SandSum

PROJECT SUMMARY
RUI Microbiological Survey & Inventory:
Eugregarinida (Protista: Apicomplexa) parasitizing selected mandibulate arthropods of the Nebraska Sandhills.
This project supports integrated faculty and undergraduate research through a study of biodiversity among gregarine (Protista: Apicomplexa) parasites of selected mandibulate arthropods (insects, millipedes, centipedes, and macrocrustaceans). The survey is significant because it focuses on the gregarines, numerically prevalent and taxonomically diverse but scientifically enigmatic group of eukaryotic microbes parasitizing the intestines of arthropods, an invertebrate group of ecological, agricultural, and medical importance. The project will sample 12 habitat types in the Sandhills of western Nebraska, survey an estimated 125 arthropod species representing 46 families, and recover an estimated 148-200 gregarine species from 12 families. The survey targets a microbiological group that is parasitic (the most common trophic habit on earth) in mandibulate arthropods (numerically and taxonomically more prevalent than any other known group of organisms on earth). Thus the project focuses on an understudied group with profound scientific implications: the most common parasites of earth's most common animals. The project will produce host and parasite specimen collections, preserved tissue specimens for future biochemical and genetic analysis, and taxonomic descriptions and identification documents in both printed and electronic forms. Electronic descriptions, digital images, hypertext dichotomous keys, and a complete project database will be made available through the project's WWW site at Peru State College (http://www.peru.edu/gregarina). Over a three year period, the project will provide research opportunities, field research experience, and expert systematic training for up to 12 undergraduate students. No comparable survey has been conducted for a microbiological group in North America and no museum collection of New World gregarines currently exists. Thus, this project will provide the seminal collections, databases, and survey methods for future taxonomic and survey work on the Nearctic gregarines. The descriptions, databases, and specimen collection produced by this project will define the normal scope and procedure for future studies of gregarine systematics, ecology, and evolution as well as community structure and population regulatory studies of their arthropod hosts.

A Gregarine Primer:
A Synopsis of Research in Hotel Intestine
The following Project Summary is extracted from NSF Grant no. 9705179 and provides an overview of our work in the Nebraska Sandhills.

Dr. R. E. Clopton