Monika Mioduchowska

University of Gdansk | UG · Department of Genetics and Biosystematics

Paramacrobiotus fairbanksi was described from Alaska (USA) based on integrative taxonomy and later reported from various geographical localities making it a true cosmopolitan species. The ‘Everything is Everywhere’ (EiE) hypothesis assumes that the geographic distribution of microscopic organisms is not limited by dispersal but by local environment...

The genera Xerobiotus and Pseudohexapodibius are xerophilic and characterized by reduced appendages and claws as adaptations to move between small interstices. To increase the knowledge of their biodiversity, biogeography and phylogeny, several specimens from European countries and Australia were analysed using an integrative approach, i.e. morphol...

Simple Summary Recently observed rapid climate change in the Arctic region affects the ecology of all organisms; however, little attention has been paid to the impact on microbial communities and large-scale microbial processes in the Arctic. Therefore, we analyzed the microbiome collected from the Greenland and Spitsbergen shelves, on the opposite...

Paramacrobiotus species have been described in almost every corner of the world. To date, 45 species have been reported from this genus. Among which, 13 belong to the areolatus group (without a microplacoid) and 32 belong to the richtersi group (with a microplacoid). The species' presence in different climatic conditions and habitats provides evide...

Infections with symbiotic single-celled organisms classified as Ciliophora, are commonly reported in various species of invertebrates. Freshwater mussels also play the role of a host for them, being responsible for their biodiversity. Knowledge about these relationships is insufficient. Freshwater mussels are among the most endangered groups of ani...

Paramacrobiotus species has been described from almost every corner of the world. To date 45 species have been reported from this genus. The species’ presence in different climatic conditions and habitat provides evidence of their adaptation to various harsh environments. In this review, we provide a concise summary of changes observed due to vario...

The infamous "master manipulators"-intracellular bacteria of the genus Wolbachia-infect a broad range of phylogenetically diverse invertebrate hosts in terrestrial ecosystems. Wolbachia has an important impact on the ecology and evolution of their host with documented effects including induced parthenogenesis, male killing, feminization, and cytopl...

Paramacrobiotus fairbanksi was described from Alaska (USA) based on integrative taxonomy and later reported from various geographical locations making it a true cosmopolitan species. Hypothesis ‘Everything is Everywhere’ (EiE) assumes that microscopic organisms have unique features which help them to inhabit many different environments and they can...

Paramacrobiotus fairbanksi was described from Alaska (USA) based on integrative taxonomy and later reported from various geographical locations making it a true cosmopolitan species. The ‘Everything is Everywhere’ (EiE) hypothesis assumes that microscopic organisms have unique features that help them to inhabit many different environments, meaning...

In a moss sample collected in Ribeiro Frio, Madeira, Paramacrobiotus gadabouti sp. nov. was found and described using the integrative taxonomy approach. The new species is described based on morphological and morphometric data from both phase-contrast light microscopy (PCM), as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, four DNA markers,...

Using integrative taxonomy, we describe Macrobiotus kosmali sp. nov. from Ribeira Brava, Madeira (Portugal). Based on morphological and morphometric data from both phase contrast light microscopy (PCM), as well as, from scanning electron microscopy (SEM), description of the new species is provided. Additionally, four DNA markers, three nuclear (18S...

In the high-throughput sequencing (HTS) era, a metabarcoding technique based on the bacterial V3–V4 hypervariable region of 16S rRNA analysis requires sophisticated bioinformatics pipelines and validated methods that allow researchers to compare their data with confidence. Many commercial laboratories conduct extensive HTS analyses; however, there...

W 1969 roku w czasopiśmie Science ukazał się artykuł „The cave environment”, w którym porównano jaskinie do „naturalnych laboratoriów”. Co ciekawe, organizmy jaskiniowe (w tym troglobionty i stygobionty) charakteryzują się pewnymi cechami wspólnymi (m.in. podobna morfologia, zwłaszcza brak narządu wzroku, utrata pigmentacji ciała, czy wydłużenie pr...

Biofouling is called “lessons from nature”. Currently, governments and industry spend more than 5.7 billion USD annually to control unwanted marine biofouling, aquatic flora and fauna on submerged construction leading to various technical, economical, and ecological problems. In turn, the Baltic Sea is defined as a “time machine” for the future coa...

Background: Madeira Island has total of 741 km2 and goes up to highest elevation of 1,861 metres. It has mild to warm year-round temperatures and has few different bioclimatic zones. Up to now, 33 species i.e. 22 Eutardigrada and 11 Heterotardigrada have been reported from this island. The aim of this study was to determine tardigrade diversity of...

Background: Tardigrada (water bears) of the Słowiński National Park (SPN) are almost unknown, with only two species, Mesocrista spitzbergensis (Richters, 1903) and Hypsibius pallidus Thulin, 1911, reported from this area. Taking into consideration intensive changes in tardigrade taxonomy in recent years, large number newly described tardigrades and...

In the present study, we used an integrative taxonomy approach to redescribe a population of Echiniscus quadrispinosus quadrispinosus Richters, 1902 from the neotype locality in the Taunus Mountain Range (Germany). We found clear differences in the chaetotaxy formula between the life stages of E. q. quadrispinosus. The body appendages B are, in gen...

In the present study, we used the integrative taxonomy approach to redescribe Minibiotus intermedius based on the newly found topotypic population in Marburg (Germany). As the original type material is not available, we designate a neotype to stabilize the taxonomy of the genus Minibiotus. Obtained mitochondrial COI barcode sequence and nuclear mar...

The infamous “master manipulators” – intracellular bacteria from the genus Wolbachia – infect a broad range of phylogenetically diverse hosts in terrestrial ecosystems. Wolbachia have important impacts on the ecology and evolution of their hosts with documented effects including induced parthenogenesis, male killing, feminization, and cytoplasmic i...

Pleistocene glaciations had a tremendous impact on the biota across the Palaearctic, resulting in strong phylogeographic signals of range contraction and rapid postglacial recolonization of the deglaciated areas. Here, we explore the diversity patterns and history of two sibling species of passively dispersing taxa typical of temporary ponds, fairy...

Two new tardigrade species from a moss sample collected in Canada, one representing Macrobiotus hufelandi complex and the second one belonging to the genus Bryodelphax, are described. Integrative analysis was undertaken based on morphological and morphometric data (using both light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)) combined with multilocus mo...

Identification of discrete stocks of Greenland halibut is an important aspect of proper fisheries exploitation. Available literature data indicated a lack of significant inter-area differences between Greenland halibut populations from the Northeast Atlantic. To define the population diversity, two aspects were taken into account: enzyme-genetic di...

We used high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA to test whether tardigrade species are infected with Wolbachia parasites. We applied SILVA and Greengenes databases that allowed taxonomic classification of bacterial sequences to OTUs. The results obtained from both databases differed considerably in the number of OTUs, and only the Greengenes databas...

The Central American Isthmus has had profound effects on the evolution and distribution of larger marine organisms, but the impacts on meiobenthic animals have received little attention. Tardigrades are microscopic metazoan lobopodians that are ubiquitous in benthic communities worldwide, but little is known about marine tardigrades in Central Amer...

In the present study, we used integrative taxonomy to describe a population of Diploechiniscus oihonnae (Richters, 1903) from the neotype locality in Merok (Norway). We found no differences in the chaetotaxy formula between the life stages and sex of Dpl. oihonnae. The presence of filaments at B d in some specimens of Dpl. oihonnae appears to be ra...

Abstract: In this paper we applied an integrative taxonomy approach to describe a new tardigrade species from Madagascar. The description is based on morphological and morphometric data (using both light and scanning electron microscopy), combined with genetic data (nuclear sequences, i.e., 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA and mitochondrial COI sequences). Based...

In the present paper, we examined the type material as well as newly collected specimens of the rare Antarctic eutardigrade species-Dastychius improvisus. Based on the available material, we prepared a full re-description of this species emending its description with new morphometrical characters. We conducted also phylogenetic analyses based on 18...

Abstract.— Applying an integrative taxonomy approach, we describe a new tardigrade species from Nepal. Light and scanning electron microscopy are used for morphological as well as morphometric analysis of the new species. Furthermore, multilocus molecular data (nuclear markers, i.e., 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, ITS-2 and mitochondrial COI barcode sequences...

The majority of Polish studies on freshwater cyclopoids focused on surface water fauna. There are relatively few data on copepods of subterranean waters. Thus, in our research, copepods were collected from 37 different, mostly groundwater-dependent habitats (i.e. caves, springs, wells, interstitial and overhead environments) over a period of five y...

The majority of Polish studies on freshwater cyclopoids focused on surface water fauna. There are relatively few data on copepods of subterranean waters. Thus, in our research, copepods were collected from 37 different, mostly groundwater-dependent habitats (i.e. caves, springs, wells, interstitial and overhead environments) over a period of five y...

Mussels of the family Unionidae are important components of freshwater ecosystems. Alarmingly, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List of Threatened Species identifies almost 200 unionid species as extinct, endangered, or threatened. Their decline is the result of human impact on freshwater habitats, and th...

Global knowledge of tardigrade diversity is limited, and there still are regions with poorly studied fauna, such as Nepal. We applied an integrative taxonomy approach to describe a new tardigrade species from this area. The presented analysis was based on morphological and morphometrical data (using both light and scanning electron microscopy) and...

What factors determine biome richness: genetic or environmental? Sex, phylogeny, and tolerance indicated by other symbionts (e.g., endosymbionts) or simply is it related to local habitat, especially if the gut biome is considered? To answer these questions, we investigated the gut microbial profile of both sexes of three Unio crassus populations, s...

Studies on Antarctic tardigrades started at the beginning of the twentieth century and have progressed very slowly and ca. 75 tardigrade species are known from this region. Paramacrobiotus fairbanksi was described from USA based on genetic markers and later reported from Italy, Poland, and Spain. The "everything is everywhere" hypothesis suggests t...

Endosymbiotic bacterial species that manipulate host biology, reproduction and mitochondrial genetic diversity have been identified in many metazoans, especially terrestrial arthropods. Until now, the hypothesis that Wolbachia or other bacterial endosymbiont might be absent in mollusks has remained unexplored. We present here preliminary data on ba...

In the era of next‐generation sequencing (NGS) species detection can be performed using environmental samples. However, especially in the case of the main mitochondrial molecular marker, COI, co‐amplification of nuclear mitochondrial pseudogenes—numts or “COI‐like” sequences was noted. Moreover, sequences of co‐occurring non‐target taxa, such as mi...

In a moss samples collected on Madagascar two populations of Paramacrobiotus experimentalis sp. nov. were found. Paramacrobiotus experimentalis sp. nov. with the presence of a microplacoid and areolatus type of the eggs is similar to Pam. danielae, Pam. garynahi, Pam. hapukuensis, Pam. peteri, Pam. rioplatensis and Pam. savai, but it differs from t...

1. Intense anthropogenic disturbance threatens temporary pond ecosystems and their associated fauna across the Palearctic. Since fairy shrimps (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) are endemic to temporary ponds, populations are declining due to habitat loss and it is important to define adequate units for conservation. 2. Phylogeographic reconstructions, base...

Bacterial endosymbionts of aquatic invertebrates remain poorly studied. This is at least partly due to a lack of suitable techniques and primers for their identification. We designed a pair of non-degenerate primers which enabled us to amplify a fragment of ca. 500 bp of the 16S rRNA gene from various known bacterial endosymbiont species. By using...

Scientific diving is increasingly being used for numerous studies. Moreover, this form of diving allows for the conduction of interdisciplinary research. The current nomenclature of this type of dive is defined as scuba diving to collect information to support science by using diving techniques. Underwater research is particularly important in the...

The cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (cox1) gene is the main mitochondrial molecular marker playing a pivotal role in phylogenetic research and is a crucial barcode sequence. Folmer’s “universal” primers designed to amplify this gene in metazoan invertebrates allowed quick and easy barcode and phylogenetic analysis. On the other hand, the increase in...

The list of incorrectly flagged cox1 gene fragment sequences of Gastrotricha originated from another metazoan species. (DOCX)

Although large branchiopods are undoubtedly an important part of the temporary water bodies, they remain the least studied group of macroinvertebrates inhabiting freshwaters. One of these species is the fairy shrimp Branchipus schaefferi. Its known occurrences across the central Europe are limited almost exclusively to temporary pools on military t...

The availability of a rapidly growing number of complete mitochondrial genome sequences provokes high confidence dating approaches. However, even if the congruence between mitochondrial and nuclear markers is reasonable, the resulting topologies are frequently questionable. The unique opportunity to study the evolutionary history of two independent...

Some bivalve species possess two independent mitochondrial DNA lineages: maternally (F-type) and paternally (M-type) inherited. This phenomenon is called doubly uniparental inheritance. It is generally agreed that F-type mtDNA is typically present in female somatic and gonadal tissues as well as in male somatic tissues, whereas the M-type mtDNA occ...

The recognition of management units ( MU s) that respect interpopulation distinctions in management needs is central to many biological applications addressing species conservation, biological invasions and ecosystem processes. We present a methodological approach for the evaluation of population‐level differences in the host compatibility of natur...

The thick-shelled river mussel Unio crassus is critically endangered throughout its range as a result of increasing human activity and habitat loss. Next generation DNA sequencing was used to develop a set of microsatellite markers that can be used for future ecological and population genetics studies of U. crassus. A total of 11 polymorphic loci w...