Invited speakers:
Naiara Rodriguez-Ezpeleta (AZTI, Spain)
Junya Hirai (National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Yokohama, Japan)
The emerging field of integrative taxonomy is yielding new understanding of the taxonomy, systematics, and biodiversity of marine animals. Molecular methods have enormous potential for accurate and rapid assessment of pelagic diversity; environmental sequencing or metagenetic analysis (i.e. large-scale analysis of taxon richness via the analysis of homologous genes) of zooplankton assemblages can ensure consistent discrimination of species – even closely related, cryptic, and rare species – through comparison with a reference database of sequences for identified specimens. Although the taxonomy and phylogeny of some zooplankton groups may eventually be revised with the addition of molecular characters, traditional approaches based on morphology will not be replaced, only enhanced and augmented. Near-future prospects include sophisticated, powerful, and integrative analysis of morphological, molecular, biochemical, ecological, and geographic data to delineate species and test species hypotheses. This session will examine a broad range of methodologies, provide overviews of recent results using diverse types of data, and encourage discussion on how best to meet the challenges of integrative taxonomy of marine zooplankton.
