title: Diversity and evolution of marine phytoplankton.
abstract: Marine phytoplankton organisms account for more than 45% of the photosynthetic net primary production on Earth. They are distributed across many of the major clades of the tree of life and include prokaryotes, and eukaryotes that acquired photosynthesis through the process of endosymbiosis. If the number of extant described species is relatively low compared to the diversity of the terrestrial plants, recent insights into the genetic diversity of natural assemblages have revealed a large unsuspected diversity at different taxonomic levels. Wide infra-specific diversity is also being discovered in many widespread and well known morphological species. This review summarizes data obtained in the fields of ecology, evolutionary biology, physiology and genomics that have improved our understanding of the biodiversity and evolution of marine phytoplankton.
authors.affiliation: Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6 et CNRS, Station Biologique de Roscoff, UMR 7144, Groupe Plancton, Place Georges-Teissier, 29680 Roscoff Cedex, France. simon@sb-roscoff.fr
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: Anne-Lise
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Cras
authors.forename: Elodie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Foulon
authors.forename: Rodolphe
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lemée
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D008386:Marine Biology; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010839:Phytoplankton / Q000502:physiology*