Description: Previous genetic studies of extant planktonic foraminifera have provided evidence that the traditional, strictly morphological definition of species in these organisms underestimates their biodiversity. Here, we report the first case where this pattern is reversed. The modern (sub)tropical species plexus Globigerinoides sacculifer is characterized by large morphological variability, which has led to the proliferation of taxonomic names attributed to morphological end-members within the plexus. In order to clarify the taxonomic status of its morphotypes and to investigate the genetic connectivity among its currently partly disjunct (sub)tropical populations, we carried out a global survey of two ribosomal RNA regions (SSU and ITS-1) in all recent morphotypes of the plexus collected throughout (sub)tropical surface waters of the global ocean. Unexpectedly, we find an extremely reduced genetic variation within the plexus and no correlation between genetic and morphological divergence, suggesting taxonomical overinterpretation. The genetic homogeneity within the morphospecies is unexpected, considering its partly disjunct range in the (sub)tropical Atlantic and Indo-Pacific and its old age (early Miocene). A sequence variant in the rapidly evolving ITS-1 region indicates the existence of an exclusively Atlantic haplotype, which suggests an episode of relatively recent (last glacial) isolation, followed by subsequent resumption of unidirectional gene flow from the Indo-Pacific into the Atlantic. This is the first example in planktonic foraminifera where the morphological variability in a morphospecies exceeds its rDNA genetic variability. Such evidence for inconsistent scaling of morphological and genetic diversity in planktonic foraminifera could complicate the interpretation of evolutionary patterns in their fossil record.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Planes, S., Allemand, D., Agostini, S., Banaigs, B., Boissin, E., Boss, E., Bourdin, G., Bowler, C., Douville, E., Flores, J. M., Forcioli, D., Furla, P., Galand, P. E., Ghiglione, J. F., Gilson, E., Lombard, F., Moulin, C., Pesant, S., Poulain, J., Reynaud, S., Romac, S., Sullivan, M. B., Sunagawa, S., Thomas, O. P., Trouble, R., de Vargas, C., Thurber, R. V., Voolstra, C. R., Wincker, P., Zoccola, D., the Tara Pacific Consortium. The Tara Pacific expedition-A pan-ecosystemic approach of the "-omics" complexity of coral reef holobionts across the Pacific Ocean. Plos Biology, 17(9),(2019): e3000483, doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000483.

Description: Coral reefs are the most diverse habitats in the marine realm. Their productivity, structural complexity, and biodiversity critically depend on ecosystem services provided by corals that are threatened because of climate change effects—in particular, ocean warming and acidification. The coral holobiont is composed of the coral animal host, endosymbiotic dinoflagellates, associated viruses, bacteria, and other microeukaryotes. In particular, the mandatory photosymbiosis with microalgae of the family Symbiodiniaceae and its consequences on the evolution, physiology, and stress resilience of the coral holobiont have yet to be fully elucidated. The functioning of the holobiont as a whole is largely unknown, although bacteria and viruses are presumed to play roles in metabolic interactions, immunity, and stress tolerance. In the context of climate change and anthropogenic threats on coral reef ecosystems, the Tara Pacific project aims to provide a baseline of the “-omics” complexity of the coral holobiont and its ecosystem across the Pacific Ocean and for various oceanographically distinct defined areas. Inspired by the previous Tara Oceans expeditions, the Tara Pacific expedition (2016–2018) has applied a pan-ecosystemic approach on coral reefs throughout the Pacific Ocean, drawing an east–west transect from Panama to Papua New Guinea and a south–north transect from Australia to Japan, sampling corals throughout 32 island systems with local replicates. Tara Pacific has developed and applied state-of-the-art technologies in very-high-throughput genetic sequencing and molecular analysis to reveal the entire microbial and chemical diversity as well as functional traits associated with coral holobionts, together with various measures on environmental forcing. This ambitious project aims at revealing a massive amount of novel biodiversity, shedding light on the complex links between genomes, transcriptomes, metabolomes, organisms, and ecosystem functions in coral reefs and providing a reference of the biological state of modern coral reefs in the Anthropocene.

Description: We are keen to thank the commitment of the people and the following institutions for their financial and scientific support that made this singular expedition possible: CNRS, PSL, CSM, EPHE, Genoscope/CEA, Inserm, Université Cote d’Azur, ANR, agnès b., UNESCO-IOC, the Veolia Environment Foundation, Région Bretagne, Serge Ferrari, Billerudkorsnas, Amerisource Bergen Company, Lorient Agglomeration, Oceans by Disney, the Prince Albert II de Monaco Foundation, L’Oréal, Biotherm, France Collectivités, Kankyo Station, Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM), Etienne BOURGOIS, and the Tara Ocean Foundation teams and crew. Tara Pacific would not exist without the continuous support of the participating institutes. This study has been conducted using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information and Mercator Ocean products. We acknowledged funding from the Investissement d’avenir projects France Génomique (ANR-10-INBS-09) and OCEANOMICS (ANR-11-BTBR-0008). RVT was funded by a Dimensions of Biodiversity NSF grant (#1442306) for this work. SS is supported by the ETH Zurich and Helmut Horten Foundation. FL is supported by Sorbonne Université, Institut Universitaire de France, and the Fondation CA-PCA. Finally, we thank the ANR for funding the project CORALGENE, which will support the work the Tara Pacific program. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.