Recent testate amoeba assemblages from the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia)

Testate amoebae are a polyphyletic group of protists characterised by a shell (‘test’). Testate amoebae have been identified in a wide range of terrestrial, freshwater and coastal habitats but are most frequently-recorded in moist, organic-rich soils. The ecology of testate amoebae has been widely-investigated in contemporary ecosystems in order to develop species-environment (‘transfer function’) models to quantify the palaeoecological record with such studies undertaken in locations from Patagonia to Alaska and Britain to China. However, knowledge of testate amoeba diversity and ecology remains geographically-biased and large areas of the global land surface have yet to receive any study at all. Beyond the potential for unrecorded taxa in these regions, such data gaps impair attempts to use testate amoebae to understand patterns of protist biogeography and to interpret past assemblages in the palaeoecological record. However, testate amoeba assemblages of the remote Kamchatka Peninsula remain uninvestigated so far. The Kamchatka Peninsula is located in the far northeast of Eurasia, between the Sea of Okhotsk to the west and the North Pacific Ocean to the east (51-60°N, ~160°E).
The data set addresses the following research questions: What are the key components of the Kamchatka testate amoeba fauna? Are there local or regional endemics? What are the key environmental controls on testate amoeba assemblage structure? Can testate amoebae provide reliable palaeohydrological proxies in Kamchatka peatlands?

具壳变形虫是一群多系起源的原生生物，以其壳体（称为‘具壳’）为特征。具壳变形虫已在多种陆地、淡水和沿海生境中被发现，但最常记录于湿润、有机质丰富的土壤中。在当代生态系统中，具壳变形虫的生态学已得到广泛研究，旨在构建物种-环境（‘转移函数’）模型，以量化古生态记录，此类研究已在从巴塔哥尼亚到阿拉斯加、从英国到中国等地的多个地点进行。然而，具壳变形虫的多样性和生态学知识在地理上存在偏差，全球陆地表面的大部分区域尚未得到任何研究。除了这些地区可能存在未记录的分类群之外，这些数据缺口妨碍了利用具壳变形虫来理解原生生物生物地理学模式以及在古生态记录中解读过去群落组合的尝试。然而，迄今为止，遥远的堪察加半岛的具壳变形虫群落尚未得到研究。堪察加半岛位于欧亚大陆东北部偏远地带，西临鄂霍次克海，东临北太平洋（51-60°N，约160°E）。该数据集旨在解答以下研究问题：堪察加半岛具壳变形虫群落的关键组成部分是什么？是否存在地方性或区域性特有种？具壳变形虫群落结构的关键环境控制因素是什么？具壳变形虫能否在堪察加苔原地区提供可靠的古水文学代用指标？