Acta Protozool. (2016) 55: 119–121 www.ejournals.eu/Acta-Protozoologica ACTA doi:10.4467/16890027AP.16.011.4946 PROTOZOOLOGICA

Report on the 2015 workshop of the International Research Coordination Network for Biodiversity of (IRCN-BC) held at Ocean University of China (OUC), Qingdao, China, 19–21 October 2015

Alan WARREN1, Nettie McMILLER2, Lúcia SAFI3, Xiaozhong HU4, Jason TARKINGTON5

1 Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK; 2 North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC27707, USA; 3 Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, VA23062, USA; 4 Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China; 5Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX77023, USA

The 4th workshop of the IRCN-BC, entitled ‘Cur- were recorded for the first time in the South China Sea rent Trends, Collaborations and Future Directions including two new strombidiid genera. The coastal wa- in Biodiversity Studies of Ciliates’ and convened by ters of the South China Sea are also the location of the Weibo Song and colleagues at OUC, was attended by last remaining mangrove wetlands in China. Xiaofeng 53 participants from 12 countries. The workshop com- Lin (South China Normal University) reported the dis- prised oral presentations and posters grouped into three covery of > 200 species, including 60 new spe- themes reflecting the three dimensions of biodiversity, cies and one new family, from three such wetlands over namely: taxonomic diversity, ecological diversity and the past decade, whereas previously < 20 spp. had been genetic diversity. The main aims of the workshop were recorded from all of China’s mangroves. The most fre- to provide a platform for the presentation of recent find- quently encountered groups were hypotrichs (55 spp.), ings and to facilitate future collaborations for enhanc- pleurostomatids (36 spp.) and colpodids (27 spp.). ing research and training. Hongbo Pan (Shanghai Ocean University) reported on Thirteen talks focused mainly on ciliate community diversity in Hangzhou Bay, the most highly and systematics including both of free-swimming and polluted marine habitat in China. Despite high organic epibiotic forms. There have been intensive studies in pollution and eutrophication, 52 spp., including 8 new a number of institutions in China in recent years of species, were recorded, mainly hypotrichs and scuti- free-living ciliate diversity, mainly in coastal and oce- cociliates. Using High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) anic waters. Weiwei Liu (South China Sea Institute of techniques, Dapeng Xu (Xiamen University) reported Oceanology) reported on the diversity of marine and on ciliate diversity at over thirty near-shore and oceanic brackish water oligotrich ciliates from coastal and oce- sites in both the east and west Pacific Ocean. Gener- anic waters off southern China. Thirty morphospecies ally, the ciliate community showed high diversity with 120 E. Warren et al. spirotricheans usually dominant in terms of both spe- na have resulted in the recovery of > 50 species, 12 of cies diversity and relative sequence abundance. Fol- which are new. Morphological and molecular data re- lowing analyses of morphological, morphogenetic and vealed that: (1) both blade morphology and GC content molecular data, Yuan Xu (East China Normal Universi- are phylogenetically informative, and (2) Trichodina, ty) reviewed the systematics of the class the most speciose mobiline genus, is not monophyletic. and proposed an evolutionary process for explaining Igor Dovgal (Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, Kiev) the patterns of development of oral structures. It was reported the presence of epibiontic ciliates, mostly suc- also concluded that the only freshwater karyorelictean toria and peritrichs, on invertebrates in extreme envi- genus () probably evolved from a - ronments including: hypersaline waters up to 100‰, like ancestor. In his talk on the large colonial peritrich hydrothermal vents at depths of more than 4000 m and genus Zoothamnium, Daode Ji (Yantai University) in subterranean habitats. critically reviewed the value of various morphologi- Ciliate ecology was the main focus eight talks. Jun cal features for asserting taxonomic affinities. He con- Gong (Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research) gave cluded that features of the stalk (shape, branching pat- an overview of adaptations by bacteria for avoiding in- tern, etc.) and zooid in vivo (size, shape, etc.) are useful gestion and digestion by predators such as ciliates. He for species circumscription and identification whereas noted that digestion resistant bacteria (DRB) are rare in other features that have been traditionally used, such the marine plankton but abundant within ciliate cells. as the contractile vacuole, and silverline He also demonstrated that the composition of the DRB system, are of only limited value. Xinpeng Fan (East community is influenced by certain environmental fac- China Normal University) gave an overview of extru- tors. Yoshinari Endo (Tohoku University) presented somes in hypotrichs and their potential importance in findings on the development of the suctorian Ephelota studies of systematics, ecology, and regulated exocy- living epibiotically on the crustacean Euphausia pacifi- tosis. Using electron microscopy, five different kinds ca, the dominant krill in the North Pacific Ocean. He re- of extrusomes were identified in hypotrichs including ported adaptations adopted by Ephelota in response to various enigmatic cortical granules the functions of the frequent moulting of Euphausia pacifica including which were previously unknown. attachment to the krill at early moult stage and initiation Elsewhere, based on analyses of phylogenomic data, of budding prior to moulting, thus ensuring coloniza- Denis Lynn (University of British Columbia) concluded tion of the new individual. Lucia Safi (Virginia Institute that: (1) the SAL group is monophyletic; (2) nassulids of Marine Science) also investigated the relationship and microthoracids are a clade; (3) the position of Pro- between a ciliate epibiont and a marine crustacean host, tocruzia is unresolved, but it is not a spirotrichean as in this case Zoothamnium intermedium on the copep- has been previously suggested, and; (4) Halteria is an ods Acartia tonsa and Eurytemora affinis. The distribu- ‘oligotrichous’ hypotrich. Sripoorna Somasundaram tion of Z. intermedium was found to vary seasonally, and Jeeva Susan Abraham (Acharya Narendra Dev abundances being highest in the summer and lowest College, University of Delhi) investigated the system- during the winter, thus correlating with high concentra- atics of spirotricheans isolated from different freshwa- tions in the water of its bacterial food. Yingchun Gong ter habitats in India, using combinations of multi-gene (Institute of Hydrology, Wuhan) presented findings and protein (SSU rDNA, hsp70 and metallothionein) of an investigation of commercial algal systems used structure data, and morphological and morphogenetic for biofuel production, and their contamination by al- data, respectively. givorous . Over 20 spp. of algivorous ciliates Epibiontic or ectoparasitic ciliates were the subject were found in three of the main algal culture systems, of three presentations. Rosaura Mayén-Estrada (Uni- however only one protozoan predator at a time, usu- versidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and John C. ally either an amoeba or a flagellate, causes cultures to Clamp (North Carolina Central University) reviewed crash. The effects of climate change on marine pelagic the global species diversity of the loricate peritrich La- ciliate communities in polar regions was the subject of genophrys from crustacean hosts. A total of 62 Lageno- a talk by Yong Jiang (OUC). Analyses of over 1,000 phrys spp. have been recorded from > 200 crustacean samples revealed significant spatial variations in ciliate host species in 49 countries worldwide. Investigations community structure and that these appear to be influ- by Yuanjun Zhao (Chongqing Normal University) on enced by ice-melt. Anton Esaulov (Penza State Univer- trichodinids from marine and freshwater fishes of Chi- sity) also reported on polar ciliate diversity, focusing Report 121 on interstitial karyorelictean communities in intertidal (University of Houston) also spoke about the distinct sediments of the White Sea. It was found that horizon- genetic architecture of thermophila and tal distributions varied both seasonally and according its role in the evolution of asexuality in this species. to food availability, whereas vertical distributions were The results of computational modelling show how the relatively stable and restricted by the rapid decrease in genetic architecture of Tetrahymena could alleviate redox potential below about 3 cm depth. Chris Lobban some of the negative consequences of asexuality and (University of Guam) reported on the mostly sedentary thus explain the higher than usual prevalence of asexu- marine Maristentor dinoferus inhabiting the als in this species. Wei Wang (Institute of Biotechnol- somewhat warmer coastal waters of Guam. Maristentor ogy, Shanxi University) presented research on the roles exhibits a diurnal behavioural pattern, dispersing dur- of Tcd1 and Tcd2 in regulating genome rearrangements ing daylight hours but forming clusters at night, prob- and chromatin modifications in Tetrahymena. These ably as a defensive mechanism against potential fish genes play an important role in genome regulation, and predators. Data were also presented on the cell contents a mechanism for epigenetic inheritance during macro- of Maristentor, including endosymbiotic zooxanthellae nuclear development was discussed. Maria Rautian (St. and the pigment maristentorin. Zhuo Shen (Hong Kong Petersburg State University) presented research using University of Science and Technology) investigated mi- morphospecies and syngens as a model crobial food web interactions between euplotid ciliates system for species structure investigations. She sug- Diophrys and and their algal prey Dunalliela gested that the epigenetic mechanism allowing for ex- salina in laboratory-controlled conditions. Using video tensive genome rearrangement in ciliates could cause recordings, D. salina was shown to exhibit a chemotac- reproductive isolation. tic response by swimming towards the ciliates, possibly In the spirit of the collaborative theme of the work- in search of nutrients. In some cases, individual ciliates shop, Alan Warren (Natural History Museum, UK) become stationary, reduce in size, and eventually die mentioned the many benefits of joint research, and gave in the presence of sufficient numbers of their pursuers. an overview of the main funding sources for supporting The genetic diversity of ciliates was the focus of international collaboration for research, and opportuni- six talks. Jie Xiong (Institute of Hydrobiology, Chi- ties for training, in ciliate biodiversity. nese Academy of Sciences) discussed the distinct nu- Five posters were presented as follows: Igor V. Dov- cleosome distribution patterns in the structurally and gal (Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology) on suctoria in functionally differentiated micro and macro nuclei of Taiwanese waters; Ilham Kh. Alakbarov (Institute of Tetrahyemna thermophila. Jie Xiong also spoke on be- Zoology National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan) half of Wei Miao (Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese on biodiversity of the free-living ciliates of Azerbaijan; Academy of Sciences) about the many genomic stud- Pu Wang (OUC) on the molecular phylogeny of Phyllo- ies of ciliates that are being undertaken in China. Jason pharyngea; Hongbo Pan (Shanghai Ocean University) Tarkington (University of Houston) presented the re- on diversity of Pleuronema in the Hangzhou Bay estu- sults of a long-term evolution experiment in Tetrahy- ary; Yuan Xu (East China Normal University) on the mena thermophila that showed an increase in evolv- systematics of two new trachelocercid spp. ability following sex. The distinct genetic architecture The 2016 workshop will be held in Guam, 26–29 of Tetrahymena, which is thought to be responsible for July 2016. For further details, see the IRCN-BC web- this observation, was also discussed. Rebecca Zufall site at ircn-bc.org.