Cargando…

Sine Systemate Chaos? A Versatile Tool for Earthworm Taxonomy: Non-Destructive Imaging of Freshly Fixed and Museum Specimens Using Micro-Computed Tomography

In spite of the high relevance of lumbricid earthworms (‘Oligochaeta’: Lumbricidae) for soil structure and functioning, the taxonomy of this group of terrestrial invertebrates remains in a quasi-chaotic state. Earthworm taxonomy traditionally relies on the interpretation of external and internal mor...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Fernández, Rosa, Kvist, Sebastian, Lenihan, Jennifer, Giribet, Gonzalo, Ziegler, Alexander
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4023944/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24837238
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096617
_version_ 1782316592211689472
author Fernández, Rosa
Kvist, Sebastian
Lenihan, Jennifer
Giribet, Gonzalo
Ziegler, Alexander
author_facet Fernández, Rosa
Kvist, Sebastian
Lenihan, Jennifer
Giribet, Gonzalo
Ziegler, Alexander
author_sort Fernández, Rosa
collection PubMed
description In spite of the high relevance of lumbricid earthworms (‘Oligochaeta’: Lumbricidae) for soil structure and functioning, the taxonomy of this group of terrestrial invertebrates remains in a quasi-chaotic state. Earthworm taxonomy traditionally relies on the interpretation of external and internal morphological characters, but the acquisition of these data is often hampered by tedious dissections or restricted access to valuable and rare museum specimens. The present state of affairs, in conjunction with the difficulty of establishing primary homologies for multiple morphological features, has led to an almost unrivaled instability in the taxonomy and systematics of certain earthworm groups, including Lumbricidae. As a potential remedy, we apply for the first time a non-destructive imaging technique to lumbricids and explore the future application of this approach to earthworm taxonomy. High-resolution micro-computed tomography (μCT) scanning of freshly fixed and museum specimens was carried out using two cosmopolitan species, Aporrectodea caliginosa and A. trapezoides. By combining two-dimensional and three-dimensional dataset visualization techniques, we demonstrate that the morphological features commonly used in earthworm taxonomy can now be analyzed without the need for dissection, whether freshly fixed or museum specimens collected more than 60 years ago are studied. Our analyses show that μCT in combination with soft tissue staining can be successfully applied to lumbricid earthworms. An extension of the approach to other families is poised to strengthen earthworm taxonomy by providing a versatile tool to resolve the taxonomic chaos currently present in this ecologically important, but taxonomically neglected group of terrestrial invertebrates.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4023944
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2014
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-40239442014-05-21 Sine Systemate Chaos? A Versatile Tool for Earthworm Taxonomy: Non-Destructive Imaging of Freshly Fixed and Museum Specimens Using Micro-Computed Tomography Fernández, Rosa Kvist, Sebastian Lenihan, Jennifer Giribet, Gonzalo Ziegler, Alexander PLoS One Research Article In spite of the high relevance of lumbricid earthworms (‘Oligochaeta’: Lumbricidae) for soil structure and functioning, the taxonomy of this group of terrestrial invertebrates remains in a quasi-chaotic state. Earthworm taxonomy traditionally relies on the interpretation of external and internal morphological characters, but the acquisition of these data is often hampered by tedious dissections or restricted access to valuable and rare museum specimens. The present state of affairs, in conjunction with the difficulty of establishing primary homologies for multiple morphological features, has led to an almost unrivaled instability in the taxonomy and systematics of certain earthworm groups, including Lumbricidae. As a potential remedy, we apply for the first time a non-destructive imaging technique to lumbricids and explore the future application of this approach to earthworm taxonomy. High-resolution micro-computed tomography (μCT) scanning of freshly fixed and museum specimens was carried out using two cosmopolitan species, Aporrectodea caliginosa and A. trapezoides. By combining two-dimensional and three-dimensional dataset visualization techniques, we demonstrate that the morphological features commonly used in earthworm taxonomy can now be analyzed without the need for dissection, whether freshly fixed or museum specimens collected more than 60 years ago are studied. Our analyses show that μCT in combination with soft tissue staining can be successfully applied to lumbricid earthworms. An extension of the approach to other families is poised to strengthen earthworm taxonomy by providing a versatile tool to resolve the taxonomic chaos currently present in this ecologically important, but taxonomically neglected group of terrestrial invertebrates. Public Library of Science 2014-05-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4023944/ /pubmed/24837238 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096617 Text en © 2014 Fernández et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Fernández, Rosa
Kvist, Sebastian
Lenihan, Jennifer
Giribet, Gonzalo
Ziegler, Alexander
Sine Systemate Chaos? A Versatile Tool for Earthworm Taxonomy: Non-Destructive Imaging of Freshly Fixed and Museum Specimens Using Micro-Computed Tomography
title Sine Systemate Chaos? A Versatile Tool for Earthworm Taxonomy: Non-Destructive Imaging of Freshly Fixed and Museum Specimens Using Micro-Computed Tomography
title_full Sine Systemate Chaos? A Versatile Tool for Earthworm Taxonomy: Non-Destructive Imaging of Freshly Fixed and Museum Specimens Using Micro-Computed Tomography
title_fullStr Sine Systemate Chaos? A Versatile Tool for Earthworm Taxonomy: Non-Destructive Imaging of Freshly Fixed and Museum Specimens Using Micro-Computed Tomography
title_full_unstemmed Sine Systemate Chaos? A Versatile Tool for Earthworm Taxonomy: Non-Destructive Imaging of Freshly Fixed and Museum Specimens Using Micro-Computed Tomography
title_short Sine Systemate Chaos? A Versatile Tool for Earthworm Taxonomy: Non-Destructive Imaging of Freshly Fixed and Museum Specimens Using Micro-Computed Tomography
title_sort sine systemate chaos? a versatile tool for earthworm taxonomy: non-destructive imaging of freshly fixed and museum specimens using micro-computed tomography
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4023944/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24837238
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096617
work_keys_str_mv AT fernandezrosa sinesystematechaosaversatiletoolforearthwormtaxonomynondestructiveimagingoffreshlyfixedandmuseumspecimensusingmicrocomputedtomography
AT kvistsebastian sinesystematechaosaversatiletoolforearthwormtaxonomynondestructiveimagingoffreshlyfixedandmuseumspecimensusingmicrocomputedtomography
AT lenihanjennifer sinesystematechaosaversatiletoolforearthwormtaxonomynondestructiveimagingoffreshlyfixedandmuseumspecimensusingmicrocomputedtomography
AT giribetgonzalo sinesystematechaosaversatiletoolforearthwormtaxonomynondestructiveimagingoffreshlyfixedandmuseumspecimensusingmicrocomputedtomography
AT ziegleralexander sinesystematechaosaversatiletoolforearthwormtaxonomynondestructiveimagingoffreshlyfixedandmuseumspecimensusingmicrocomputedtomography