Assessing non-marine foraminifera community diversity in New England (USA)

In this study, we use foraminifera-specific primers designed to amplify a portion of the 18S rRNA gene as a means of characterizing freshwater foraminifera community diversity in different settings. Our focus is on exploring trends in the species composition of freshwater foraminifera in low-pH bogs, carnivorous pitcher plants, and a greenhouse environment, with all sites sampled in Massachusetts and Maine, USA. Our preliminary results highlight the low-diversity of freshwater foraminifera in these environments, which is in striking contrast to the tremendous diversity found among marine lineages. We also find lineages, i.e. OTUs, that are widespread and others that are site-specific, and we identify several clades of unknown freshwater foraminifera that may be specific to the locations we sampled. Together, these data help to expand our understanding of freshwater foraminifera biogeography through analyses of extreme habitats such as low-pH peatlands.