town 7708, South Africa
| | - Eckhard Voelcker
- Penard Laboratory, 18 Stellenberg Avenue, Cape Town 7708, South Africa
| | | | - Samira Khanipour Roshan
- Institute for Biological Sciences, Applied Ecology and Phycology, Albert-Einstein-Str. 21, 18059 Rostock, Germany
| | - Susanne Walden
- Terrestrial Ecology, Institute of Zoology, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 47b, 50674 Cologne, Germany
| | - Kenneth Dumack
- Terrestrial Ecology, Institute of Zoology, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 47b, 50674 Cologne, Germany
| | - Jan Pawlowski
- Dept. of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest Ansermet 30, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland; Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Powstancow, Warszawy 55, PL 81-712, Sopot, Poland
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