Coral bleaching involves the loss of symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) from reef corals and other cnidarians during periods of environmental stress, particularly elevated temperature. In this study we compared the thermal bleaching responses of the zoanthid Palythoa caribaeorum from three populations along the southeast coast of Florida. Winter (2002–2003) and summer (2003) samples from three geo...

Ribosomal DNA sequence data has been important in elucidatingmolecular evolution, discerning phylogenetic relationships, and in developing species diagnostics. Species in the genus Anastrepha Schiner, particularly members of the Fraterculus Species Group, are considered the most important native pests of fruit in the New World. This study presents the Þrst complete rDNA sequence data spanning t...

The taxonomic identity and the geographical relationships of the Macaronesian endemic moss Fissidens luisieri have been studied using the chloroplast trnGUCC intron, the spacer between trnM and trnV, together with the trnV intron and ITS1 and ITS2 sequences. A comparison of F. luisieri with the most closely related species, F. serrulatus, from the same geographical areas reveals that the distri...

DNA sequences are increasingly used for taxonomic and functional assessment of environmental communities. In mycology, the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region is the most commonly chosen marker for such pursuits. Molecular identification is associated with many challenges, one of which is low read quality of the reference sequences used for inference of taxonomic and func...